oh look kawi white knight
remember dat dude defending his hero on every other thread
good times
I'm also ok with everyone staying where they are and dealing with their rotten choices. Ha.
oh look kawi white knight
remember dat dude defending his hero on every other thread
good times
It would be the ultimate karma for Kawhi to force his way to LA only to get traded to a treadmill team.
I’m sure the Clippers are full focused on getting that roster ready for a run next year. Get the PG/Leonard duo healthy for next years playoffs are you have a strong chance at a chip.
Other than recovering from his knee surgery, Kawhi will never truly be healthy again.
Kawhi at 75% prime and a healthy PG is as good as any tandem in the NBA.
That is if he can stay on the court. But he’s shown time again that he will sit if he doesn’t feel well, regardless what’s at staked. The guy will not play through pain.
He's now got a rotting quad AND a surgically repaired knee, and he'll be 31 at the beginning of his ACL recovery season, so, probably 32 before he gets back to 2021 pre-injury health.
^ That and why is it just assumed by all the S bag ass kissers that he'll 1) Immediately, if ever, regain previous form and that 2) George and him, 32 and 31 (33 and close to 32 during the '23 playoffs) won't suffer age related decline even if he does? Most of their supporting cast is on the precipice too.
I get that their style of play is more predicated on size/strength/shooting than athleticism, so there's no reason to expect them to go off a cliff, but even the type of decline Davis has experienced in the past two years (MVP candidate to All-Star) would be enough to drop their ceiling.
Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Embiid, etc. aren't going anywhere and Doncic, Tatum, Morant, etc. will only get better.
75% prime might be a reach at this point. The league is getting filled with better, more mobile athletes at Kawhi's position. Even when he was playing last year he appeared to not have the lift, speed or mobility he used to have. He relied a lot on court savvy and bulling through guys and getting the superstar treatment from the refs.
I think the game is going to pass him by and we won't see the "prime" Kawhi again.
Well, last year's Kawhi was dominating in the playoffs and they had a good chance to win it all if he didn't tear his ACL. I think he averaged 30.4ppg for last year's playoffs. That's better than most healthy players are doing right now in the playoffs. If that's just from court savvy, and I knew he'd be healthy, I'd still take him over most players currently playing.
I know you have to give it a shot with both of them next year. Who knows, maybe they will win the le. But if Kawhi gets hurt again or the flame out in the second round, it will be hard to get that value that you could get right now. At this very moment, Kawhis reputation is at an all time high and you could get a boatload for him. Next year if they lose or he gets hurt, it’s not the same. It’s a gamble either way. But I would trade him rn.
He’d probably have to okay it. I bet he has a no trade clause.
Last edited by KingKev; 04-28-2022 at 08:02 AM.
I don't believe he does. You have to have been with your current team for 4 seasons to be eligible for a no trade clause.
I didn’t know that. Thanks.
Kwahi can come back next year, and barring further injuries, his body and BB savvy can carry him to All-star status again. But I doubt he will be the Superstar he once was. Age happens to us all. But if he tweaks something again and chooses to sit out a bunch of games then his day in the sun has set.
You have to wonder where his place in the pantheon of NBA stars will be when he retires. I don't think he will be as idolized by fans as much as Superstars like Kobe and Shaq or many others. Who is passionate about this guy?
I don't see the Clippers winning anything. They have a load of wings, but are too weak at the 5 and 1 spots
Well probably no one. He just doesn't have that personality. In all honesty the Spurs did a good job of marketing, albeit locally.
One of the oddest careers.
If I'm a GM and I get a call from the Clippers offering Leonard I'm thinking that knee is about to gangrene and fall off tbh. I don't think he'd have nearly as much trade value this summer as he would next if he can play through a season even if they do flame out in the second round.
yet he made top 75, people just see 2 fmvp and remember his run with toronto which is still fresh, dont know how long that will last.. right now though he is comically overrated for 2 good seasons, nobody remembers his failures like they do for lebron, curry, kd, etc..his already low minutes are trending down ever since 2017. i think all in all spurs dodged a bullet
They got a le then got KJ, Jakob and draft picks. Given how other stars have left small market teams not bad.
Give him credit for a great playoff run in Toronto, but as I said before that Toronto team might have been one of the luckiest champs ever.
I mean, I can't disagree with all that you've said. Depends when the issue first started happening and if the quad injury could have been avoided he still might have be with the Spurs right now. I wonder if the ankle injury in the 2017 playoffs caused him to overcompensate, or other injuries he played with while of the Spurs prior to that caused him to overcompensate on that leg/quad, or if he simply worked out too hard and screwed his quad up by overworking himself (he definitely was a gym rat in his time with the Spurs and before the Spurs, not sure if he still worked that hard with other teams, though). I still wonder if he worked with Tim Grover (Jordan and D-Wade's former trainer) if it would have made a difference, as he was supposed to work with him after either the 2013 or 2014 finals. I remember reading that Kawhi sought him out after one of the finals games in the crowd and told him he wanted to work with him in the off-season, but never ended up doing so. Although Grover was known for pushing him clients, I still wonder if it would have made a difference working with someone like that could have changed the way Kawhi did things physically and preserved his leg longer.
Having said all that, you may be right about dodging the bullet (time will tell as he still might get right physically and be highly productive for a while longer), we still simply didn't get a good enough return for him.
Last edited by Ice009; 05-01-2022 at 02:03 AM.
His quad injury goes back much further than the ankle issue in 2017.
The return for him isn’t finalized, as we keep flipping assets for more. Right now, the furthest current asset is the CHI FRP and SRP in 2025. We could get more if Poeltl and/or Keldon get moved.
I wonder if Leonard has reached the NBA record for “Most salary collected while sitting on his a$$ while injured” yet. If not, he’s got to be close.
He has to have that in the bag…. No pun intended.
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