Kawhi Leonard Wins 2014-15 NBA Defensive Player of the Year

Kawhi Leonard added to his rapidly expanding trophy case on Thursday morning as the NBA announced that he had been named the 2014-15 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Mere hours after making multiple clutch plays in the Spurs 111-107 overtime win against the Clippers in Game 2, Leonard took home the trophy that many had already etched the words “Draymond Green” into. In fact, Green received more first place votes (45) than Leonard (37), but Leonard’s 333 total votes topped Green’s 317. 

NBA Individual Awards

It’s a testy time for NBA fans, as the field of 16 is set, and we wait for the next chapter in league playoff history to unfold. But as much of the trash talk has turned to the teams as a whole, there is still the matter of the individual awards to be won. Much of the chatter has been about the Most Valuable Player award, as we certainly see legitimate arguments for multiple elite players, but there are interesting award races for the lesser-discussed accolades as well.

Now, as much as every NBA junkie wishes he or she could get their hands on one of the 125 official ballots for the awards, the majority of us must rely just on our imaginations and lunchroom conversations to portray how things would go if we did have a say. Let’s dive in.

Biggest Threat to Spurs Title Defense

The Spurs have been on an absolute tear over the last month or so, going 19-3 in the their last 22 games. After a February 25th loss to the Blazers capped off San Antonio’s second four-game losing streak of the season, the Spurs sat in the Western Conference’s seventh seed at 34-23, seemingly in danger of possibly missing the playoffs.

The conventional wisdom would say such a good stretch would propel a team up the standings to at least a position of first round home-court advantage. Yet, the Spurs, after improving their record to 53-26 with a win over the Rockets last night, have only jumped the Mavericks on the way to an 18th straight playoff berth. A testament to the tough and talented Western Conference, San Antonio has not made up enough ground to jump into the top four quite yet. But when breaking down the seemingly annual synergistic Spurs spring, we find that an almost unthinkably short 24 hour period can throttle San Antonio from the six seed to the two seed, and likely change the dialogue from sleeping giants to perceived title favorites.

Breaking Down The Rematch

It’s finally game day. After having NBA Playoff basketball almost daily since the postseason began on April 19th, it seems like an eternity to have to wait from Saturday to Thursday for the championship round to actually begin. Twelve hours from now we will have a Game 1 winner and a clear cut favorite for the series (Game 1 NBA Finals winner wins the series over 70% of the time). But until then, here’s some facts and predictions about the Spurs-Heat matchup to get you ready for tipoff.

Spurs Unveil New Uniforms

The San Antonio Spurs released their new alternate uniforms to the public Wednesday afternoon.

The uniforms will be worn on opening night, and select dates throughout the season.

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Spurs Summer League Game 3

The Spurs lost their Wednesday night matchup in Vegas 86-80 to the Clippers in an up and down game that had plenty of highlights for a summer league run. It’s the first loss for the Spurs squad that was without Kawhi Leonard as the San Antonio front office try to get better looks at the players trying to make the NBA roster instead of more run for the guy who will be starting at small forward come October.

The Clippers controlled the game for most of the four quarters, at one point enjoying a 19-point third quarter lead. The Spurs outscored the Clippers by 10 in the fourth but still fell short of victory. Even in the loss, the Spurs hopefuls (and one surprise Clipper) provided some more insight into their futures with the NBA.

Spurs Summer League Game 2

Literally a men among boys, Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs summer league team to victory on Tuesday evening 92-81 against the Lakers squad that had no match for him. Right from the tip, Leonard made it known to the entire gym that nobody was stopping him tonight.

By halftime, the Spurs second year small forward had amassed 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. No other Spur (and only one Laker, Darius Morris with 24) had more than 18 points the entire game. By the final horn, the Spurs had a 92-81 victory wrapped up for a 2-0 record in Vegas with Game 3 of their summer league schedule coming up tomorrow night against the Clippers.