They did not want him gone man, otherwise Pop wouldn't have made that trip to San Diego to try to sell him on the Spurs trading for another allstar to pair with him. This trade was an enormous kick to Pop's nuts.
The trade was to be rid of the headache. Kawhi’s guys tanked his trade value. So they gave the headache to Toronto. And Toronto knows he doesn’t want to be there. That’s why they gave up the minimum to get him. They’ll be trying to trade him in December.
No. You don't poison your organization by having your superstar be disgruntled (publicly I might add) and yet getting minutes just the same, knowing his eye is on the door. You cut bait and move on.
At least, in the process, Tony Parker was shipped out.
Pop was never going to trash Kawhi in public.
at those ing about wanting a deal to get done already, then ing when the deal is done.
Nobody knows. But that didn't seem to be a problem with fans turning up their noses at "reported" offers until the Spurs got who they actually got.
DeRozan is better than this board is giving him credit. He's the type of player who will play well with Akdridge. And Poeltl is the type of big we need, a real big who plays defense.
Spurs - go Spurs
Posted something similar in another thread but I’ll drop this here too:
Simmons pod alluded to the fact that the Celtics never seriously pursued Kawhi and seems their offer centered around a Marcus Smart sign and trade, Morris, and possibly a pick.
They also talked about Fultz never being in the conversation and the Lakers not willing to put Ingram or Kuz or possibly even Hart in the trade.
This board just talked themselves into trades using trade machines and are disappointed that none of those materialized. At the end of the day we got a top 20 player in the league for a player that destroyed his value and sabotaged the team.I consider that a win, especially considering it seems like no one else was offering much.
Poeltl can’t shoot from outside of the paint but if he can eventually develop into an Adams or Capella type role (not at the same level, but at a competent one) he’s useful against a number of teams.
Don’t get me wrong, as I agree that OG or Siakam would have been much more versatile. And I don’t like what this means for the prospects of bringing Nikola over.
that's all, we have a 2nd all nba team for a guy who did not want to be on the team and did everything to completely destroy his value, no team would get anything in this situation, thanks Kawhi
Time to flip DeRozan for youth and build it back up. I am now hoping we start peddling Gasol and Aldridge out there as well.
I think the worst part of this is that I had intended to keep up with whichever team Green signed with had he opted out. But this Leonard has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't think I can watch Toronto outside of following the progress of their pick.
Likely.
You must be new here
Yea it's not about trashing but not saying something that is not true. Of course we all can be wrong and Kawhi did support his team during playoffs...
Anyway good that Pop mentioned Danny as a guy that contributed in community and that he will be missed/ he did not said that about Leo/
Exactly, Spurs have enough assets to keep on trading!
Spurs still have a playoff team though!
Murray Mills White
Derozan Walker Forbes
Gay Cunningham Bellineli Blossomgame(?)
Aldridge Bertans Metu(?)
Gasol Poetl
Manu?
I think the additional all star was Kemba Walker
I'll send you weekly local reports.
Pop was just not going to throw him under a bus in the press conference. He's a professional. Everyone there knew that answer was bull .
Turning down a philly package minus Fultz that included Covington, Saric and a miami 2021 first because they wanted more and then ultimately surrendering to a DeRozen salary dump so they could help Toronto clear their books of all that stank is really quite laughable. As it they even needed to sweeten the pot by throwing in Danny Green and 5M absolutely free of charge.
Yes the D is going to be the concern, but like you said I think Pop will be rejuvenated coaching-wise. I guess there is still time to improve on paper, but the spirit will be high. I know I'm looking forward to going to games...hope we can keep that 'hot at home' streak alive, as it's more fun walking back to your car after a "W."
Yep, I agree.Yea it's not about trashing but not saying something that is not true. Of course we all can be wrong and Kawhi did support his team during playoffs...
Anyway good that Pop mentioned Danny as a guy that contributed in community and that he will be missed/ he did not said that about Leo
"Pau Gasol has to be the starting center, right? That would open up a spot in the rotation for Poeltl and it would help try to mask DeRozan’s defensive weakness."-Honestly, after I read the total package of today’s big trade, my word for word reaction was:
-After letting the trade digest a bit, I still don’t love it but I’m starting to understand the thinking behind it.
-Firstly, sad to see Danny Green go. He goes down as one of my favorite Spurs of all-time. He came out of nowhere to give the Spurs more than a half decade worth of championship-caliber starting shooting guard play. I’m proud of the way he bounced back from laying an egg in the 2012 playoffs by putting together a couple of the greatest shooting postseason runs this league has ever seen. Along the way, he became an elite defender, a great teammate and a player who kept a positive, wins-focused at ude no matter what. Thanks, Danny. Well done, man.
-I’m not ready to take a deep dive into Kawhi Leonard’s Spurs legacy. (It still hurts
-Let us take a moment to realize that not everyone is built like David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Those two are true legends. It takes more than just supreme basketball talent to carry a small market team to championship-relevancy year after year. Gentlemen, Spurs fans are forever grateful.
-Considering the trash offers the Spurs were reportedly getting for Nephew, you can’t be too unhappy with DeMar DeRozan. He’s much better than anyone the Lakers, Clippers or 76ers were offering. He has three years left on his contract and he’s due $27,739,975 per season, with the last season a player-option. While there’s some risk because he could decline physically during that time (he’s turning 29 next month), as it stands he should be worth that amount of money.
-Offensively, DeRozan is elite. Last season, his offensive real plus-minus was +3.42, which ranked 15th in the NBA. His ORPM has been consistently very good the last three seasons. He can create shots for himself in the halfcourt; DeRozan is very capable from all depths inside the three-point line. He has averaged more than 23 points per game for three-straight seasons. Last year, he took a big step forward playmaking-wise. He shattered his career-high by averaging 5.2 assists and was one of the top swingmen in the league in terms of assist-to-turnover ratio. And perhaps best of all, DeRozan is great at getting to the free throw line. He has averaged at least ten attempts per 100 possessions the last five seasons and knocks them down at a nearly 83% clip.
-While a top 20 player in the league on offense, DeRozan isn’t as good as a 100% healthy Nephew on the offensive end. I should make that clear. But speaking of health, that brings me to another positive DeRozan brings to the table: durability. DeRozan has been extremely reliable; his only extended absence in his career was a groin injury back in 2014. He has played 675 of 722 (93.5%) possible regular season games in his career. Nephew, on the other hand, has played in 407 of 558 (72.9%).
-Where DeRozan has been a liability his entire career is on the defensive end. He’s been really bad on that end – and that’s probably putting it kindly. DeRozan’s defensive real plus-minus was a ghastly -1.76 … and that was actually an improvement over his previous campaigns. He has athleticism and length but he’s never been able to be even an adequate defender.
-Fit-wise, I’m less than enthralled. For all of DeRozan’s talents on offense, he’s a poor three-point shooter (28.9% for his career). That’s a rather huge flaw considering he’ll be playing next to the longball-limited Dejounte Murray while occupying the same space LaMarcus Aldridge likes to operate in. Spacing is going to be an issue. A big issue.
(-Speaking of spacing, it now makes a whole lot of sense why the Spurs went with Davis Bertans over Kyle Anderson. The signing of Marco Belinelli also now makes more sense. As constructed, this team needs every perimeter player outside of Murray and DeRozan to be able to shoot if they have any hope of having decent spacing.)
-Pop has his work cut out for him when it comes to making DeRozan decent on D. If Pop can hide him (Murray should help in this matter) and cajole (gently, I’m sure) more effort from him on that end, it’s theoretically possible for DeRozan to become someone who doesn’t kill the Spurs on defense. I wouldn’t bet on it due to DeRozan’s long history of being a sieve, but maybe it could happen.
-In a DeRozan trade, I wanted OG Anunoby to be included. If not OG, then I wanted Pascal Siakam. If not Siakam, I wanted an unprotected first round pick. That said, Jakob Poeltl is a solid young center. Though he was somewhat lost in the Raptors impressive bigman depth, Poeltl is someone you can easily imagine sticking around the Spurs for the next decade.
-Poeltl, a 7-foot-1 center from Austria, has two main strengths: offensive rebounding and shotblocking. He’s top ten in the league in both categories on a per possession basis. Those two numbers alone make him a very interesting prospect. The 22-year-old, even though he’s 250 pounds, is also mobile enough to survive today’s perimeter-oriented NBA. He’s not David Robinson reborn but he can move his feet decently enough. I’ve also been impressed with his basketball IQ in the times I’ve watched him play.
-On the other hand, Poeltl is a shockingly poor defensive rebounder, especially for someone his size. To put it in perspective, his defensive rebounding percentage last season was worse than Gasol, King Joffrey, Murray, Gay, Nephew, Anderson, Aldridge and even Derrick White. How can someone so big and so good on the offensive glass be so pitiful when it comes to rebounding on the defensive end of the court?
-Perhaps even more damning for Poeltl in Pop’s eyes is the fact that he led the league in fouls per minute last season. Pop loathes fouls, even by active bigmen (See: Mahinmi, Ian). Poeltl fouls more than anyone else. That is going to be a rough fit unless the Austrian really improves on that end. Poeltl, even though he can be a sneaky-good passer at times, also turns it over quite a bit for someone who had limited touches with the Raptors. That, too, won’t sit well with Pop.
-Since Poeltl doesn’t have an outside shot, I can’t imagine him starting alongside Murray, DeRozan and Aldridge. That would be a spacing nightmare. But coming off the bench, he could be really useful from Day 1. At 22, he has upside and projects to one day be a possible starter. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he’s starting in three years and giving the Spurs 12 points, ten rebounds and two blocks per game. All in all, Poeltl was definitely a positive asset to get in the Nephew trade.
-I’m hoping even more now for Manu Ginobili to return because Poeltl could be his best pick-and-roll partner since Tiago Splitter was traded. A big guy who sets solid screens and rolls hard will be good for Ginobili as he quarterbacks the bench. And, probably more importantly, Poeltl’s fit on the second unit would be seamless with Ginobili spoon-feeding him. Without Ginobili, he could get lost in the shuffle.
-What will the starting lineup be? I think with the addition of Poeltl, Pau Gasol has to be the starting center, right? That would open up a spot in the rotation for Poeltl and it would help try to mask DeRozan’s defensive weakness. If Pop starts someone like Bertans at power forward and slides Aldridge to center, while that could help offensively spacing-wise, that starting lineup would be really bad defensively – especially since it looks like Mills, Gay or Belinelli would have to round out the starting five.
-The best fit to me as it stands would be to start Murray, DeRozan, Belinelli, Aldridge and Gasol. That’s the best hope for adequate defense and adequate spacing. (Belinelli gets the nod over Gay due to the desperate need for three-point shooting in that lineup and the nod over Mills due to size.) A bench of Mills, Ginobili, Gay, Bertans and Poeltl actually could be pretty strong, honestly.
-I was really hoping for a better haul in the Nephew trade. I can’t try to pretend I’m thrilled with what the Spurs ended up getting. (No OG? No Pascal? Only one highly protected first round pick? Man, that’s tough to swallow.) That said, following the trade, I think the Spurs can win 50-plus games. Are they championship contenders? I’d say it’s fair to call them a dark horse that needs something totally unforeseen (like Murray blossoming into an All-Star in 2019) if they are to reenter that conversation.
-Again, thanks to Danny Green. Poeltl should be a solid piece for a long time. DeRozan will be a breath of fresh air. He’s a good guy by all accounts. In fact, you can make the case he’s been the most loyal and team-first star in the league over the last half decade. No star player has ever shown Toronto any type of loyalty in their history as a franchise. DeRozan never wavered, never looked for greener and less-taxed pastures, and never tried to threaten his way back to Los Angeles. Basketball is again the focus and the playoffs should once again be attainable. I’m not upset about that.
Doesn't make sense to me. IMO Gasol's defense is getting worse as he gets older--and that is to be expected as his speed/mobility fade with age. The legs always go first.
So I'd put Poetl in the fire as early as he can learn the system and plays. He seems to be very mobile for a 7'1" white guywith pretty good hands and handle. To be better at offensive rebounding than DRB is almost weird. The DRB should almost be low hanging fruit for a big mobile defender--unless the opponents are trying to draw him away from the basket as a defensive measure. At 22, with some additional coaching from Chip and our defensive bigs coach, not only could he be around for years, he might be the starting center as well.
Otherwise, I agree with you. Not as bad a deal as first thought after some reflection--and probably the best deal the Spurs were going to get. No point in playing out the string or waiting for more time for a miracle to occur as TOR could have taken the deal off the table. Time to move on.
sounds like he rationalized it pretty well to me.
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