Kawhi got injured in preseason and didn’t play his first game until December 12, nearly two months after the start of the season. What kind of offense should Pop have run in his absence? Aldridge was the only player he had to run any offense through. Unless you want to argue that Rudy Gay coming off a torn achilles or really old Pau Gasol are better options.
By the time the season started, it was too late. Pops already promised LMA a change ... a change that was proven to not work when OKC destroyed them 3 games straight, after LMAs monster first two games. Pops correctly switched to feature Kawhi, and LMA whined. Kawhi gets injured, and LMA is in a power position to make demands. Pops should have walked away from him, but he decided to keep him and figured Kawhi would fall in line. That didn't work. It was a bad move to not get rid of LMA would he could.
Everyone has been trying to explain their opinion to you. But nope, whenever anyone says anything negative about Kawhi or positive about Pop, they're a "Popovich apologist." I get that no one is going to be able to change your mind, and that you're set in your ways. But to say that everyone else is being illogical while you're the only logical one, is just simply untrue.
What's illogical about stating the truth that Pops promised LMA to feature him like he used to, as part of them making up during the summer. What's illogical about stating the truth that it was well-documented that LMA was whining dating back to 2017 playoffs. I guarantee you, there are much more Spurs fans asking these same questions about mismanagement of LMA and Kawhi than you think there are.
When did Pop say he'd "feature" LMA? All of the news that I remember regarding that situation was that he tried to turn LMA into something he isn't. Pop realized his mistake, and let LMA be "Portland LMA," a role that LMA happily obliged with. Show me at least 2 sources anything saying LMA wanted to be the #1 option. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...nio-spurs-asked-traded-gregg-popovich-reveals If you're talking about this, then it was Pop admitting that he "overcoached." And that's fine, Pop messed up there. But he tried to make LMA do too much that was outside of his skill set / comfort zone. LMA complained, and it was handled in-house. He didn't whine, the way a Dwight Howard would whine. Player has a complaint. Coach fixed the issue. Another point you made was that it's well known that Kawhi thought LMA was a whiner. The "quiet" MVP candidate, as you then said. So show me at least 2 sources that said the quiet Kawhi actively said to the media that LMA is a whiner, or that LMA needs to tone it down. So, to conclude: 2 sources in which LMA wanted to be the premier player on the Spurs and 2 sources that Kawhi actively said LMA is a whiner. Surely, it should be easy for you, since you're saying these things all happened?
SAS did use LMA in his Portland role before last season. They even did it as recent as 2016 playoffs vs OKC. I'm not following why you think returning LMA to his Portland role never happened, until this year.
I’m not arguing that Pop didn’t change his offense to smooth things over with Aldridge. However, what offense would you have run the first two months without Kawhi? About the only thing Pop could have done differently is trade Aldridge last summer, but the Spurs would’ve been screwed once Kawhi got hurt in the preseason. He ran his offense through Aldridge last year out of necessity.
They didn’t have Kawhi Leonard for the first two months. Aldridge was their best offensive option in his absence and the only guy capable of commanding a double team for his teammates. He returned to his Portland role out of necessity with Kawhi’s injury.
And Kawhi knowing that he’s still trying to orchestrate this Worse Than Vagrady machination, and he was always trying to orchestrate this Worse Than Vagrady machination, and why would he step foot again in the locker room of the team against whom he orchestrated this Worse Than Vagrady machination.
What Kawhi is doing is the worst thing I’ve seen in 30+ years of following the NBA. Faking an injury (FOR AN ENTIRE SEASON AND POSTSEASON) to force your way off your team is as bad as it gets.
I'm not saying anything like that. I asked you for 2 sources regarding LMA whining and wanting to be the #1 option on the team, and 2 sources regarding quiet Kawhi saying something about LMA whining. 1 source for each, if 2 is too hard. I'm saying that Pop overcoached LMA (Pop's words), and had a talk with his player. Pop then decided, for the good of the team / for the good of LMA that Pop was wrong, and that LMA needed to revert back to his better self. I still don't see your argument here. Nor did I see it about 2 weeks ago, when I refuted your Pop claims then, in another thread. If Pop didn't have that talk with LMA, the team would have imploded. The Spurs would be in a much worse position than where they are now. Also, you only called out Pop 2 weeks ago. Now you're trying to also pin the blame on Aldridge? That's a huge stretch.
It's ****ing crazy. And I was a big Kawhi fan... Loved his quiet, humble demeanor... What a ****ing piece of **** move this was. This is honestly even worse than what Durant did. KD just exercised his FA rights, whereas Kawhi refused to show up for work for the entire season - and still got paid millions. He's lucky this is NBA and not an ordinary job, he'd be fired or in jail. What a culture.
I'm with the sentiment that Kawhi's silence has been super disrespectful and makes him seem weak. If the rumors are true, he needs to say so one on one with the Spurs and speak up in the media. If the rumors aren't true and he is just keeping quiet, then he seems really spineless. The idea that a grown ass man and former MVP candidate is too chicken **** to handle his own business and is letting family do it for him is just lame - plain and simple. Not joining his team during the playoffs is just plain wrong and shows he quit on his team - you should NEVER do that as the face of a franchise.
