Let's get something straight

Kawhi was the Spurs best player in the finals, but just like in 2007, he wasn't the best Spurs player throughout the playoffs. Tim Duncan was the overall best Spurs player for the whole entirety of the playoffs, and then it's a toss up between Manu and Kawhi for second best player throughout those playoffs. It can actually be debated on whether or not he was the 3rd best player for the playoffs. He was definitely the best in the finals though. It wasn't like TP taking advantage of Boobie Gibson, Kawhi raised his game to another level to take out the best player in the league. His teammates did have a hand in helping to put him in position to succeed. They trusted him.

I really can't believe that he's screwed the Spurs over this badly. He should have played out the last two years of his contract and left as a free agent. At least Lebron played out his contracts and played as hard as he could for his current team/s he was on to still try and win it all. Kawhi was just pathetic quitting last season. If it was me, I just can't imagine not coming back in round 1 to try and get revenge on the Warriors with them missing Curry. Jordan, Kobe, Manu, none of those guys would have passed up an opportunity to knock out the Warriors in round 1 if they had happen to them what happened to Kawhi by Zaza's dirty tactics the season before. They'd be out for blood. They would have been hell bent on revenge. Kawhi, if healthy by the time the playoffs rolled around last season, just pathetic to not come back. No heart, no killer instinct, no guts, no nothing.

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Originally Posted by TheRemix

Its only gay if you look him in the eyes and you like it

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oh my bad I didn’t know gay butt sex had rules. Good on you for knowing this stuff though so thanks, expert

another kawhi thread.

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Originally Posted by Ice009

I really can't believe that he's screwed the Spurs over this badly. He should have played out the last two years of his contract and left as a free agent. At least Lebron played out his contracts and played as hard as he could for his current team/s he was on to still try and win it all. Kawhi was just pathetic quitting last season. If it was me, I just can't imagine not coming back in round 1 to try and get revenge on the Warriors with them missing Curry. Jordan, Kobe, Manu, none of those guys would have passed up an opportunity to knock out the Warriors in round 1 if they had happen to them what happened to Kawhi by Zaza's dirty tactics the season before. They'd be out for blood. They would have been hell bent on revenge. Kawhi, if healthy by the time the playoffs rolled around last season, just pathetic to not come back. No heart, no killer instinct, no guts, no nothing.

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Why would he come back to a toxic relationship w/ Porker tooting his horn? (BTW, there is a good reason Porker is no long on the team & it's just not his age nor the roster's construction)

Kawhi made up his mind & never wavered unlike Dwight which is hilarious b/c dumbasses try to compare them to each other.:lol

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Originally Posted by Ice009

Kawhi was the Spurs best player in the finals, but just like in 2007, he wasn't the best Spurs player throughout the playoffs. Tim Duncan was the overall best Spurs player for the whole entirety of the playoffs, and then it's a toss up between Manu and Kawhi for second best player throughout those playoffs. It can actually be debated on whether or not he was the 3rd best player for the playoffs. He was definitely the best in the finals though. It wasn't like TP taking advantage of Boobie Gibson, Kawhi raised his game to another level to take out the best player in the league. His teammates did have a hand in helping to put him in position to succeed. They trusted him.

I really can't believe that he's screwed the Spurs over this badly. He should have played out the last two years of his contract and left as a free agent. At least Lebron played out his contracts and played as hard as he could for his current team/s he was on to still try and win it all. Kawhi was just pathetic quitting last season. If it was me, I just can't imagine not coming back in round 1 to try and get revenge on the Warriors with them missing Curry. Jordan, Kobe, Manu, none of those guys would have passed up an opportunity to knock out the Warriors in round 1 if they had happen to them what happened to Kawhi by Zaza's dirty tactics the season before. They'd be out for blood. They would have been hell bent on revenge. Kawhi, if healthy by the time the playoffs rolled around last season, just pathetic to not come back. No heart, no killer instinct, no guts, no nothing.

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agree on both counts. i'll just add, that even if kawhi outplayed lebron a couple of games, over the series lebron was the better player by far, had a very good argument for FMVP despite losing...

In 2014 he was a good player on a great team. That team was all about the team. But that team was led by Duncan.. That was his locker room and his team. Once the focus shifted to Leonard he played well. However this season made it quite clear, this man is a complete bitch. A loser and we are glad to be rid of him.

We have Finals MVPs and we have finals MVPs. 2003 Tim Duncan he was a God out there on the basketball court. He single-handedly drag the team that quite frankly had no business winning a championship all the way to the top of the mountain. That’s how great he was. Not just on the court but also as a leader. This fucking bitch is no comparison.

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Originally Posted by FireMicoHalili

oh my bad I didn’t know gay butt sex had rules. Good on you for knowing this stuff though so thanks, expert

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You're welcome, now bend over i'll show you how much of an expert I am

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Originally Posted by Kawhitstorm

Kawhi cucked champion LeBrat in Gm 3......on the road. The Heatles REALLY thought they had the upper hand in the series after taking Gm 2 before they got swept away by a quiet storm:

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Ooooooohhhh, so that's what your username means. I finally got it. :lol

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Originally Posted by Arcadian

Ooooooohhhh, so that's what your username means. I finally got it. :lol

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You must ride the short bus.........

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Originally Posted by Kawhitstorm

You must ride the short bus.........

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To be fair, it would've been more obvious spelled Kawhietstorm. But yeah, my bad.

Kawhi was pretty inconsistent in the playoffs up until last year. He even sucked the first 2 games of the 2014 finals before turning it on for the next 3 games. He disappeared in the Clippers series in '15 after starting the series strong, He also choked against OKC in '16. Last year was the first year I saw him be consistent in the playoffs.

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Originally Posted by daslicer

Kawhi was pretty inconsistent in the playoffs up until last year. He even sucked the first 2 games of the 2014 finals before turning it on for the next 3 games. He disappeared in the Clippers series in '15 after starting the series strong, He also choked against OKC in '16. Last year was the first year I saw him be consistent in the playoffs.

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Yeah, he only has the highest postseason TS% among all active players..........on the wrong end is DeFrozen:lol

https://www.basketball-reference.com..._active_p.html

The relative essentialness of Leonard in 2014 gets overrated, especially when folks act like he "carried" SA to a title. Tim was incredible on and off the court, and that was Pop's last great coaching year. Each of the top seven guys in the rotation had huge moments in those playoffs. You can totally argue that Diaw should have received some type of recognition for finally living up to his considerable potential for a couple of weeks.

However, I do think folks are underrating how dominant Leonard was to close out that Finals. It wasn't a system thing. He legit became a star in that series. Leonard pretty much got the better of Lebron from those games forward, and that's something no other player in the league could say. Leonard turning into a tool doesn't negate that; it just underscores how foolish teams like Philly were in not offering more for Leonard.

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Originally Posted by TheRemix

You're welcome, now bend over i'll show you how much of an expert I am

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Don’t you have to ask your boyfriend first? flattering but I don’t swing that way so I’ll have to refuse, though thanks for the offer faggot. Never thought I’d see genuine homosexuals in ST but here we are. Congratulations mate, #LoveWins I guess.

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Originally Posted by Kawhitstorm

Yeah, he only has the highest postseason TS% among all active players..........on the wrong end is DeFrozen:lol

https://www.basketball-reference.com..._active_p.html

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This is not about Derozan. We have all acknowledged Derozan is a choke artist. Kawhi was great the first 4 games of the Clippers series in '15 but once the Clippers adjusted their defense he choked dramatically in the final 3 games of that series. In game 7 he got schooled badly by Matt Barnes which was embarrassing. Kawhi had the same problem in '16 against the Thunder. He had 3 great games and 3 shitty games in that series. In game 6 of that series he got outplayed by Robertson. In '17 he was great for the whole entire Grizzlies series but against the Rox he had a choking performance in game 5 and couldn't even play in game 6 and was crap in game 1. Kawhi is a top 5 player when healthy but my knock on him is that he's a Jekyll and Hyde player during the playoffs. He will have an equal amount of dominant games followed by an equal amount of shitty games. He's not Lebron James or even Kevin Durant consistent when it comes to playing great during the playoffs.

Kawhi is a great player, there is no arguing with that. Everything we thought we knew about the guy, leading up to this messy divorce, said he was a hard-working gym rat that didn't care for the limelight. He just wanted to be the best player he could be and win championships. None of us knew what kind of teammate he was. Now we're seeing that his quiet demeanor was on a whole other level.

All that being said, I HATED seeing the ISO, make this all about KL on offense. The Spurs moved away from the 'beautiful' game and became a predictable, bogged-down, methodical team. It proved effective but relied too heavily on one player. I hope the team goes back to more sharing and ball movement with the new roster.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

The relative essentialness of Leonard in 2014 gets overrated, especially when folks act like he "carried" SA to a title. Tim was incredible on and off the court, and that was Pop's last great coaching year. Each of the top seven guys in the rotation had huge moments in those playoffs. You can totally argue that Diaw should have received some type of recognition for finally living up to his considerable potential for a couple of weeks.

However, I do think folks are underrating how dominant Leonard was to close out that Finals. It wasn't a system thing. He legit became a star in that series. Leonard pretty much got the better of Lebron from those games forward, and that's something no other player in the league could say. Leonard turning into a tool doesn't negate that; it just underscores how foolish teams like Philly were in not offering more for Leonard.

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Well said. I agree completely. I do think that KL is most effective when he's not the focus of the offense though. He will find a way to get his, don't make it all about him. Need a put-back or key rebound? Leonard will be there. The 2014 Championship series was an amazing showcase of his skills on both ends of the court. It actually started against OKC when he made game altering plays. When most on our squad were intimidated by Ibaka's presence, KL threw down a dunk right in his face. When we needed a stop on D, KL stripped Westbrook on that 4th quarter fast-break and secured the win. He became a clutch FT shooter too. The dude was amazing. That's why his exit was a big blow and an asswhip of epic proportions.

Manu was the same type of difference maker in his prime. A special type of player. Now? Fuck Kawhi for bolting and lets hope Pop figures a way to win another chip with the roster we have.

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Originally Posted by Arcadian

Ooooooohhhh, so that's what your username means. I finally got it. :lol

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I always, even before this whole saga began, read that username as "kuh-WIT-storm". A longer way of saying "quit". Ironic that it proved apropos.

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Originally Posted by TD 21

I realize Green is just defending that scumbag because he's stuck with him for at least another season, but I've heard many times over the past 4 years something to the effect or along the lines of, Leonard brought, won, led, etc. the Spurs to a championship.

Obviously they wouldn't have won in '14 without him . . . but the same can be said for 7-8 others on that team. Their unconventionality is what made them particularly special.

He wasn't even the best player on it. His winning Finals MVP was essentially a nod to James (as was Iguodala's winning it in '15). He was a role player, who benefitted from others creating shots for him. Not a damn thing wrong with that, but let's not conflate it with his pulling an '03 Duncan, when he didn't even pull the typical load of one who had that honor bestowed upon him.

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the reality is that with leonard, i never put him in the category of duncan in regards to the faith that i had that TD was not a difference maker but the difference maker. i was starting to get there with leonard in 2017 but there were still times where i wasn't sure. it's really hard to compare because TD was the man from his first game as a spur onward. leonard, obviously, took some time to grow into that role. time will tell as to just how good he can become but if leonard has hit his ceiling then i can't put him in the category of james, KD or curry. there are still some deficiencies to his offense that prevent him from earning that status.

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Originally Posted by Seventyniner

I always, even before this whole saga began, read that username as "kuh-WIT-storm". A longer way of saying "quit". Ironic that it proved apropos.

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Same here! :lol

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Originally Posted by SpursforSix

Bend over, I’ll fucking show you something straight.

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RIP Cub :depressed

I'm as upset as anyone over this fiasco but let's not pretend that Kawhi wasn't a huge factor in us winning the title. Sure, we had a lot guys play well but we would have never sniffed the championship without Kawhi's excellence throughout those playoffs. As Pop and RC said, Kawhi gave us our 2nd wind to being contenders. This was a huge lost for the Spurs and when Kawhi walked out that door, our championship hopes when out with him. He is that good so it's very disappointing. Having said that, I'm very excited about Murray, White and Walker and let's see if any of them can become stars. As far as Kawhi, I think he will show next year that he's the best player in the league and will probably carry the Raptors to the finals.

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Originally Posted by Budkin

RIP Cub :depressed

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anyone know what happened to him?

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Originally Posted by SpursforSix

anyone know what happened to him?

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No clue. I've asked around but never got any answers. Figured he would have been all over the LeBron/Kawhi/Lakers drama.