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What makes Kawhi Leonard one of the top five players in the NBA?

If one was to lock a group of mad basketball scientists in a room and tell them to design the kind of player they’d want for the current NBA era, it’s not hard to figure what they would eventually come up with.

They’d want someone “long” to use one of the euphemisms of the day, lanky with arms that hang down around the knees, a 6-foot-7 frame that’s at the same time muscular and lithe.

Kawhi Leonardu2019s physical attributes help make him become a top five player in the NBA.
Kawhi Leonard’s physical attributes help make him become a top five player in the NBA.

They’d want someone capable of defending multiple positions and playing them on offence, a wing who could check some bigs, a big who could score against slower players and physically dominate smaller ones.