Calvin Leslie took a big step forward in 2012, both in terms of his on-court production and his maturity. And there seemed to be a point down the stretch where he "leveled up" and became a reliable, indispensable part of State's offense.
In comparing his freshman and sophomore seasons, the difference is clear enough. I also wanted to see what the numbers say about his play down the stretch, so I compiled his stats from February 1 onward, which spans 15 games. That's the third row below.
| CJL | ORtg | %Poss | %Shots | eFG% | OR% | DR% | FTR | FT% | 2FG% | 3FG% | |
| 2011 | 95.1 | 27.0 | 26.2 | 44.5 | 12.4 | 19.2 | 50.7 | 54.2 | 45.3 | 25.0 | |
| 2012 | 102.1 | 26.4 | 25.9 | 53.0 | 8.7 | 19.6 | 51.4 | 59.6 | 53.4 | 28.6 | |
| 2012 (last 15) | 104.8 | 30.7 | 27.4 | 54.3 | 8.6 | 22.0 | 51.1 | 57.9 | 54.4 | 33.0 |
What's telling about those last 15 games is the workload--he became an even larger chunk of the offense. It didn't hurt his effectiveness, either, which is impressive. He averaged 17.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in that time.
A big detriment to his efficiency right now is his free throw shooting, because he gets to the line a lot: he shot 188 free throws in 34 games in 2012. If he can just get that FT% into the mid- or upper-60s, it would help quite a bit. I hope that's one of his focuses this offseason, because a reliable free throw shooting Calvin is a scary Calvin indeed.
Leslie improved his two-point accuracy dramatically from his freshman to sophomore seasons as he developed into a more refined finisher around the rim. He had a knack for some wild acrobatics that worked because he's just that gifted, but more than that, he did a better job working within the offense to give himself better opportunities.
All told, Leslie's development is clearly on the upswing, and his ability to handle a high workload is obvious, which is a very good thing to see.