According to the existing player analysis system and the scouting quality within the NBA system, most players are thoroughly analyzed before they enter the NBA, so that the scouting report has more than 90% confidence that it can perfectly reflect a player's future development trajectory. The other 10% is due to injuries and abnormal development of players. Over the years, with so many players in the draft, there are very few players who can not develop according to the scouting report, regardless of injuries, the rest of the players can be regarded as the best. Why? Because they broke their chains.

Among the group, the most famous is Leonard. Of course, there are people like Jokic, but in comparison, Leonard has been successful, so it makes more sense to use him as an example.

Leonard is a typical role player. Going into the Spurs, Popovich didn't expect the young man to be the team's go-to guy. He saw Leonard's talent, his wide body, his superior arm span, his fearsome hands, and his ability to fight.

The pace of foot movement above the horizontal line, whether dynamic talent or static talent, Leonard can be basically identified in one framework: the opportunity to become a qualified defensive leader. This is not to say that Leonard's other talents are not good, but in this system, as a defensive leader is the most in line with the specific requirements of the Spurs at that time, which can best reflect Leonard's role.

Offense requires talent, while defense is more about awareness and motivation. In college, Leonard's defense has been a good play, so the team naturally wants him to start from the defense, especially the wing defense.

In fact, most of the flankers who are not of high origin start from the defense. Young players, including the current Warriors Moody, Kuminga and the like, need to polish their heart and strength in defensive positions now before they can move on to the next level.

Some people say that if only the defense is good, it may always be a role player, can only be used as a puzzle. To be honest, most defensive players are also used as puzzle types. Because their role in the team is more reflected in the supplement, rather than guidance, which is fundamentally different from the traditional leader players.

This is also the key factor that Leonard broke his ceiling: he found his weak point and changed it into his strongest means. Before entering the league, the report given by scouts was that Leonard's shooting was not very stable, his offensive talent was relatively average, and he had no outstanding scoring means. After entering the Spurs, in addition to the conscientious defense on the court, the most thing Leonard did off the court was to constantly polish his shot. As for other offensive means, they all need to have room to play in front of a stable shot.

If Leonard's three-point shooting had been more consistent at that time, he might have evolved into a figure like Klay. But Leonard was not willing to just be a second in command, he needed a higher tactical position, so he chose to play with the ball. Under the polishing of the Spurs shooting coach, Leonard quickly mastered the shooting percentage of most positions in the mid-range zone. I have to say, this is quite a surprise.

Because in the league that started small ball, someone polished the middle distance, which is almost going against The Times.

Leonard has his own ideas, the middle distance is more stable, and his body has an advantage, if the blind pursuit of magic ball, he is not a traditional shooter, can not guarantee the feel, naturally will not have status. And do a good middle distance, with other offensive means, you can also play more tricks. Learning to shoot was the first step in Leonard's evolution, and it was also the first time he successfully touched his ceiling.

After completing this step, the remaining task is to enrich their offensive skills. Leonard's physical advantages are also played out at this stage. Of course, we must also acknowledge Leonard's savvy and hard work in training. Since the 14th season, Leonard has experimented with a variety of face-frame techniques.

Because of the speed advantage, and the shooting in the mid-range area has been at a relatively stable level, coupled with Leonard's body is easy to push the defender against his opponent, the success rate of the face box is very high. From the beginning of that season, you will find that most of Leonard's offense revolves around three patterns: the block jump shot, the block kill drive, and the no-ball sneak attack.

His attacking style is more like that of a number two who has mastered the classical technique, so the name of modern Jordan comes with it. This style of play is very retro, and in a certain system, Leonard will even carry a kind of aesthetic that other teams have long been absent.

A lot of people will talk about Melo with Leonard during this period, which is reasonable, because the two are almost at the same level of offense. Considering that the quality of Leonard's early teammates is obviously better than Melo, the defensive pressure faced by the two is not the same, and Leonard is slightly inferior in offensive skills.

With offensive skills, they are also defensive warriors, which has achieved the so-called offensive and defensive achievements. There aren't many players who can do that, and Leonard knows that if it's just that, it's obviously not enough.

So he began to hold the ball organization, although the proportion is not very high, but this part of the skill is also slowly shaped in the process of polishing. In the following time, Leonard has learned to deal with key shots, as well as in the regular round linkage teammates. As the team was able to provide more and more tactical status, Leonard's various skill levels also became mature because of the change in the ball, this time Leonard is already one of the league's best three players.

If he has any shortcomings, it is probably too much regular time off, too much physical strength in the playoffs, the use of rules loopholes to hit opponents, so that other teams are dissatisfied. Also, the injury problems inherent in heavy forwards are not immune to Leonard.

If Leonard is healthy, there will be four perfect bodies of forwards in this era: James of the Heat, Durant of the Warriors early, mature Antetokounmpo, and healthy Leonard.

Leonard broke the ceiling and went from defensive engineer to superstar, which was instructive not only for himself, but for many of the team's young players. Young people who think there is no future in playing defense can see their future growth trajectory more clearly.