Jared Zwerling: Source close to Leonard says he's worried about roster and future

[TD 21]

https://www.si.com/nba/video/2017/10...t-spurs-roster

[TimDunkem]

lol

Not that I trust this guy or his "sources", but the more enlightened forum goers here have said it's likely Kawhi, sooner or later, will get frustrated with PATFO's awful moves to keep the team in championship contention. So it's not particularly shocking that this news is coming out.

Yes, they brought over LMA ,have been in a good place relative to other teams the past couple of years and, yes, Golden State is the monkey wrench in it all. Still, Kawhi is such a great player that, if with even a little more help, this team would be the favorite in a series against GS.

And, no, a one-legged Gay, one-legged Tony, LaSoftus, two guys with giant heads, a starting shooting guard who can't breathe and dribble at the same time, and a 40 year old as the best bench player on the team is not the help he needs to get past Golden State.

[SAGirl]

He should be... Pop keeping really old geezers.
To be fair to the Spurs they tried to shift gears and do something differently this summer and were just unable to.
If Lamarcus walks for nothing and Spurs don't land anyone of significance next summer they will be in trouble.

[dabom]

Source.

[DAF86]

I read "Kawhi Leonard worried" and I thought it was going to be related to the thigh injury. Almost my pants.

[bklynspursfan]

He talks about age but names 3 guys... The Spurs aren't as old as people make them out to be on TV or on this site. They've won with older squads.. they've got a nice mix of youth/vets with hopefully some younger guys being able to take pressure off the older cats and save em as much as possible.

Having said that, they were just in the WCF, and it remains to be seen whether they'll be better this year with some of the guys they've added and guys who hopefully show some growth in development.

Plus, (and probably most importantly) Kawhi doesn't talk to anyone. No one knows how he feels

[TimDunkem]

^What? Most of the important pieces on this team are on the wrong age of thirty or getting there.

[NASpurs]

Yeah no ing . PATFO fluffers will try to spin this though.

[Robz4000]

I'd be worried about the direction of this team too if I were in his shoes.

paying Gasol and Mills $100 mil

[bklynspursfan]

^What? Most of the important pieces on this team are on the wrong age of thirty or getting there.

Most? What do you consider the wrong side of 30 then lol only 3 guys are 35+

3 guys 35+
3 guys between 30-32 (surely you don't consider this the wrong side of 30?)
Everyone else in the 20s

[TimDunkem]

Yeah no ing . PATFO fluffers will try to spin this though.

"You're just a spoiled fan. The Spurs had back-to-back 60 win seasons and just brought over a limpy Rudy Gay. The front office is trying their best!"

[TimDunkem]

Most? What do you consider the wrong side of 30 then lol only 3 guys are 35+

3 guys 35+
3 guys between 30-32 (surely you don't consider this the wrong side of 30?)
Everyone else in the 20s

When you're dealing with softies like LMA who struggle to stay in shape, guys like Green who need quick feet to play defense well enough to even justify being on the floor, or guys like Gay who rely on athleticism, yeah, I think being over 30 quickly becomes a factor. This is the NBA you know - speed and athleticism does play a crucial role.

Also lol at downplaying that "only" three major pieces are 35+.

[SAGirl]

I will leave TGY to make a photo composite of the roster, since he's funnier anyways.

[bklynspursfan]

When you're dealing with softies like LMA who struggle to stay in shape, guys like Green who need quick feet to play defense well enough to even justify being on the floor, or guys like Gay who rely on athleticism, yeah, I think being over 30 quickly becomes a factor. This is the NBA you know - speed and athleticism does play a crucial role.

Also lol at downplaying that "only" three major pieces are 35+.

I think it depends. We've seen many guys over 30 not slow down or adjust to the game. Several have been on our team .

And I'm not down playing anything, I think Manu has seen his role/mins decrease steadily in recent years. Like I said the hope is that our young bloods can do their thing during the season and keep a guy like TP fresh so he can do what he did in the playoffs last season.

Pau also saw his minutes / role decreased a bit, seems to be based on the matchup at hand. Highly doing he'd play huge minutes vs GS

[jermaine]

Is there anyway possible the Spurs can get Clay?

[RD2191]

Yeah no ing . PATFO fluffers will try to spin this though.

I'd be worried about the direction of this team too if I were in his shoes.

paying Gasol and Mills $100 mil

TBH

[RD2191]

TBH. I don't expect anything to change. They did the same with Timmy. Timmy should've gone out with at least 6 or 7 rings imo. PATFO is extremely lucky that Tony and Manu turned into legit NBA stars.

[Big Empty]

Yep....Unless the Spurs have massive success this year, or if we don't land another superstar next summer, Kawhi most likely bolts.

[Dex]

Wake me up when it comes from Kawhi...or at least from a ing source whose name I've heard before.

Dude is a senior writer for Bleacher Report for god's sake...the most sensationalized, least tapped in outfit in sports journalism.

Him saying his "inside source" has info on Kawhi is about as legitimate as me saying my "inside source" says Kawhi has monkeys coming out of his butt.

[duncan2k5]

I think it depends. We've seen many guys over 30 not slow down or adjust to the game. Several have been on our team .

And I'm not down playing anything, I think Manu has seen his role/mins decrease steadily in recent years. Like I said the hope is that our young bloods can do their thing during the season and keep a guy like TP fresh so he can do what he did in the playoffs last season.

Pau also saw his minutes / role decreased a bit, seems to be based on the matchup at hand. Highly doing he'd play huge minutes vs GS

What exactly did Tony do in the playoffs last season? Have a good 3 point shooting game between his zero point/zero assist games?

[Dex]

As for the age argument....the Spurs are about as young as they have been since the pre-Duncan era.

Yes, their big guns are on the wrong side of thirty, namely Parker, Manu, and Gasol.

Everybody else is in their prime years or under it. They got a huge value contract on Gay if he can stay healthy, Aldridge is still in perfectly good shape as a bigman at 32, and everybody else on the roster is like 26 or under.

They've bolstered the youth movement with guys like Murray, Anderson, Bertans, Forbes, and Paul.

If the Spurs had let Manu and Gasol walk, suddenly everyone would be saying they are too "young and inexperienced" or "don't have veteran leadership".

All the whine-o-saurs on this board can call this a spin, but you'll all still be there acting like you give a when the Spurs are knocking on the door to the WCF again.

[raybies]

Spur fan needs some lottery seasons tbh too damn spoiled round here. Drain the swamp of all the rich bandwagoner fans that fill the lower bowl and get some real fans there.... its perfect. People round here will stop being so en led and just thankful to be relevant.

TBH who cares if we leaves. We've had a run for the ages. Sooner or later the run is going to end. Hopefully they can convince him to stay like they did Duncan, who also had one chip and a roster full of questions. Tony and Many popped up and the rest was history. Maybe Murray can be that or White... I got high hopes for them. If not, oh well. It was fun.

[Dex]

What exactly did Tony do in the playoffs last season? Have a good 3 point shooting game between his zero point/zero assist games?

Between? Games? He had one single game with 0/0, and he only played 19 minutes in a loss to Memphis in the first round.

Even counting that one ty game, he still averaged 15 and 3 while shooting 47.5% from the floor and 51.2% from three throughout the playoffs.

Remove that game from the equation, and those numbers jump to 18 and 3.5 with 54%/58% splits.

Considering everybody wants Parker to back off from his hero-balling ways, I'm not sure what the else you are expecting from him.

But go ahead and try to spin things a little harder next time.

[bklynspursfan]

What exactly did Tony do in the playoffs last season? Have a good 3 point shooting game between his zero point/zero assist games?

I believe Dex answered this for me....

[bklynspursfan]

As for the age argument....the Spurs are about as young as they have been since the pre-Duncan era.

Yes, their big guns are on the wrong side of thirty, namely Parker, Manu, and Gasol.

Everybody else is in their prime years or under it. They got a huge value contract on Gay if he can stay healthy, Aldridge is still in perfectly good shape as a bigman at 32, and everybody else on the roster is like 26 or under.

They've bolstered the youth movement with guys like Murray, Anderson, Bertans, Forbes, and Paul.

If the Spurs had let Manu and Gasol walk, suddenly everyone would be saying they are too "young and inexperienced" or "don't have veteran leadership".

All the whine-o-saurs on this board can call this a spin, but you'll all still be there acting like you give a when the Spurs are knocking on the door to the WCF again.

Agreed