Popovich lauds Leonard's leadership: 'He's never going to be a towel waver'

After having the legendary Tim Duncan at his disposal for 19 successful seasons, head coach Gregg Popovich knows exactly what it takes for an NBA player to excel as a leader, and he's happy to see those intangibles emerging in San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard.

"He's never going to be a towel waver," Popovich said of Leonard to SB Nation's Paul Flannery. "He speaks to me about things that he sees now. He comes into timeouts, if he's not happy with what's going on on the court. That's all good.

"I'd rather have him do that than beat his chest and wiggle his shoulders and stare at the camera and all that other crap. That doesn't seem to make much sense. I'd rather have it the other way and work on him to be a leader in the timeouts, in the locker room, on the plane. That kind of stuff."

Beat his chest? Wiggle his arms? Popovich couldn't possibly mean the Bay Area Chef, could he?

Popovich is as old school as it gets, so it's no surprise he's not a fan of the over-the-top celebratory ways of Stephen Curry, if that's in fact who he's referring to. The Spurs are cut from a different cloth, which rings especially true for Leonard, who up until this season was as quiet as a mouse and not one to draw attention to himself outside of his sensational play.

With Duncan no longer around, it's imperative that the two-time Defensive Player of the Year continue to find his voice and have his teammates rally around him. San Antonio hit the jackpot when trading their No. 15 pick in the 2011 draft for the now 25 year old, as no one - including Pop - could have imagined how great he'd become so early in his career.

"We'd be exaggerating if we said we knew what he was going to be," Pop added. "Kind of like Manu (Ginobli). Or Tony (Parker). It just worked out for us. We needed size when we made that trade. Kawhi had such size and we thought he had the foot speed to move from an inside player to the three position. So we decided to roll the bones and found out that he's got the same attitude that Tim Duncan had. He comes early, he stays late, he wants to be great. He's just a sponge."

Leonard is putting up 24.8 points (11th in NBA), 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 steals (fifth) on 46.2 percent shooting from the field and 38.6 percent from behind the arc. The Spurs are also 10.1 points better per 100 possessions offensively when he's on the floor and give up 12.4 more points defensively when he's on the bench.

"He's done it for us the entire time he's been there," Popovich said. "At the offensive end, I think our players get less minutes than other players at those positions if I'm not mistaken. I don't think he's ever going to be worn out. I'm not going to play him like Latrell Sprewell. The bottom line is that he's getting paid to do both. So get your ass out there and do both, if you want to know the truth. If you don't want to do both then we'll pay you $4 million."