Kawhi's college coach, teammates shed light on his trash talk

Greatness doesn’t happen overnight. It takes tremendous passion, unrelenting dedication, and years of hard work.

One of Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard’s greatest moments this postseason came when the ball bounced four times on the rim before dropping through the hoop for the first-ever series-winning buzzer-beater in a Game 7. Isolated in that moment, some would call it luck, and sure, there was an element of that. But, to get the ball and go to his preferred right, to gain the elevation he needed to make sure he could shoot over the top of the seven-foot Joel Embiid, then add the necessary arc takes years of building.

For Leonard, a lot of the groundwork was laid when he went to San Diego State for two years before entering the NBA, and his teammates and coaches there revealed to The Athletic some of the most fascinating aspects of what sees him amongst the NBA’s elite today.

Here are some of the best quotes:

On work ethic

DJ Gay, guard: I took Kawhi on his official visit. Honestly, the only thing he wanted to do was get in the gym. We were like, “Kawhi, what do you want to do?” And he was like, “Let’s go work out. Let’s go get some shots up. Let’s play.”

Tim Shelton, forward: So Kawhi had a lamp, and on different occasions, Kawhi would be in there late and the lightbox would be locked, so he’d bring a lamp in there. He’d put his finger under the door and unlatch it and he’d go in there and shoot with just his lamp.

LaBradford Franklin, guard: To this day, I apply everything I learned from him. He was the hardest worker. While we were going to class, he would hold his couple papers for the class in his hand and in his backpack he had his sports gear: his shoes, the ball. He was always in the gym. At night, in the day. You could definitely learn from him. That work ethic can be applied to anything. That was the craziest thing I saw.

On trash talking

DJ Gay: The most he talked was on the hard court, and Kawhi was not afraid to let you know that you weren’t going to score on him, that you couldn’t get past him or that he would score on you. Every time the ball went through the net, he just said, “Bucket. Bucket.” That was it.

LaBradford Franklin: If he was grabbing a rebound, he’d say, “Give me that” or “Board man” or “Board man gets paid.”

Coach Justin Hutson: We would talk about rotations and how to help. I would get on him about it. He was respectful, but he would be very frustrated and say, “Why can’t everybody just guard their own man?” Those were exactly his words. “Why can’t everybody just guard their own man?”

On Michael Jordan comparisons

John Van Houten, manager: He’d come over to my house and he’d watch Michael Jordan highlights. We called them “Mike highs” … I mean, like four or five hours at a time.

Coach Velasquez: We’d be done with the game and he’d be on his phone watching Jordan on YouTube. Right away. He wasn’t texting. He was watching Jordan on YouTube. He’d watch it all day, every day.

LaBradford Franklin: On his phone, his background was Michael Jordan. … He would always say, “I’m Mike. You like LeBron, you like Kobe? Yeah, they’re cool, but I’m Mike. I want to be the best, the greatest.” And from how he carried himself, we knew he was serious. We knew that’s what he really wanted.

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