I agree that as far as offers go, they held out long enough to shake out deals. I would have still rather see them play harder ball and even sit Kawhi, but that's me.
But they didn't trade him weeks before the deadline without fielding offers like Memphis did with Pau. Everyone knew he was available, and every team had weeks of negotiating to put packages together.
Just because you're compe ive doesn't make you a contender. I think this is where the problem lies with this trade for us Spurs fans. Let's face it we'll win a few games but lose to teams with legitimate shot at winning a championship.
As much as I hated this KL saga, the Spurs pulled the trigger on this too soon on a player that at best would be a second banana on a championship team...and lest we forget we already have one of those in Lamarsha.
Spurs have been giving Leonard a lot of isos (to the lament of Spurs fans who wanted a return to the beautiful game) and his defense can be enhanced by a good coach but it's still amazing individually due to his physical gifts and instincts. If Leonard was exaggerating his injury, I don't see why he can't keep putting up 2017 numbers and results on the Lakers when he is more engaged.
"Best offer" is subjective. Like I said, Spurs probably could have gotten better value through a younger package and picks but Pop went with the compete-now package. No other team probably offered their established all-star so was the "best" offer in that sense. But DeRozan consistently failed in the playoffs and his stats have always gone down in the postseason so I don't see any silver lining in this trade especially since OG was not included.
The other offers were what, Covington, Saric and a pick? This package was objectively better.
I believe the Marco signing was the first indication that Manu was gone. We are so guard-heavy that Bryn's signing seals it imho. Manu is gone.
I don't think they had Saric in that deal. I sure haven't watched all the guys I was hearing about play, but I bet RC had.
I'm just thrilled that we have a new all-star best player at the 2 who can help LMA and our shooters. It's certainly going to be a better team than last year. Team with DeRozan is going to be better. I also like the prospect of Jakob. Looking forward to this season after that debacle last year.
Or a sign that he might want to come back and end his career on a positive note enjoying playing with Beli and giving DD the keys to the car.
Yeah the Raptors wanted to move Derozan because of their lack of postseason success with him. Maybe he can change his fortunes with the Spurs but I really don't think he is mentally capable of being the #2 guy on a championship team.
maybe he had not been a "proven playoff loser" had he been in SA in his career before, let's see ..
ps: however he will never be the player that Kawhi Leonard is
In the last day or so I've been slowly coming out of the bad dream that was last year's bad experience. It was strange because you kept hoping that everything was going to be alright and it was great seeing LMA hold the line. However as everyone's worse case scenario turned out to be true it wasn't a good feeling to say the least. I thought RC would just keep 'him' for a season, but in the end they wanted him the outta there. Good! It feels great looking forward to a new season where someone can share the scoring with LMA.
So in the end I'm glad to see this debacle resolved- for the Spurs at least. The roster could use some tweaking, but we are already much better than last year on multiple levels.
DeRozan will definitely benefit from playing with the Spurs. Also Kawhi didn't play for a year and his whole situation was such a nightmare that they decided to get rid of him. Undoubtedly he was great two years ago and hopefully his injury isn't going to be chronic and shorten his basketball life at that level.
I think he is a poison boy, but I don't wish him harm.
I was wondering about the same thing. Didn't know if it was attributed to that, or simply the issue of him moving on to LA the following season.
I think people are currently in the habit of severely underestimating the potential for this team next year. Jakob will add something the Spurs have been lacking since TD left....rim protection. DeMar is going to fit well with LA. That being said, losing Danny is going to hurt perimeter defense to a degree. It will be interesting to see who can step up and fill that void.
I hope White can bring his Summer League shooting with him next season. I see no reason that he can't, as he doesn't seem afraid of the moment. Having Beli back will add some clever shot creation and scoring off the bench.
DeMar is going to vastly improve his defense under the Spurs system. He has all of the physical tools to do so.
Philly are one of the favorites out East and have one of the youngest teams. Spurs calling out Philly for not giving them better assets when they did not have to. It was risky for them to go after Kawhi. Philly staying put and developing their younger players is exactly what the Spurs would have probably done.
Well, if a Durant or a James became available, even on a 1 year rental, and sure, after a season of missing a lot of games, you'd expect better offers...
There would be better offers, I would think it was a combination of the injury and the behavior of he and his team. It wasn't a good look. I'd be cautious and weary too.
I think there's a tendency to overrate him in general among NBA fans and commentators. That is, he's not top 3 or 5. Top 10, somewhere between 7 to 10 sounds about right.
And that's in SA, with a team structured and focused on defense and allowing him to showcase his talent.
And assuming he is truly 100% healthy and can get his game back to that same level. A lingering quad issue is no bueno for any perimeter player. Also he's been a bit of a China doll in his career.
Most depressing Spurs related video ever
Yes his minutes played would be alarming to any team, not even counting last year which of course put him at the bottom of the scale...below Chandler Parsons.
Yeah if that can get on the court.
Maybe it will coincide with Tim's press conference to announce his retirement.
Kawhi is clearly better, and I like these segments, however showing every DeRozan shot as a miss and every Kawhi shot as a make just pulls the viewer into coach's corner with his take. He shouldn't need to cherry pick that way. You'd think Kawhi never missed and DeRozan never made a shot.
Here coach Nick shows DeMar's short range ability.
Take most of these things with a grain of salt. While KL is obviously a better all around player, presentations like these are built on convincing you of a take, not teaching you the facts. It's designed so you'll say "oooh coach nick is smart and objective".
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