Kawhi Leonard Is The Bruce Lee Of The NBA
CKSN Pro Weekly with Dwight Wakabayashi
The National Basketball Association is loaded to the rafters with loud guys. The new age, Instagram superstar and Twitter influenced style player who loves to shout out accomplishments across all platforms seem to be the dime a dozen personality these days. Kawhi Leonard of the 2019 NBA finalist Toronto Raptors is proof that you don’t need “likes”, “emoji’s”, or a false persona to accomplish all you want out of the passions and professions of your life.
Beware of the man who screams, shouts and boasts so much for he is the one who often accomplishes the least.
Bruce Lee
Iconic actor and martial arts master Bruce Lee stated some very basics rules in his philosophy and path to success in the fighting arts. When you are in a conflict, be as efficient as possible with your energy, don’t waste it with flamboyant, circular motions and paths. Be direct. Get to where you need to get as efficiently as possible. Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors adopted and perfected this philosophy completely during the 2018-2019 regular season and it has led them close to the very top of the mountain with the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Kawhi saves his energy for the court. His mouth is almost exclusively on idle. His is persona non-grata on social media, radio and television and he directs all the effort of his mind and body to where he needs it the most. Between the lines. When the game starts, he has the reserve needed to play the game until the end. Kawhi, or “The Claw” as he is now widely known, has the basketball IQ and the mentality of a sports assassin. He can take on any player and any team that the NBA can find to throw at him. Even the five-time defending champion and modern-day dynasty Golden State Warriors were unable to stop the masterful Leonard show.
Be formless, shapeless. If you put water into a cup it becomes the cup. You put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can crash, or it can flow. Be Water My Friend.
Bruce Lee
The thing about Kawhi is that he can play the game at the highest level, and carve and cater it to whatever you need. When he gets in the paint or in tight spaces, he becomes like water, flowing and dripping between the cracks in the opposing D. He is the floor general on defense. If his teammates aren’t shooting well, he lights up the night with 30 to 40 pts. If teams close in and double or triple team him he will dish it out to the open man for the wide open three. Whatever you need to do to get the win is what Kawhi does, and he himself is able to recognize first what those things need to be.
If you are a young elementary school or high school basketball player, in Chatham-Kent, you are a part of a very exciting time. You have Kawhi playing down the road in Toronto and often on your television at night.
You also have a highly decorated local athlete Bridget Carlton just starting out on her professional basketball journey in the WNBA. Bridget is another true example of an athlete becoming a master at her craft. Think carefully about how you want use your energy reserve from day to day or how you want to conduct yourself throughout the myriad of platforms of today’s social media.
I would highly recommend you do it like Kawhi or Bridget, I doubt that you will go wrong.