re: Why is Kawhi Leonard getting a pass?

quote:

---

I'm not a Kawhi hater. I love his game. I just find it funny

---

I said something earlier about fans and confirmation bias when it comes to players. That's part of why he gets a pass but wanted to amend that a little bit. Leonard is a special case.

You look at the top 20 in NBA jersey sales, and Leonard is nowhere to be found. But you line his statistics up with them and he's better than most of them.

Leonard is not a superstar. His results would suggest that he should be, but he's not. Superstars almost always have that type of personality and appeal that extends beyond the sport. That's not Leonard. He's calm and reserved. Most everyone likes calm and reserved because it comes across as humble. But they don't love or hate calm. They aren't drawn to calm. He doesn't inflame emotions.

So even if Leonard goes on to do nothing for the rest of his career, he'll have his detractors but no one is really going to go to great lengths to shite on the guy. There's nothing to drive that hate because he gives you nothing to react to.