2018 Off-Season Thread

[23]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

According to most reports he was up in his feelings. This guy was supposed to be the perfect San Antonio guy and all of a sudden he's turned into a big ol' baby.

According to Popovich himself, "those stories that were all unfortunate and inaccurate and talking heads needed to have a story"

"kawhi doesnt care about money just wants to play basketball"


SO anyway, im sure they spited his trade request to the Lakers/or the western conference in general, but took the offer from the only team willing to send them a 20ppg scorer for someone they haven't seen play most of the year.

..and any Raptors fans having anything to say about anybody after your management just fired the coach of the year and blake griffin'd your best player.

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Now ESPN's Chris Haynes is reporting that Kawhi has not desire to ever play for Toronto.
Love how these guys all steal each other scoops! lol

And why cant he sit out the whole year?
How can they make him play?

This is pissing me off. If it's true that he won't ever play for Toronto I think a LOT of people including Raptors ownership and management will be angry. Theoretically he could sit out but the only way he can do that short of a medical issue is by retiring for a year. You can't just "sit out" for no reason.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Spoiler

He was thought of that highly because of how versatile he was, OJ. We can both go back and dig up numerous game threads from people here and probably yourself included that would back this up. This isn’t something people just made up about him out of the blue.

Seeing all this high praise about DeRozan is funny because it was a year ago, folks were knocking him for “passing up open 3s just to move up a few feet and take a contested midrange shot” and yet I’m seeing all this efficiency talk when that was the last thing people(at least non-Raptor fans)would describe him as.

Then, it was “The Raptors need to trade either one or both of them after their recent postseason failure” then when they do that, it’s “They’re not getting any better” and now we’re propping up DeRozan because...? Especially considering when people here were saying they shouldn’t give him a max contract.

How much does Kawhi make them better from a W/L standpoint? Who knows but they were bound to have some sort of drop off in that category next year even if they remained pat(probably back towards mid 50s).

But IF he’s back to the Kawhi of old, especially on the Defensive end, he’ll at the very least elevate others play(which is what elite players do,BTW)on that end a lot better than DeRozan did, which might mean remaining where they are at(just going off regular season metrics strictly)and that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.

Is he going to out there and take 30 shots on most nights or take up 20 mid range jumpers like DeRozan did? Most likely no, but you already know IF he’s healthy, he has a post up game equal, if not better than DeRozan, can attack off the dribble, knock down the 3 and play at multiple position(based on what he did in SA healthy since that’s all we can go off of right now). He’s also proven he can play in a half court style Offense and an Offense where they play with a faster pace as well.

The only question aside from health that he has to answer is whether he can still thrive in another system that’s not like what he had in SA and if he’s truly one of the elite players in the league, he won’t have much issue with that.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Y’all some damn fools if you really think he’s going to sit out the entire year.

That **** is an empty threat and if you think his rep is “a bit hurt” now, sitting out will just make it worse. Especially he’s in his feelings that he didn’t get what he wanted.

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

..and any Raptors fans having anything to say about anybody after your management just fired the coach of the year and blake griffin'd your best player.

You're going to blame the fanbase for something the management did? Gee, talk about spreading blame around. Even Casey realized it was probably in the best interest to leave. He wasn't happy really but it was a George Karl situation where he got so much out of his players but come the playoffs they'd either be exposed or under perform. It's not like Casey was some guy who had 3 years of success and then they canned him. Hell, Casey is reportedly STILL living in Toronto despite having the Pistons job.

I will agree with you on the DeRozan thing though.

[jake44np]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

This is pissing me off. If it's true that he won't ever play for Toronto I think a LOT of people including Raptors ownership and management will be angry. Theoretically he could sit out but the only way he can do that short of a medical issue is by retiring for a year. You can't just "sit out" for no reason.

Again..Why not?
What will happen if he simply says, I aint playing for Toronto.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Don't like this trade for Toronto. Highly unlikely Kawhi would resign longterm, and they didn't get anything that can be used in a rebuild by shipping out DD. People talking about well if Kawhi doesn't extend they can rebuild...with what? Trade Lowry for picks? I think Toronto just inserted themselves into mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

What about this coming season? Would a trip to the finals make the trade worth it? Maybe, but I don't see this current squad getting past a healthy Boston.

And it remains to be seen how much Toronto's apparent "betrayal" of DD affects their relationship with players.

Remember the comments about KL to Toronto being a smokescreen or pipe dream? And now the same dudes that argued with me saying SA had leverage are now saying this deal was the best they could get because they didn't have leverage lol. Whole lot of crow to be served.

Final note, the idea that Toronto would trade KL to LAL midseason for some assets and how that could be a beneficial move for Toronto -- ya'll quit it. When the trade deadline approaches and everyone knows Kawhi wants out of Toronto, just what kind of assets could they get in exchange for him? A benchwarmer. And I'm not talking about a player either, I mean like a heating blanket to keep LeBron's seat warm. That is what LA would give up.

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Again..Why not?
What will happen if he simply says, I aint playing for Toronto.

Seeing how Silver operates I would not be surprised if there's some form of compensation other than Kawhi that the Raptors can get. I don't know in what form that would be but you can't have players in your league arbitrarily deciding not to play for someone when they've still got a year on their deal.

As Pack said, this is the kind of threat one makes when they have nothing else in their arsenal. The guy can't be that dumb and shortsighted. You honestly think any team is gonna pony up a near max deal for a guy who's being a petulant headcase?

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

a ton. TOR had good Defensive numbers but they really fell off after the break. This is a huge upgrade granted that Kawhi reports.

I feel like on paper yeah, I mean you're comparing an average-ish defender in DeRozan to arguably the best perimeter defender in the league in Kawhi. But in terms of it adding so much to their team's defense as a unit.. Idk. It's tough to say really. Perimeter defenders are being neutralized now more than they ever have been. Teams just run the picks they want until they get the match-ups they want. Guys are too good with the ball in their hands, and too good at hitting deep shots for you just never switch. We already saw teams do that to Kawhi in his last year with San Antonio. IMO being an elite perimeter defender has less value than it ever has. All the switching and high ball screens, the best thing you can do now is just make sure you're versatile and there is no weak link for teams to exploit. Even with Kawhi, Toronto still has those weak links.

Houston is really the ideal defensive structure you need in today's league. Switch 1-4 and make sure the big can stay with guards if he has to. Part of the reasoning I was team Giannis > Kawhi a couple pages back. He can switch more spots.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Again..Why not?
What will happen if he simply says, I aint playing for Toronto.

Its breach of contract. He wouldn't be able to sit out a year and then enter FA unless Toronto agrees to let him do that.

Gotta say, if you would have told me about this saga a year ago while leaving names out, I never would have guessed the person would be Kawhi Leonard.

[Majingir]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

The past few weeks people said nobody knows what's going on with the Kawhi stuff because nobody is talking, but now suddenly they know for a fact he's "Alonzo Mourning" the Raptors?

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Don't like this trade for Toronto. Highly unlikely Kawhi would resign longterm, and they didn't get anything that can be used in a rebuild by shipping out DD. People talking about well if Kawhi doesn't extend they can rebuild...with what? Trade Lowry for picks? I think Toronto just inserted themselves into mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

I think there would be a couple years of mediocrity BUT you're failing to recognize that the "bench mob" players who played out of their minds last year are almost all exclusively young. The plan moving forward is to get some of those guys to the point where they are starters. Poetl, Siakam, and VanVleet are names of guys who are ready to make that kind of jump in the next couple years. Also the Raptors will have some bad contracts off the books by that time with Ibaka, Lowry and even JV's contracts expiring. There's a "pillow" landing for a rebuild.

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

The past few weeks people said nobody knows what's going on with the Kawhi stuff because nobody is talking, but now suddenly they know for a fact he's "Alonzo Mourning" the Raptors?

Ah yes, the deal that basically sealed Rob Babcock's fate.

[Scofield]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

So... Kawhi allowed his reputation to be effectively destroyed and will leave about 80 mill on the table for what exactly?

I've heard about this sports agency dream his uncle has and the obvious stuff about LA. The agency thing is definitely a pipe dream. No way in hell they can copy what LBJ and co have done. Kawhi is nowhere near a big enough star.

Also, say he does finally make it to LA. He'll face a sports media that's the most rabid in the League besides NY and Boston. He obviously can't handle conflict so Im left puzzled.

Did things just get out of control or did his team really think they had a plan?

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[jeremym480]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

I feel like people are forgetting how good Kawhi was in 16/17. They're looking at his PPG throughout his career and comparing it to DeRozan and saying that DeMar is a better offensive player off PPG. However, the truth is Kawhi never really had to be "the guy" on offense the way DeRozan did with mainly just Lowry to help. Plus, he was progressing offensively each year throughout his career.

In the 16/17 season if the Spurs needed Kawhi to go out and get 30 points he could. The next night he might only get 11 points because he would only take 5-6 shots but that's what happens when you're a defensive first player on a good all around team. If Kawhi returns to form he's easily a Top five player.

Again..Why not?
What will happen if he simply says, I aint playing for Toronto.

It's a breach of contract so he would have to at least show up or Toronto would continue to retain him until he's fulfilled the final year of his deal. Of course, he may show up and basically pull the same thing he did last year with the Spurs and ghost em after playing a few games.

Didn't Marbury pull something similar with the Knicks 10-15 years ago? I forget the specifics just remember a bunch of hubbub him being disgruntled and I think a "fake injury" was involved there, as well.