Quick reminder: Patty Mills is on the Clippers.
There’s nothing timely about this, and it’s not relevant to what follows. It’s just too easy to forget. Patty Mills is still in the league! Enjoy him while he’s with us.
1. How many more games will Kawhi Leonard play this postseason?
We’ve said before that you can place all NBA players into one of two buckets: Soft-Type (players who are soft) or Dog-Type (players who have that dog in them). Soft-Type doesn’t have to be a pejorative. In the NBA, soft is not a sin. It can be a pejorative, but it doesn’t have to be. You can use it at your convenience. This is how we’ve navigated James Harden’s 18-year NBA career.
One guy who’s tough to place? Kawhi Leonard. On the one hand, there’s “Board man gets paid” and Leonard winning his titles in San Antonio and Toronto, and defense and those giant hands and his quietness which borders on mute. On the other hand, there’s the opaque load management and the shifty exit from San Antonio and Uncle Dennis. All of the Soft-Type indicators are vague. All of the Dog-Type indicators are old. All of the Soft-Type indicators attack the Dog-Type indicators directly. In “Board man gets paid,” does Leonard care more about the board man or the paid?
It’s important that we’re clear about where we stand on Kawhi Leonard, which is that we’re unclear where we stand on Kawhi Leonard. It’s important to be clear about that because of what we need to say next:
Kawhi Leonard’s not going to make it through this whole postseason, right?
Leonard wasn’t as spectacular last night as he was on Monday, but he’s putting together an elite series and the Clippers have the upper hand against the greatest active player in the world. This goes without saying, but he’s essential to any title hopes the Clippers have. The problem is that no matter how high the stakes have been in the past, it’s been possible for Leonard’s body to get him out of there. Yes, his body is no friend to his basketball career. Yes, the injuries have been real. No, we don’t know anything with certainty. But it sure feels like Leonard’s passed up chances other players would have taken, prioritizing longevity over greatness. Board man gets paid, after all. It’s a fine choice to make, especially when a guy’s won two of the least asterisked titles in the last twenty years. But it’s the kind of choice that makes one assume he’ll make the same choice again. Even to finish the series against the Thunder, Leonard will probably have to play nine more games. In Kawhi Leonard’s world, that’s a lot.
2. Jacob Wilson’s Hands
A’s rookie Jacob Wilson hit a walk-off single against the Rangers last night, his second career walk-off single against the Rangers. He did it last fall too, in the penultimate A’s game at the Oakland Coliseum. I was at that game with my dad. We sat next to a man and his adult sons. The man had owned A’s season tickets for decades before giving them up a few years earlier. One of his sons was more plugged into the A’s long-term outlook and told his dad early in the game how evaluators were excited about Wilson. “They say he’s got great hands at the plate.”
Saying a guy has great hands at the plate is funny. I know what it means, but I also don’t know what it means. What I do know is that Wilson’s fun. Contact hitter. Hardly walks. Makes things happen. Looks like an Oakland Athletic, even if he’s not an Oakland Athletic. Basically: He’s the early AL Rookie of the Year favorite, and he’s fun, and I’m not above admitting I’m enjoying watching the Sacramento A’s. Wish they weren’t in Sacramento, but I can’t imagine not liking the guys in green and gold. Hard to think of another team I more instinctively pull for when they appear on my television.
3. In Ontario, a Twist
The bad news is this: The Sens lost in overtime again last night and now trail the Leafs 3–0. The good news is this: There’s a twist!
This is, unfortunately, a very small deal. Nick Cousins shot a puck towards Anthony Stolarz last night during warmups, which is a no-no but only comes with a two thousand-dollar fine for Cousins. (I never know if that’s Canadian dollars or USD.) Unless the puck was coated in anthrax, there is nothing to see here. Thankfully, that didn’t stop Darren Dreger from being extremely dramatic about it online. I know very little of Darren Dreger. I hope he was in on the joke, especially when he described that video as someone “firing” a puck. But if he wasn’t, it’s even better. Every country should have one Gregg Doyel.
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