The thing about Kawhi that people aren't realizing is that he's probably already in decline on defense. And its got nothing to do with physical or anything else. Its the same thing that has sapped the attention of a number of all time level defenders over the years: he's turning into an offensive franchise player. Michael Jordan might have been, amongst other things, the greatest SG defender in history if that's what he focused on. But he had immense other responsibilities drawing away his attention and energy, and so he part time smothered, but also part time conserved energy. LeBron has the freak tools to have been anything he wanted, but same problem. Gary Payton may be the GOAT PG defender, but as his offensive responsibilities piled up and he was playing 40+ min averaging 23ppg and having to carry everything, the constant focus on smothering defense declined. Kobe notoriously built a rep as an all time guard defender, and then lived off of it for the second half of his career.
My critique of Kawhi thus far in his career is that he's had it easy. He hasn't been a franchise player. He's always had ridiculous support, and essentially only had to take high level easy shots. If he was cold, somebody else took the shots. Bad matchup? Same. Tired? Same. He hasn't had a franchise truly on his back. Wonderful talent, but not a franchise player with full responsibilities on offense. But if the early season continues with him showing a whole new level of aggression and team carrying ability in the wake of Duncan, two things will happen. 1) he will now have crossed that final threshold to being a franchise player carrying them every night; 2) his defense is going to fall off. He may still be first team All Defense, but he will have too much else on his plate to use up all his energy smothering guys every night over a long season.
The defensive specialists, guys who don't have the same offensive responsibilities, can sustain their special defensive level longer because that's what they do. But the superstar class of guys, among whom there have been some all time level defenders, eventually have to divide their energy and focus and often get rather excessive defensive accolades based on what they COULD do if they really focused all the time rather than what they actually do do every night. Its highly unlikely a 25ppg Kawhi defends at the level of a 15ppg Kawhi. Just a lot harder work to be the franchise.
P.S. of course as I say that Kawhi of course immediately starts having a game against the Pelicans where he submissively backs off and let's the other guys carry the team while he turns into a roleplayer. So we'll see.
P.P.S. and there we go, the new Kawhi erupts again and suddenly the Spurs put away another team. Having a The Man type is a boon.
