Long, quick and athletic. These are the three ideal physical traits for elite, interchangeable defenders.

Instead of going way back in history and focusing on the Pippens and the DeBusscheres, we need but go back a few weeks or months and identify the players who have had the most success defending an extremely talented basketball player and a gifted athlete, who also happens to be the best player in the world in LeBron James.

Since the 2011 NBA Finals, when the Dallas Mavericks successfully limited James’ play by holding him to 17.8 points a game, 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the six-game series, LeBron has adjusted his play by adding a post-game and by improving his three-point percentage. As we know, these improvements have helped open up his game by forcing opponents to respect him and not give him too much room for an open shot, and by forcing them to double-team him in the post, where, to the opponent’s disdain, James’ lethal passing ability and court vision give his great shooters open looks.

How did the Mavericks do it? Look no further then a 2-3 zone defense that has stifled the Miami Heat in the past, as it makes the Heat’s dribble-drive game sputter and forces their primary scorers to relinquish control of the ball. It is also worth nothing that Dallas also had a 6’7”, 228 pound small forward whose primary concern was defending James in Shawn Marion, and they also had the Defensive Player of the Year that year, Tyson Chandler, whose size at 7’1” would force Heat players to have second thoughts before take the ball in the paint. That is, if they were able to get through the feisty perimeter. Thank Rick Carlisle, the Dallas coaching staff, and the perimeter defenders for figuring out and successfully clogging the lane and force the ball in the Heat’s role players more often then not.

The San Antonio Spurs will face a similar challenge in the 2013 NBA Finals.

Now that LeBron has redefined himself offensively, what can the Spurs possibly do to stop him? Better yet, as stopping James is quite impossible, what can they do to limit his production and his ability to make his teammates much more effective on the court?

Firstly, Popovich will have to knight James’ primary defender. Pretend for a second that that will be someone other then Kawhi Leonard.

Right.

Who better to defend LeBron then a 225 pound, 6’7” defensive specialist with a 7’3” wingspan, quick feet, fast reflexes, and a high defensive IQ in Leonard?

Then again, in the 2013 postseason, James has had to face two extremely adept defenders in Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls and Paul George of the Indiana Pacers.

Butler did an excellent job of defending James, even though the latter still managed to produce and post numbers in such a way that lead the Heat to victory against the Bulls in the second round in five games. James averaged 23.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.8 assists in the 2013 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. However, his field-goal percentage was uncharacteristically low at 43.8 percent for the series, compared to his percentage for the season at 56.5 percent. Butler also benefited from the Bulls’ great defensive philosophy established by Tom Thibodeau. Chicago’s graceful rotations and high defensive IQ as a ball club were a great help in limiting James’ efficiency.

George did not have the same success as Butler. LeBron averaged 29.0 points per game, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. He lifted his field-goal percentage by a large margin in comparison to the second round, shooting 50.9 percent from the field, 7.1 percent better then what he shot against the Bulls. Despite a 7’2” center in Roy Hibbert widely affecting James’ shot selection, he still scored efficiently thanks to a more reliable mid-range jumper and three-point shot.

This past season, James took 541 shots at the rim, making 411 for a whopping 76 percent. He took 138 less shots from mid-range, making 174 out of 403: 43.2 percent. In the ECFs against the Pacers, LeBron took 47 shots in the restricted area and made 32 for a field-goal percentage of 68.1 percent. However, Hibbert’s impact becomes much more apparent when we see that he took 45 shots from mid-range, only two shots less then the number of shots he took in the restricted area in the series. That is a mere four percent less of shots he took from mid-range in comparison to shots at the rim, a few crumbs in an empty box of cookies in comparison to the 24 percent less of shots he took from mid-range versus in the restricted area.

Leonard has had plenty of time to prepare himself defensively against either James or Paul George since the Spurs completed their sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Heat’s dominant win in Game 7 gave him an extra three days to prepare himself against LeBron specifically. That’s a total of ten days of watching tapes, analysis, and using any and every resource he can find to limit the four-time MVP as much as possible.

We cannot say for sure how Leonard will play James yet, but will have a much better idea after Game 1 on Thursday night. However, it is safe to say that he will pressure James as far away from the basket as he can, he will look to deny him the ball, and he will give him as little room as possible to drive by him or to get a good look at a shot, all good tactics used by defenders who were somewhat successful in limiting his production. It is also safe to say that Leonard will not be the sole defender on James, as Popovich is known for his help-defense tactics. We will surely see some doubling in the post and some physicality from the Spurs, who will use every weapon in their arsenal in order to stay a few steps ahead of James and the Heat as much as they possibly can. 

The question is, will Leonard be more successful where two elite defenders were not this postseason, and will the Spurs be able to help him enough to reach four wins before Miami does?

Brace yourself Kawhi, the freight train’s a comin’, and the spotlight’s on you.