A couple weeks ago, a picture surfaced of Kawhi Leonard — and his massive hands — at the UCLA run with Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and of course Cedi Osman.
That run is organized by Phil Handy, who is now an assistant coach with the Raptors. Handy went on the Toronto Talks Sports podcast and had this to say about Leonard. (Hat tip Amico Sports.)
Maybe so, but this should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s no different than all the players who say “I lost 15 pounds this summer and am in the best shape of my career” or something similar. Sounds great, we need to see it on the court.
Two other notes here. First, Handy is a Raptors coach, so what exactly do you expect him to say? Second, looking great in a summer run — even one as stacked as the UCLA run — and being sharp in an NBA game are different animals. The UCLA run is pickup ball, granted high-level pickup ball, but all the caveats about reading too much into a pickup game still apply. Leonard may be back to his MVP-level self, for the good of the game (and him personally) I hope he is, but we need to see it in games that matter first.