2018 Off-Season Thread

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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?

Welcome to all summer lol

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[jeremym480]

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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The Lakers/Clippers should just offer him the vet minimum next summer since he wants to be there so badly. I know that's not going to happen but if it did that would be hilarious.

[ojandpizza]

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.

But nobody said DeRozan was a better offensive player.

[dubcity]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

You can be mad at Kawhi, but I'm pretty sure this all stems from Pop's inability/unwillingness to coddle his superstar. He thought he could talk to and treat Kawhi like he did Duncan, and K was like **** this and **** you. You can call it a bitch move, but I'm pretty sure plenty of younger NBA stars would react in the same negative way to Pop's style.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

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.

This same scenario existed before the DD trade though right? They didn't get anything back that helps them in the future.

Poetl is gone man, so not only did they not get a future asset in return, they sent one away lol

I question how helpful clearing bad contracts will be because Toronto wasn't exactly a FA hotspot before this.

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

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.

I know most won't believe this but the Toronto media can be just as vicious. We may not have the volume of NBA reporters here but the volume of what they put out can get pretty loud. If Kawhi thinks he can sit out or play a few games and ghost the Raptors without much of a media fuss than he has another thing coming. There are a few very smart NBA guys in this city they will cut him to ribbons and he'll face a reckoning. After all, this is still the 4th (or 5th depending on what metric you use) biggest market in North America.

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Like I said when I first posted, I wouldn't be surprised to never see him in a Raptors uniform and they should just ship him out as soon as they can and get them some pieces for the future. That's what they should have done in the first place because even if he is there to start the season I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him pull a Vince Carter.

[Majingir]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Lets say Kawhi doesn't play for the Raptors, is there a chance they could end up trading him and getting MORE back than what Spurs got, because of a reason such as Spurs passing up on an offer(or just wanting TOO much) from teams in the West, simply because they were in the west?

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

Don't remind me of Rob Babcock! Raptors during his time was more embarrassing than Raptors getting swept in the playoffs by the Wizards.


Takes over as GM, drafts Araujo (Iguodala taken right after) and signs Alston to a big extension.


Iguodala,VC,Bosh could've been a dominant big 3.

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

This same scenario existed before the DD trade though right? They didn't get anything back that helps them in the future.

Poetl is gone man, so not only did they not get a future asset in return, they sent one away lol

I question how helpful clearing bad contracts will be because Toronto wasn't exactly a FA hotspot before this.

ACK! I must've glossed over that. Man, this trade is looking even worse now based on Kawhi's shenanigans.

[cima]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

He needs to just back this whole "I don't want to be here" rumor that's going around so the Raptors will enter "rebuild" mode and they will trade him to the Lakers for Ingram and some picks. Especially if they can unload the Deng contract.

Unloading Deng and Ingram would just clear another 25+ mil going into next off-season on top of all of their expiring deals they just got on 1 year contracts, and trading Ingram while retaining Hart, Kuz, Ball would not be "gutting" themselves.

The reports were SA was originally asking for Kuzma, Ingram, Hart, and picks. That's why the Lakers said lol no thx.

I get you think Ingram is trash but they aren't gonna trade him. Why trade Ingram when you can have Ingram AND Kawhi next year? I get the LeBron is aging argument but LA seems pretty content to roll with their current squad for now. At the end of the day though, this is a LeBron team, and midseason changes are not unheard of. But there's no need to try and trade for Kawhi right now. Trade deadline at the earliest and only if the offer is right.

[ehh]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

According to the Sporting News Sean Deveney...
Kawhi will not play for the Raptors, ever.
Says he is ready to sit out the whole season if need be.

We need some clarification on this matter because I've seen from a few places that if he doesn't play he's in violation of his contract and will not become a FA next summer.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

You can be mad at Kawhi, but I'm pretty sure this all stems from Pop's inability/unwillingness to coddle his superstar. He thought he could talk to and treat Kawhi like he did Duncan, and K was like **** this and **** you. You can call it a bitch move, but I'm pretty sure plenty of younger NBA stars would react in the same negative way to Pop's style.

So are you saying Pop is the bad guy because he didn’t want to kiss ***?

How did he treat Duncan though?

[SPTO]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

So I don't follow the Spurs much but what exactly caused Kawhi to suddenly lose his mind? He seemed like a quiet guy who just got the job done and loves to play the game. Now he's acting like a fool and he does himself no favors here.

Toronto isn't the worst place in the world to play. Hell, PJ Carlesimo (sp) was on the radio here last night and talked up how great the culture is here (he was an assistant for a year) and how he was disappointed when he was let go. He basically feels like Kawhi would thrive in this environment and would be a key piece on a legit squad.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Shams is reporting that the Kings and Nemanja Bjelica are discussing a contract after Bjelica bailed on the 76ers to return to Europe.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: 2018 Off-Season Thread

Lets say Kawhi doesn't play for the Raptors, is there a chance they could end up trading him and getting MORE back than what Spurs got, because of a reason such as Spurs passing up on an offer(or just wanting TOO much) from teams in the West, simply because they were in the west?

I'd say there is close to no chance in hell that happens.

This was probably the best deal SA was offered. They got:
1. A bonafide all star level player (but not superstar )
2. A promising young player
3. A 1st round pick (I have to think they pushed to make it unprotected)

I don't think any GM would offer more than that just to put themselves in the same exact position Toronto now finds itself.

LA might if they think the move would put them over the top (lol), but aside from LeBron, who has value equal to DD? Ingram? Aside from the fact that he is 40% trash, you really think they'd part with him just to get KL a few months sooner? Then throw in another young talent to offset the loss of Poetl?

Nah, what you are asking isn't going to happen. Call it a hot take if you want, but this trade will haunt Toronto I think. Big mistake.