If he goes to the Lakers, Kawhi is not the man people would have us believe to be. The Lakers are a **** show, worse than the Rockets and while the Clippers with Kawhi are far from a contender, you have Doc and a great owner along with some hard workers whom Kawhi could definitely lead. Kawhi might be a true B man and not an Alpha.
It seems Kawhi Leonard grew up a Lakers fan, and desires to play for the team that he grew up idolizing no matter how bad of a job that they have currently done. I hate it, but it seems that is what Leonard wants. The Lakers don't deserve to be a free agent destination due to their current incompetence, but they have legacy. While the Clippers may have the better front office and owner, plus they have as an adviser Jerry West who was basketball architect that brought all the trophies that adorn Jeanie Buss office --of which she did none of the work yet gets to bask in their glory. Damn it Jerry West, you did such a good of a job of building the Lakers brand, that even your greatness can't compete against it.
Far from a contender? They can contend for WCF......all you can ask for in the West.... the 2 wins against GSW wasn't just a fluke, they fought hard. Now Clippers are still not that FA destination, god darn it, without Lebron going there, Lakers wouldn't be a FA magnet.
The clippers need to move out of LA if they form the super 3. Vegas, Seattle , San Diego They would love the team You can put God on the clippers and the lakers would still be the favored franchise for Los Angeles
I don't really believe in Karma, but . . . Toronto pulled a snake move with DeMar DezRozan, after he signed a big contract with the Raptors. Stated that he would like to play there for the rest of his career. They show him, gratitude by ... trading him without hesitation for a superstar who specifically said on several occasions that he would explore his options in free agency. Toronto pulled through and everything fell into place, as that battled through the gauntlet. They won the championship that they so desperately wanted. If Kawhi does leave, why is he at fault for a team that he did not want to go to, nor showed much interest in staying with after this season. Explain to me, why is Kawhi the bad guy, when he wanted to go LA, almost two years ago.
Co-starred with the Spurs Big 3, won a championship/Finals MVP Took the Raptors, in his first season, to a championship/won Finals MVP "B-star beta, not an A-star" Man has nothing to prove & can do whatever he wants.
Yeah he has nothing to prove and this won’t be weak sauce like Durant. It will however be incredibly deflating. Another 3-4 years of desperately trying to beat a monster team. I’m not here for it
And there you go, SAS admits he likes LA for Kawhi. Seems like his shoe company, investors, media are all pushing for it and Kawhi might be too weak to withstand it. Go to the Clippers man, come on. You the man Klaw! Don't go out like a sucker...
I doubt it. Not because he cares what people would say if he joins the Lakers, but because he himself would hate playing with LeBron in the LeBron James system. I might be wrong, but he seems like a basketball purist who likes playing in offensive and defensive systems that are inclusive, make everyone better by hiding weaknesses and emphasizing strengths, and that stimulate the mind. If he plays with LeBron, his offense won't suffer because he's seen Wade and Kyrie get theirs, but he knows Anthony Davis will be marginalized and so will everyone else all to agrandize LeBron. He also knows that he and everyone else would be counted on to do all the dirty work on defense to make up for LeBron resting on that end.
They're going to the Clippers, West and Ballmer are so much better than Mills/Perry and that dumbass of Dolan.
I dunno - I think what this is all showing is that it's not as impossible to compete in the NBA as the Rockets and their "we're the only team challenging the Warriors" attitude makes it out to be. 3 teams have won titles over the last 4 years. Toronto showed that you don't need a superteam do it - one star with the right combo around him can work. LA is showing that in 2 offseasons, you can build completely rebuild and create your own superteam with the right moves. Even if GS was healthy and Durant stayed, LA with Kawhi would be able to compete with the team-no-one-can-compete-with. It's simply not as impossible to compete as people want it to seem.
Let's hope so! Anything but the Lakers. So much for Kyrie being Durant's BBF and recruiting him all year long. LMAO
1) Toronto won a title against a broken team. 2) Houston will never have the type of ability to add stars that LA does
1. True - but maybe they win against a healthier one too. In each series they played, they won by outcoaching opponents as the series progressed (started out 0-1 vs Magic, 1-2 vs Philly, 0-2 vs Milwaukee) with many people repeatedly saying they were dead. Besides, teams do get injured. 2. True - but Toronto, Milwaukee, Cleveland all have managed to build great teams, and they have no more appeal than Houston. Two of those won titles in the last 4 years. They've demonstrated more ability to find the right role players and build a system that enhances those role players. Two of them also had patience in slowly building and developing instead of blowing everything up season after season. I'd argue Houston's problem is more it's approach and the particular issues with its star than anything else. Morey has been on this eternal quest for 3 stars since forever and thus never lets his teams stay together and build any kind of long-term cohesiveness.
"Kevin cannot be recruited. Kevin is making his decision independent of Kyrie or any other player." Which is it Woj?
