Kawhi Leonard out indefinitely

Agreed, but at the same time they could mend fences. But clearly there are some rough edges right now, it is obvious from Manu's and Parker's comments.

 

Pops lost his superstar (in the figurative sense, so far). Many great coaches have never lost a locker room, much less their young, franchise player.

You can take Pops off that list now.

lulz at catering to LMA over your franchise player.

His Bobby Knight coaching handbook of military authoritarian tactics have finally backfired. But many groupies will not be able to handle this and will come to his rescue and toss one of the most hardworking and soft-spoken superstars under the bus,,,because Pops.

 

In terms of losing a player, one thing to consider is that Kawhi looks to be an introvert. I am an introvert. And one thing introverts do no like is being "put on the spot" or "backed into a corner." And that kind of is what Pop and the Spurs are doing to Kawhi right now with the whole "our doctors have cleared him, we are just waiting on you" thing. And also the "players only meeting pleading for Kawhi to come back" or at the least "make an effort to be part of the team." Those tactics can work with some personalities, but on others it just pushes them MORE away. We'll see.

 

I'm wondering if him going to NY to "get treatment" is any indication that he wants to be in that market. Kawhi on the Knicks would net him a much better shoe deal Im sure.

 

Kawhi came into the league pretty humble, but he's starting to feel like he deserves better. It is likely influences around his camp, but just because he is soft spoken doesn't mean he lacks an ego. I may be missing something, but why is this Pops fault? I would think its Spurs training staff vs. Kawhi or San Antonio the market vs Kawhi. What could Pops do differently to appease him? How are they catering to LMA? Does Kawhi want to be featured more offensively? I mean he's only had one 40 point game ever which is surprising, Luis Scola has a better career high

 

Pop is a great coach, but I have a feeling he's lacking a very important skill that all NBA coaches should have, and that's ego management. He probably never learned it because he had Tim Duncan.

 

I'm so confused with this story. No one has any answers, really.

 

^ this

Pops is the Spurs. If you know me, I'm usually a guy here who defends coaches the most or at least never blames coaches unless/until they lose their lockerroom (like McHale did) or they lose the star, franchise player ... especially a young one.

You don't have to agree, but @omgTHEpotential explains very succinctly why I'm blaming Pops here. Plus, we saw this already with Parker and LMA, but Duncan was able to help with Parker, and Pops was able to manage LMA's ego out of convenience of Kashi being out...whereas he failed last year on keeping LMA happy.

I'm just basing this on some Fall camp reports that Pops had discussions with LMA about focusing the offense more on him again (using more Portland sets). And they were able to come to an understanding resulting in LMA doing much better this year than he did in the playoffs last year. My gut instinct is after LMA's two huge (40+) opening games vs OKC in 2016, to only win one, and see OKC later rip off 3 games in a row....Pops switched the offense to feature Kawhi more as GoTo in his 25+ ppg, MVP candidate 2017 year....and LMA got whiny, and thus his poor playoff performance ... even against us.

Then we recently had a rumor that Kawhliflower has dislike for the renewed LMA-focused offense. Who knows, Pops might have approached him early to say they need to keep LMA happy, and would Kawhi play ball to that end.

yeah, it's conjecture to say Pops lost Kashi because he catered to LMA ... but it has a quasi-basis in facts and rumors.

 

I mean, i wouldn't bet on it...yet, but him not coming back with this miscommunication plus the shoes deal situation, the rumors about the Lakers trying to trade for him (and he's from L.A.)...there's certainly a lot of smoke here...

 

Tim Duncan wanted to go to Orlando during Free Agency, Tim Duncan asked Doc Rivers while Dining during Free Agency "Can my Family travel on plane trips" Doc said No. Awkward moment at the Table. Tim Duncan later resigned with the Spurs.

 

For Kawhi Leonard HEB Commercials is not enough?

 

If Kawhi is sitting out because Popovich decides Aldridge needed more involvement on offense, that’s on Kawhi and no one else. Blaming the coach for something like that is stupid. Of course, it’s silly to think that’s what is going on.

Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one. Kawhi is out because he’s not feeling right, and he doesn’t want to put his career in jeopardy by playing through an injury. The Spurs can’t be blamed for being frustrated about this. Popovich is managing it with the players he has, and he’s done a masterful job as usual.

 

In the end, many great NBA coaches have never lost their lockerroom or a superstar franchise player in their prime.

You can take Pops off that list, now.

Of course, it's silly to think a disgruntled LMA last year is the only reason. I agree. But you are downplaying the issues LMA created with Pops and the team.

Pops didn't decide LMA needed more involvement, LMA whined his way to it, and it was easy to cater to it, since Kashi was out. Last year, Pops most definitely downsized LMAs role and increased Kashi's, as his preferred strategy. LMA whined all last year, in the playoffs (very noticeable, media was all over it), so much so that Pops had to stroke his ego and sit him down for a discussion in Sept or so. While Pops never used the word "whining," in response to continued media stories about a disgruntled LMA in the summer, Pops did publicly say he needed to talk to LMA to settle differences about his role.

As a hardworking superstar, or even a blue-collar worker in a factory, when a boss caves to disgruntled employees and asks the hardworkers to cater to them, that crap usually doesn't work out well for morale.

As for pure basketball strategy of increasing LMA's role vs Kashi's, from my seats (and the media), Pop's has been downsizing LMA for awhile, to make Kashi the man. Was that a mistake by Pops?

 

kawhi a hoe period.

spurs have the best head coach in the league, an all-star PF, and a slew of good role players.

if i was a spurms fan i'd be pissed that he could be sabotaging a championship season.

 

Please provide some evidence, an article or quote or something, that Kawhi Leonard not being with the team has something to do with LaMarcus Aldridge.

 

It's a sourced rumor from the media, and it's in this thread.

And I'll repeat what I said two posts above: "yeah, it's conjecture to say Pops lost Kashi because he catered to LMA ... but it has a quasi-basis in facts and rumors." That is: I believe it is facts that Pops had to pamper LMA, and rumor that Kashi cares one way or another about it.

 

If he doesn’t return this season, I don’t think he wants to be a Spur in 2018-2019 and will likely push the Spurs to trade him. If that happens, it will be two star players wanting away from Pop. Aldridge wanted out last summer. Supposedly some of the issues with Leonard are that he really dislikes Aldridge.

It would seem a real possibility that the Spurs would deal Leonard to a team at the very top of the lottery if there were a player they wanted such as Ayton. Only reason I am skeptical is Pop’s age. Does he really want to take on a 19 year old franchise player as a 70 year old coach?

I suppose the Celtics could offer Tatum for Leonard. I doubt Ainge would do that though, just not his style. Still Leonard is a top 5 player when healthy and every team in the league would be interested.

 

jaylen brown, marcus smart, fillers, pick/s would be enough?