June 23, 2011
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NEWARK, N.J. - Former San Diego State men's basketball standout forward Kawhi Leonard was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 15th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Thursday night. Later in the evening, Leonard was traded to the San Antonio Spurs.
As a result, Leonard finds himself on a team that went 61-21 last season en route to its eighth division title in the last 13 seasons. The Spurs, which have won the NBA championship four times since 1999, have made the playoffs each of the last 14 seasons.
Leonard is the 18th NBA draft pick in school history and the 13th for head coach Steve Fisher. He is also the first player to hear his name called at the annual draft, for both SDSU and Fisher, since Randy Holcomb was selected in the second round with the 57th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs in 2002.
For San Diego State, Leonard is the second first-round NBA draft pick in program history and first since Michael Cage was taken 14th by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984.
As for Fisher, Leonard is the ninth player he has helped earn NBA first-round status and first since Maurice Taylor was the 14th overall pick in the 1997 Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers after playing his college ball at Michigan.
In two seasons on Montezuma Mesa, Leonard averaged 14.1 points and 10.2 rebounds, including a career-best 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds (9th in NCAA) in 2010-11 as a sophomore. He scored 990 career points, which is the 19th-highest total in SDSU Division I history, and grabbed 716 rebounds, which ranks seventh all-time in San Diego State history and is the fifth most in the program's D-I history.
A double-double machine, the Riverside, Calif., native had 40 double-doubles in 70 career games (69 career starts), including 23 in 2010-11. His 40 double-doubles is the second most in school history behind Cage's 60 (1981-84). His 23 last season, meanwhile, ranked fourth in the NCAA and is tied with Cage (1984) for the most in a single season.
Leonard posted 57 double-figure scoring performances, including 13 20-point efforts, and 42 double-digit rebounding performances in his Aztec career. Last season alone, Leonard produced 33 games with 10 points or more and grabbed a minimum of 10 rebounds 23 different times. The forward also led the team in scoring 27 times in his career, in rebounding 44 times and in assists 16 times.
Over two seasons, Leonard picked up his fair share of hardware. As a freshman, Leonard became the only freshman in the 11-year history of the Mountain West Conference to earn conference player-of-the-week accolades three times. When the season ended, Leonard was the MWC tournament most valuable player, the first freshman in league history to be named to the all-MWC first team and was the MWC freshman of the year. The 6-7 forward was also named to Sporting News' all-freshman second team and the NABC's all-District 17 squad.
This past season, Leonard was one of 10 players selected to the Wooden Award All-America team, was a second-team All-American by the Associated Press, Sporting News and FoxSports.com, and was a State Farm Coaches' third-team All-American. Leonard was also one of 10 candidates up for the Naismith Award and one of 20 eligible for the Wooden Award. On a regional and conference level, Leonard was named to the NABC all-District 17 and the USBWA all-District IX squads, while earning all-MWC first team, MWC all-tournament and all-MWC defensive team accolades. In addition, the sophomore was a two-time MWC player of the week and the CBE Classic Oxford Subregional MVP.
The following are quotes from Kawhi Leonard following his selection in the NBA Draft.
Q. Kawhi, what does it feel like?
Kawhi Leonard: I feel great right now. I got picked to be on an NBA team. I worked hard. I finally accomplished my dream now, but it's not over yet. I've got a lot of work to do to make an impact in the league, and I'm ready to do any type of work I've got to do.
Q. There were reports that the Pacers and the Spurs have made a deal sending you to San Antonio; if true, how would you feel playing in San Antonio?
Kawhi Leonard: I feel good. I had a meeting with them, and I got a great vibe from them. Just any team I'm on, I'm happy with right now. I'm just going in, trying to do whatever the coach wants me to do to make the team successful.
Q. If that report isn't correct, you're going to a Pacer team that has a lot of players of your position, small forwards. What can you do to separate yourself and get yourself on the floor?
Kawhi Leonard: I can do a lot on the court. I'm very versatile. The coach drafted me, and he must have a plan in his head, and whatever his plan is, I'm ready for it.
Q. Your emphasis on rebounding in defense, talk about with the Pacers that, can get you immediate playing time, because they struggled on the defensive end, in the post, especially. Talk about how you're looking forward to that opportunity?
Kawhi Leonard: Yes, I take pride in defense. I'm just going to go in, do the same thing I did in college, get some rebounds and help my teammates find ways to win games.