Sure, that'd be great. But if Kawhi said nah I want the full supermax, you pay his ass (before this bull season obviously).
Based on PATFO's history, I don't know that they would have acquiesced. Moot point. We will never know. In fact, one of the frustrating things about the way things will apparently end up is that we will probably never know exactly what happened and what everybody's motives were for the whole last year.
I mentioned this a few days ago. That's pride/ego, though. Neither side, probably particularly Leonard's, wants to be seen as the one capitulating.
Spurs need to be the bigger man and do it. Even if they don't mean whatever clichés they spout (and why would they?), just do whatever it takes to attempt to get him signed and if it doesn't work out in the next year, they'll at least have gained virtually all of the leverage.
Spot on
If the Holts were really hesitant, it's gonna be hard for Pop to go to them with a "he's committed, he's a leader, he's worth it" speech now.
I get the sense that Holt trusts Pop and Buford implicitly and will go off of their recommendation. Think their being satisfied (or at least pretending to be; I don't buy that this can truly be fixed over conversations in the off season) would take precedent.
Pay it and gain control of the process or don't, lose a superstar and good luck finding one anytime soon. Some teams haven't had one in the last 15, 20, 25 or more years.
After the events of the last 9-10 months, you would have a very hard time convincing me to pay $219MM of my money to Kawhi.
Would Kawhi consider discount if LeBron is coming? Maybe wait until July 1st?
LeBron ain't coming to SA.
Your approach shifts the focus of the conversation back to the rest of the roster. I do not see the current roster as a real championship threat - especially if Rudy is bolting. And going forward, I don't know how you put together a true contender on a "Spurs payroll." The days of TD et al taking less pay in order to acquire good teammates are gone with Timmy.
Well, yeah.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/k...larger-market/Multiple league sources also told ESPN that the Spurs have grown worried that Leonard's group has an ulterior motive to fray the relationship and get Leonard traded to a larger market like Los Angeles (Leonard's hometown) or New York or Philadelphia (Robertson lives in New Jersey).
PATFO... sharp as ever.
Leonard's talent is a supermax, every....single....day. But not showing up to work, not communicating, not attending games, not being in a timeout huddle, not doing 'NBA Cares' events, not recruiting players, and not representing the team - is IMO what makes a max player a supermax, franchise-altering player. Leonard's group cost him the supermax. If he was injured with the team, we will have him agreeing to the supermax and getting a meeting with Lebron.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...-leonard-spurs
Good overview.
The spurs arent dumb. They would have given Leonard the supermax easy if all this didnt happen.
Its hard for them now to give him the supermax because they question his committment.
It's just a good chance to blow your budget on a suck ass player and garrotte your future.
Not playing this year is why he is not offered the supermax, again another bad call by his "group". If he played and had 3 MVP caliber years in a row he gets the Supermax hands down. He also only averages 58 games a season and his body isn't getting healthier.
Really doubt it. Whether they thought he had a serious degenerative injury or the alternative - that he's been a snake and has been faking the severity and could have played, the red flags would have been too many to hand such a guy the biggest contract in NBA history. Besides, it's not only the FO's decision - ownership would have to approve this and I can't see them being OK with it, especially with the Holt turmoil in recent months/year.
My guess is their stance was "play next season, prove you're healthy qualify for the supermax again and you'll get it", which was a big no no for Kawhi's group and they went the trade route. They don't seem to have a clear plan and are playing it really amateurish. Imagine if posters on a message board are so anxious and angry how the FO would be feeling about the whole thing.
The current roster isn't a real championship contender and they'd be hard pressed to become one with Leonard. But, if your team starts with a superstar, there's at least a plausible path to becoming one. If your're the Horford Hawks, Gasol Grizzlies, George Pacers, Lowry Raptors, etc., no matter what you do, your ceiling is capped a tier below that.
Everything, IF i had to guess. I'm guessing Kawhi got wind last summer that the spurs were looking to see if he would take less in order to stay flexible and sign future players. I don't think he has ever fully embraced being a Spur and this was all he and his camp needed to start this whole circus.
If Kawhi's camp was so desperate to sign the supermax, it might mean that Kawhi's quad is ed for good and they only said it's 100% to get teams to trade for him (or get the supermax offer from Spurs).
The common threads I see are not necessarily superstar vs. non-superstar but big contracts in small markets.
I wouldn't want to leave millions of dollars on the table so that PATFO could give it to the likes of Pau and Patty, either. PATFO's recent track record would reinforce Kawhi's skepticism/mistrust. I personally believe (without any sauces) that Kawhi was less enamored with the mantle of Timmy being thrust upon him. He has never been face-of-the-franchise material and never will be.
dont really see how the supermax "helps" small market teams. seems like the supermax mainly helps teams that were willing to exceed the salary cap, as the supermax just allows them to exceed it even more. small market teams trying to play somewhere near the cap wont be able to field a roster if with a supermax contract clogging them up
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