USA Basketball is holding a mini camp in Las Vegas this week, mainly to find out who’s serious about participating for Team USA at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. All the heavy hitters are there: LeBron, Carmelo, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Michael Carter-Williams….okay, fine, pretty much everyone is there. This week’s session will be capped off by the somewhat-traditional Blue & White scrimmage, which has been rendered a mostly-meaningless affair due to the fact that A) almost nobody of consequence is participating (thus, it will have little to no bearing on who makes next year’s team), and B) only one Blue & White scrimmage has ever really mattered: the 2007 game, when everyone was trying to compete for the FIBA Americas squad (in case you missed it, it’s basically the greatest All-Star Game ever played, because guys actually gave a shit for 40 minutes straight).
Anyway, one of the players bold enough to compete in Thursday’s showcase is human Easter Island head Kawhi Leonard, the 2014 Finals MVP who is famous for partying with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in…his condo…while he coached kids at a basketball camp. SNOOOOOZE. During practice on Wednesday, Kawhi was caught on Candid NBA TV Camera, actually smiling and laughing (with Kyrie Irving), as LeBron and Carmelo — USA teammates dating back to the ill-fated 2004 team — clowned on Russell Westbrook for screwing up a drill.
Let this be proof that Kawhi Leonard is not, in fact, a cyborg sent from the future to wreak defensive havoc on the NBA.
