Kawhi Leonard has often been compared to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and now runs plays just like them.
Clippers head coach Ty Lue mentioned at a media session today that he will be hiring triangle offense sets for Kawhi Leonard, and that he will use him like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
“We’ve put in two or three sets of the triangle and let Kawhi play in those places where Kobe and Jordan played in those spots as well,” Lue said. “He loves those two players and he really respects and looks up to those boys. So we just try to replace him. I was able to play with him. those two guys and I played in the triangle too, so just trying to teach him that too. “
Leonard trained with Kobe Bryant last offseason and made such a big pattern of his game from both Bryant and Jordan. For him, it seems like this is a step in direction he already wanted. There is no one better than Phil Jackson to teach Leonard those sets as Lue played alongside Kobe Bryant on the Lakers and Michael Jordan on the Wizards.
The luckiest thing for Lue is that he was there to run Doc Rivers with the LA Clippers. He had a chance to see everything that went wrong, and everything that needed improvement. Lue has a unique opportunity to avoid the team-running test run and already has chemistry with all the players.
The biggest fear going into this season is that the Clippers are probably trying to do too much. They have a new offense, a new defense, a new starting lineup, and a new bench. They were a quarter of a basketball away against Denver Nuggets since they didn’t need this big refresh, and honestly one simple change to get a better defense on Nikola Jokic. There is not much time this season for the Clippers to put everything into action, they need to move fast. Unfortunately for the Clippers, their first test starts against the defending champions.