Popovich saw the improvement that came from Leonard’s work, and even with mainstays Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili still playing a prominent role, Popovich gained confidence that Leonard could assume a greater role over time. “He worked his ass off with those guys,” Popovich said of Leonard’s work with player development. “Ballhandling, pick-and-roll, shooting a 3-pointer, stepbacks, all that sort of stuff. He came before practice, he stayed after practice. And as time went on, toward the end of his time with us, the two Miami series is when we kind of opened it up for him. Like, ‘You’re going to be the guy now, because Timmy is getting older, Manu is getting older, Tony is getting older.’ And he had a great series the year we lost in ’13, and then he was the MVP the next year, in ’14.”
