by Derek Machen, Spurs Zone

People who are naturally competitive can tell you they are always looking for new and innovative ways to work on their craft.

For someone in the NBA, that involves intense offseason training to improve their individual game and seeking different ways to become a well-rounded player.

San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard has started the new season in style showing an ever-expanding game on both sides of the court. Reforming his ball handling skills is key in being able to create more high percentage shots for himself and his teammates. The hard work has definitely paid off this season.

Indeed, Kawhi has been on an absolute tear through eight games, averaging 27.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game while calmly swiping 2.3 steals on a nightly basis.

So what gives? What else did Leonard do over the summer to improve his game?

Try strobe lights.

No, not strobe lights you might find in a dance club but actual eye wear that stimulates the brain.

“It’s like the ball is moving in slow motion,” Leonard told ESPN.com. “They affect your perception, which will make you focus more on feel,” Leonard says of the stroboscopic glasses before, characteristically for a Spur, downplaying the importance. “I used them like once or twice. … Just being able to handle the ball in the games is where you get most of your confidence as far as that goes.”

So Leonard got his hands on stroboscopic goggles. Exactly how that happened remains a bit of a mystery. Terrified that word of the goggles will get out, one Spurs staffer after another refused to talk. What we do know is that for four days, Leonard wore these high-tech glasses at the gym — picture a sleeker version of Horace Grant’s goggles — during his traditional dribbling, passing and shooting drills.

It’s clear he is now the Spurs’ engine on both ends. He averaged 4.7 finishing plays in isolations or as the pick-and-roll ball handler last season, according to Synergy video tracking. This season? That’s up to 9.6 such plays, more than LeBron James.

These glasses have assisted Leonard’s feel for the game in what is his best season of his young and promising career. If the superstar forward can continue to post numbers like these consistently, he can potentially lead his San Antonio squad past the heavyweights of the Western Conference, including that super team in Oakland.

The only thing is that the Warriors’ MVP – Stephen Curry – uses the same strobe light technology.