The spurs have a real problem: it's their first misstep in years

What happened to Portland LMA? They are not going anywhere even with Kawhi coming back. Might as well get a 1st rounder and let Manu retire.

 

This is probably thier first real mistake
That has lead to where they are now
1. LaMarcus ain't Tim . . . they thought of him as the Tim Replacement
2. He is not a top 10 star . . maybe not to 20.
3. Because of 1 and 2 . . KAwhi is looking for greener pastures
4. If they cannot resign and make Kawhi happy. . . . LaMarcus's contract becomes an albatross

Rocket River

 

LaMarcus was never that good in the first place. He put up great numbers, but what did those Portland teams ever really accomplish aside from 2014 which had as much to do with McFail doing one of the worst coaching jobs I've ever seen. And now he's 32 years old(33 in July). He doesn't rely on athleticism like other 4's, so he'll still be a really good player for a few more seasons. But he's not good enough to be that 2nd superstar alongside Kawhi if the Spurs are hoping to compete with the likes of the Warriors and Rockets. Not with the rest of the roster looking the way it does.

 

Not really. Kawhi has one more year on his contract, so LaMarcus's contract extends for two more years passed Kawhi's for 24 million a year. They could easily dump his contract because he plays up to his contract.

 

Agreed, LMA's contract isn't like a Ryan Anderson contract, where the production doesn't match the money being paid.

Regardless, Spurs probably still won't be able to get full return on a LMA trade, so if they sense that the current team isn't up to par / Kawhi might leave, they might cut bait on LMA sooner than later.

 

Aldridge is playing much more like a max player this year vs. last year.

If Kawhi comes back and gets to 100% this year or next year, Spurs are still in good shape

 

The Spurs look... bad

 

That Spurs team was a shell of itself due to all of the injuries to key players. If they have missed it's been because they have let declining players like Manu and Parker hang around too long while not upgrading the athleticism and 3 point shooting of their team. You see the same thing happenning with the Mavericks who have used Dirk to bail them out from the boneheaded decision making of Mark Cuban in the years since they won their NBA title. Only now, Dirk can't do it anymore. Also I think that due to Pop's stubborn adherence to the style of ball that won him titles he has resisted the changes in the way games are bieng played today. While they are indeed down this year, they are not that far away with a little tweaking of their roster. This really isn't a team that has to clear a lot of cap space to go after a "star" player like some others. They have a good front office and are well coached plus, you just never know who they have stashed overseas.

 

I would look to be trading Leonard for Wiggins and a pick if I were Spurs. I think pop could bring out the best in a player like Wiggins

 

Spurs are toast.

The writing is on the wall with KL.

He wants out, I think that is clear.

I guess we will really know come July when they can offer him the 200m.

Even with KL playing at last season level and lamarcus playing at this years level. They just don’t have enough around those guys.

Bertans is a nice role player, same with Danny Green.

But everyone else is either old or not very good.

They had 20 years of 50+ wins and 5 titles.

This was bound to happen sooner or later.

Tbh I thought they were done 3 years ago so they exceeded my expectations.

But the well it’s POP and the spurs thing is played out. He’s the best coach but all the best coaches had great stars and role players.

Spurs have one star who doesn’t want to play. And aging lma who’s still pretty good and two decent role players.

POP is the good but he’s not a magician.

 

How is that clear? Because Stephen A Smith said so? Give me a break...

 

The Spurs are incredible for the position they are in - they haven't missed the playoffs in 20 years and still managed to snag a top 5 guy in Kawhi - that's incredible! They need to rid themselves of the past - TP & Manu but other then that they have done a decent job of adjusting on the fly. Injuries have bit them this year and they still could stand to have another dynamic player(preferably at the PG), but a healthy Kawhi, LMA and Pops are still a sure fire playoff team and if they can swing one good FA to S.A., they have a chance to be a real contender.

 

there is real friction between the spurs and his camp that has been reported by Woj.

Look at POPs comments a few weeks ago they imo seemed like a direct statement intended for KL. Basically either come be with the team and play or stay your butt at home.

The guys been cleared to play for months.

Something is going on that’s bigger than his mystery quad injury.

He’s had this same injury in the past and it hasn’t kept him out damn near a whole year.

I mean Tony Parker ruptured his quad and was back playing on it in nba games 9 months.

KL injury isn’t anything near as serious as Tony’s and Tony is like 10
Years older that KL.

We’ll see, maybe he’s getting bad advice I don’t know but that situation is funky and we’re there is smoke there is fire.

To many leaks have reported a possible friction between both sides and this is the spurs which has a squeaky clean reputation were literally everything stays in house.

I’m assuming your being sarcastic but Iv actually not heard screaming A Smith with his take on this.

 

Kawhi just said he wanted to be a spur for life. Kya said the same thing years ago. I think he'd resent them if they brought another lowball Timmy D wink wink deal instead of a max extension though. I wouldn't take a discount knowing that poop has a year or two left and the potential of another lma level joke signing ruins a prime year or two.

The uncle might be working that angle knowing he could make more on the side in a bigger city.

We'll see what kanji's character is next year. He doesn't need a ring for validation. He doesn't need that much more wealth but he should get more for what he's putting down. Spurs let him hide and operate on his own pace and style.

But I'd totally respect him if he tried to be something bigger in a different city rather than gluing San Antonio's rebuild for life after the former big three.

Would be surprised from what we've seen from him too.

 

maybe it was next offseason and not this offseason but i thought this was supposed to be the "down year" for the spurs as they essentially retooled and let some bad contract roll off and then rebuilt fully around kawhi? i mean they'd probably be a 55 win team with kawhi so that's a pretty good off year. unless he just really wants to go to a bigger city for more endorsements (which seems weird for a guy who doesn't even attempt to sell himself), i don't see why kawhi would say "i've won a title, been to another finals, and another conference finals with this organization and everyone says they're the best organization in the business, but i think these guys don't know how to get it done and i'm going to greener pastures where they know how to win." weird situation.

 

God no, Wiggins is an atrocious defender. I'm sure Pop would rather have Butler than Wiggins despite Wiggin's youth.