Kawhi thinks he's going to be a regular all star and the future of the spurs.

[will_spurs]

And there's not unison about Leonard's future. Others have backed me up on this too. There are threads on this forum from two years ago where people were wondering if the Spurs should trade Parker and keep Hill. People thought Blair was going to finally be the big next to Duncan. It's okay to deny those opinions now, and it's okay to say you never had that opinion, but don't try to pretend like this situation with Leonard is different. It's not, and it won't be until he signs an extension in a couple of years.

Yeah but there were also people (like me) saying that Hill > Parker was completely moronic.

Kawhi's situation is different. He is a legit lottery pick (ok, he was drafted 15, just outside lottery territory, but you know hat I mean), he doesn't have a complicated health record like Blair, he's not a tweener like Hill. He's a legit SF, defensive-minded, right now playing a strict role on the team but showing flashes of brilliance when let loose. I'm not saying he's going to be an All-Star, but at this stage it's certainly not ridiculous to think so.

[Chinook]

Yeah but there were also people (like me) saying that Hill > Parker was completely moronic.

Kawhi's situation is different. He is a legit lottery pick (ok, he was drafted 15, just outside lottery territory, but you know hat I mean), he doesn't have a complicated health record like Blair, he's not a tweener like Hill. He's a legit SF, defensive-minded, right now playing a strict role on the team but showing flashes of brilliance when let loose. I'm not saying he's going to be an All-Star, but at this stage it's certainly not ridiculous to think so.

I'm not saying it is. I simply made a comment that Hill, Blair and Hairston (of all people) were saying the same things back in Blair's rookie year.

Then people went off on how no one thought that Hill and Blair (we all agreed Hairston) were ever really going to be good. So the conversation has sort of devolved into people thinking that I'm criticizing Leonard when I was just stating the reality of professional sports. It's rare to see an NBA player stay with the same team for more than 5-7 years.

Personally, I think Leonard is a good player who can become really good. But I don't think he'll ever be the face of the Spurs (or any other organization), unless the Spurs are a bad team and Leonard is forced into the spotlight. If the Spurs can get a couple of more players with Leonard's potential in the next couple of years, I think the team has a good future.

[DesignatedT]

I simply made a comment that Hill and Blair and Hairston (of all people) were saying the same things back in Blair's rookie year.

Only gnsf were saying such things. Of course some clueless people on a message board will post re ed things. If you talked to any spurs fan in person they would laugh their ass off if you said Hill > Parker or Hairston was going to be an All-Star.

SpursTalk doesn't accurately represent the majority of Spurs fans.

[Chinook]

Only gnsf were saying such things. Of course some clueless people on a message board will post re ed things. If you talked to any spurs fan in person they would laugh their ass off if you said Hill > Parker or Hairston was going to be an All-Star.

SpursTalk doesn't accurately represent the majority of Spurs fans.

The part you quoted was me saying that the players themselves made the same type of quotes as Kawhi himself did. That part had nothing to do with this board.

[Brazil]

How about that.

And look what happens when you adjust the numbers to 49%/39%/82%:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...t=&order_by=mp

Now that's something

[DesignatedT]

The part you quoted was me saying that the players themselves made the same type of quotes as Kawhi himself did. That part had nothing to do with this board.

Ok. Here:

You must have just started being a Spurs fan then. Hill and Blair were talked up a lot their first two years.

It's easy to say those things now. The truth was, there were a lot of people who thought like playblair does now.

Thanks. At least someone remembers.

[playblair]

haters ............. hill replaced parker in the starting lineup ..............

haters ......... blair led spurs back to back #1 seeds ................

[Chinook]

Ok. Here:

I know what I said. And I agree that most rational folks probably didn't agree that Hill was better than Parker or that Blair was the next Barkley.

But that's not the point of my initial statement. Most people thought that Blair and Hill had potential and a future with the Spurs. I wasn't on this forum back then, so I have no idea what "GNSFs" were saying. From the archives, I just see that those were very popular threads.

Again, I was talking about similarities between quotes, and then people respond that there's this huge gulf between Kawhi and the other young players, that no one ever thought Hill and Blair were going to be good and that Kawhi is almost certain to be a star. Then I say that Kawhi is probably going to max out as a good player, but not a star.

Before Hill showed that he wasn't going to develop into a good point in San Antonio, and before people realized Blair wasn't really going to work on his fixable issues after he got drafted, people were excited about their potential. For all we know, Leonard never gets better than he is now. If that happens, people are going to be running from those opinions, too.

[Embedded]

He doesn't chest-pound, and he doesn't have to be the center of attention, I like it. If thinking he can be an all-star one day drives him, let him state it! Mr. Leonard really doesn't have a me-first mentality. You didn't see him pounding his chest after he hit that final 3 against Cleveland. A JR Smith would have been demanding everybody look at him. Did you see JR Smith at that kids' game, demanding the ball? Even kids don't want to pass a ball to a Black Hole.

[SpurPadre]

So 2 all star appearances would be the same as being "a regular all star"?

It is if you're Manu, who's been in the AS game twice but has been snubbed two other times while also sacrificing more AS trips because of his bench role. None of those personal setbacks keep Manu from being a regular all star caliber player.

[SpurPadre]

Kawhi was not being y in saying what he said. True, alot of athletes like to say they're being confident when they're really being y but not in this case. As others have mentioned, this is Kawhi just wanting to believe in himself and reach for as high as he can. Trading Hill to get him was the best thing this team has done since winning the Championship in '07 and hopefully, he'll help add to those 4 les and have a great long career for the Spurs.

[DesignatedT]

Again, I was talking about similarities between quotes, and then people respond that there's this huge gulf between Kawhi and the other young players, that no one ever thought Hill and Blair were going to be good and that Kawhi is almost certain to be a star.

You're making it sound like their was just as much hype and excitement around guys like Blair, Hairston and Hill as their is around Kawhi. I don't care how many threads were started by 15 year olds on a message board, very few credible Spurs fans who actually know basketball (there's a lot of them not on this forum believe it or not) thought that those three guys could be anything close to what Kawhi can be. Hill being the closest but even most Spurs fans had major concerns about his future as well. Kawhi is a total different situation compared to those other three guys. Not only do fans see Kawhi's potential but so do coaches and players around the league who have been constantly singing his praises for the last year and half.

Popovich calling Hill "his favorite player" is a lot different then him calling Kawhi "the future face of the franchise".

[therealtruth]

It is if you're Manu, who's been in the AS game twice but has been snubbed two other times while also sacrificing more AS trips because of his bench role. None of those personal setbacks keep Manu from being a regular all star caliber player.

Pop is pretty much the reason Manu doesn't have more Allstar appearances. Pop originally started bringing him of the bench because Finley was useless of the bench. Then it seems he kept him there because of injury concerns.

[Pasta Batman]

Pop is pretty much the reason Manu doesn't have more Allstar appearances. Pop originally started bringing him of the bench because Finley was useless of the bench. Then it seems he kept him there because of injury concerns.

Which was smart, since injuries have controlled some of his Spurs career during some seasons.

[Pasta Batman]

You're making it sound like their was just as much hype and excitement around guys like Blair, Hairston and Hill as their is around Kawhi. I don't care how many threads were started by 15 year olds on a message board, very few credible Spurs fans who actually know basketball (there's a lot of them not on this forum believe it or not) thought that those three guys could be anything close to what Kawhi can be. Hill being the closest but even most Spurs fans had major concerns about his future as well. Kawhi is a total different situation compared to those other three guys. Not only do fans see Kawhi's potential but so do coaches and players around the league who have been constantly signing his praises for the last year and half.

Popovich calling Hill "his favorite player" is a lot different then him calling Kawhi "the future face of the franchise".

For one, Hill's ball handling improved, but very slowly. And he's still not really a PG even to this day.

[SpurPadre]

Which was smart, since injuries have controlled some of his Spurs career during some seasons.

Yes, to an extent it has helped Manu possibly extend his career but he's also a rhythm player who needs to get more consistent playing time for the team to reap the most benefits out of him. His minutes didn't go up that much last postseason until Pop reinserted him in the starting lineup when the Thunder backed us into a corner we ultimately couldn't get out of. I hope this coming postseason, Pop gives Manu some more minutes to work with so he can more effectively do his thing.

[Richie]

If Manu cared about NBA accolades like All Star appearances he could have come over when he was 22 instead of waiting until he was 25, or he could even have entered the draft earlier and really worked hard on coming to the NBA ala Dirk who got drafted at 20.

I'm pretty sure he'll take his 2 all star appearances and 3 rings over being a perennial all star on a bad team.

[SpurPadre]

If Manu cared about NBA accolades like All Star appearances he could have come over when he was 22 instead of waiting until he was 25, or he could even have entered the draft earlier and really worked hard on coming to the NBA ala Dirk who got drafted at 20.

I'm pretty sure he'll take his 2 all star appearances and 3 rings over being a perennial all star on a bad team.

Agreed except he'll still make the HOF and he'll finish with more than 3 rings, thank you very much.

[SupremeGuy]

How about that.

And look what happens when you adjust the numbers to 49%/39%/82%:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...t=&order_by=mp

Holy crap! Awesome.

[Chinook]

You're making it sound like their was just as much hype and excitement around guys like Blair, Hairston and Hill as their is around Kawhi. I don't care how many threads were started by 15 year olds on a message board, very few credible Spurs fans who actually know basketball (there's a lot of them not on this forum believe it or not) thought that those three guys could be anything close to what Kawhi can be. Hill being the closest but even most Spurs fans had major concerns about his future as well. Kawhi is a total different situation compared to those other three guys. Not only do fans see Kawhi's potential but so do coaches and players around the league who have been constantly singing his praises for the last year and half.

Popovich calling Hill "his favorite player" is a lot different then him calling Kawhi "the future face of the franchise".

First, I brought up Hairston because he was in Hill's quote from a couple of years ago. As far as I know, very few if any people thought he was going to be a star.

Second, it's absurd to read all this stuff about credible Spurs fans. None of us have any predictive sway. I know that this board is inundated with crappy threads, but that doesn't mean that most Spurs fans are much more rational than the lot on here. In my experience, most sports fans in general aren't very knowledgeable.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...orge+hill+star

That thread is full of people from different degrees of experience having an actually debate on Hill's potential. This was the first thread that I found, but I'm sure that if I were to find some from 2010, there'd be even more people, "credible" and otherwise, who believed Hill had the potential to be a star. I didn't go looking for your opinion on the matter, so I have no reason to believe that you didn't disagree with Hill's proponents even at the height of Hill's stock. But what seems clear is that you're unjustly asserting that only ignorant or less-experience Spurs fans believed Hill or Blair would be impact players.

And Hill has and continues to get praise around the league. He finished tied for second in MIP voting in 2010. The Pacers thought enough of him to trade away three assets and give him $40 Million.

As I said, I want to believe Kawhi will be a star as much as anybody. I have no issue with him saying anything. But it's crazy to be chided by people who want to rewrite the past to make their present positions stronger.

[DesignatedT]

But what seems clear is that you're unjustly asserting that only ignorant or less-experience Spurs fans believed Hill or Blair would be impact players.

Lol what? Impact player? I'm "unjustly asserting" that only ignorant or less experienced Spurs fans would believe that Hill is better than Parker or that Blair is Charles Barkely. Not that they could be "impact players". Blair could still very well end up being an impact player in this league. We are talking about Kawhi being an All-Star.



Also, not all fans who wanted to get rid of Parker because we had George Hill wanted to make such move because they believed Hill was better then Parker but because the return we could have received could have helped in other areas of need. Anybody who actually believed at any point in time that Hill was a better player than Parker is indeed ignorant as you stated.

[Chinook]

Lol what? Impact player? I'm "unjustly asserting" that only ignorant or less experienced Spurs fans would believe that Hill is better than Parker or that Blair is Charles Barkely. Not that they could be "impact players". Blair could still very well end up being an impact player in this league. We are talking about Kawhi being an All-Star.

Sorry for the confusion. I just got tired of writing "star" over and over again. In that thread I linked to, there were people with thousands of posts (although I don't know how many they had then) who were saying Hill was going to be a star, and that the only reason he wasn't going to be a consistent all-star was because he was being blocked by Parker. There was a fair amount of people disagreeing with those takes, though. That was back in 2009; I imagine Hill's stock continued to grow as the season progressed.

Also, not all fans who wanted to get rid of Parker because we had George Hill wanted to make such move because they believed Hill was better then Parker but because the return we could have received could have helped in other areas of need. Anybody who actually believed at any point in time that Hill was a better player than Parker is indeed ignorant as you stated.

Truth. People were talking more about getting a top-five pick than they were about giving Hill the nod. In that thread I linked to, the hot idea du jour was trading Manu for a big, because Hill could replace Ginobili at the two. So, yeah, different levels of rationality on display there.

[szkorhetz]

How about that.

And look what happens when you adjust the numbers to 49%/39%/82%:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...t=&order_by=mp

Scary.

[Frank Dux]

I remember Blair the next Barkley

we sum pathetic homers up in here

I also remember when Blair was technically a better rebounder than Rodman.

[SenorSpur]

I listened to the entire interview, including the part where Kawhi made those remarks. I didn't detect one hint of arrogance from him at all. It's almost as though he made those statements in the context of being a goal for himself. I like it and I'm not mad at him for uttering those statements. I can easily see him eventually achieving those goals for himself and for the Spurs - and I hope he does. Besides, if Pop predicts the same, it would be hard to argue against it.