Cousins: Kawhi showing 'flashes of Kobe'
Late last season, a couple months before he would retire, Kobe Bryant said San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had asked him to mentor Kawhi Leonard, and Bryant said he planned to oblige. Whatever advice he's given the 25-year-old since appears to have made its mark.
Long the game's most fearsome perimeter defender, Leonard has blossomed into a dynamic offensive force, with Kobe-like footwork, and a comparable knack for creating space off the bounce, swooping to the basket, and knocking down feathery fadeaways.
Leonard hung 30 points on the Sacramento Kings in a 102-94 win on Thursday night, his second 30-plus-point outing in as many games to start the 2016-17 season. Kings center DeMarcus Cousins - who, with 37 points and 16 rebounds, would otherwise have been the story of the game - came away mightily impressed, with Bryant comparisons on his tongue.
"That dude's good, man," Cousins told reporters with a helpless laugh, before catching himself dropping an expletive. "He's good. He's really good."
Cousins didn't feel the Kings' defense could've done much more to slow Leonard, who continually hit shots with high degrees of difficulty.
"I mean, he was hitting shots over two guys. I heard he was working with Kobe, and there were some flashes of Kobe tonight."
Two games into the season, Leonard is averaging 32.5 points, four rebounds, four assists, and five steals, while shooting 50 percent from the field.