I know it's only the first game but.....
 

Kawhi freakin Leonard....in case u didn't know, he's gonna be a star! 19 pts, 7 rebs, 5 steals BAM :rock :rock

beast! i just hope he continues to improve to be in the conversation with KD and LBJ as the best SF in the league! might be asking a lot, but the kid can BALL!

They lose if not for Leonard.

It's not Leonard that I'm worried about. Bonner, Splitter, Green and Neal are inconsistent... If not worthless.

barely won against the hornets!

regardless, read the yahoo sports summary of the game, and it didnt even mention leonard! and then i looked at the box score stats! i was like WTF. he had a good game.

Duncan leads Spurs past Davis, Hornets 99-95 - Yahoo! Sports

I think Splitter could be more if given time but the other two are pretty much damn worthless IMO and hit their ceiling already. This is pretty scary they still get minutes. Pop will still play them.

Green was decent. He did what I wanted him to do. Unless you expect him to be a star. He had one of the tear drops in this game, but his motion to the basket was much better (to avoid charge). He's obviously worked on that.

Splitter improved last year. Injuries slowed him. It seems the lineup is setup so he's the second unit big. If he stays that way, he should do fine.

Neal's D and inability to really play PG will always hamper him. It's always going to weaken his effectiveness when you take him out of his 2 guard role.

They are perhaps the best worst team in the league. They had less talent last season and were very competitive. This season they've added more talent and Williams has got them playing hard, again. They aren't too far. They will not be an easy win for any team this season.

Don't worry he'll get more time. Duncan/Diaw starting. Then Pop went with Splitter as the big off the bench. In the second half Bonner didn't play and Blair DNP'd.

Pop has options now.

More traditional
Duncan/Diaw
Splitter/Diaw

Smaller ball:
Duncan/KL or SJ
Splitter/KL or SJ

At most, Bonner and Blair will likely be situational.

Leonard needs to be FREEEEEEEEEED up to do his thing!!!

He should be given more plays. He is capable of doing better.

He looks like he wants MORE! More. He wants to participate more.

Draw more plays for him. Get him always more involved! He is going to get much much better with more playing time.

Pop being Pop would make players EARN their minutes. And I guess Pop had changed that philosophy a little since he has to keep the big 3 minutes in check and it was a short season that messed up our rotation last year.

Last year the lack of Manu playing time helped develop some of the new players with More playing time and figuring the system.

I along with yourself and many others on this forum have voiced that sentiment again and again to no avail. Blair/Bonner should be the teams 4th big and depending on the opponent decides whom to play. I'd love to package them two with Neal (RZA we feel the same that he's terrible as the backup pg) so that Mills or De Colo could legitmately be the backup point and not have any reason to play a sg as the distributor/"set up man" of the second lineup.

Kawhi keeps playing like this, the gap between us and the Thunder gets a lot smaller.

The gap got smaller, if not even, with Harden being shipped out of town