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WTF Kori?
Sorry if this was already posted. I thought it was interesting, especially the line about this reporter getting denied a credential by the Spurs.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...412-story.html
Maybe my favorite Kawhi Leonard story happened a few weeks before the start of his sop re season at San Diego State.
It was late on a Friday afternoon at Viejas Arena, and coach Steve Fisher had just put what would become a 34-3 team through a grueling three-hour practice. That was followed by a 45-minute, equally brutal conditioning session by strength coach Randy Shelton that literally had players crawling off the floor for the locker room.
Fisher had given the team one final weekend off before the season, and the players quickly showered and headed into the twilight, eager to avail themselves of a rare Friday night without a Saturday practice (and indeed, several would be spotted at a downtown club a few hours later).
Leonard headed in the opposite direction. He walked back onto the Viejas Arena court, looked around and asked: “Where are the balls? Who locked up the balls?”
Someone dutifully found him some basketballs and left on the lights. An hour later he was still there, a solitary figure with the squeak of his sneakers and swish of the net echoing in an empty, 12,414-seat arena.
Which makes what’s happening with Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs so perplexing, so disconcerting, so utterly confounding.
The organization that annually sent a staffer to San Diego during summers to ensure its prized forward wasn’t working out too much – three-a-days were pushing it, four was simply too much – and that pioneered the controversial practice of resting its stars during the season is practically demanding he play. And, with the Spurs opening the playoffs Saturday against defending NBA champion Golden State, the kid who can’t stay out of the gym is refusing.
It doesn’t make sense.
I hoped to get some answer two weeks ago, when I was in San Antonio for the NCAA Final Four and the Spurs had a pair of home games. I requested a media credential. For the first time in 30-plus years of sports journalism, of covering Olympics and World Cups and everything in between, I was denied.
A simple oversight? I don’t think so. More likely, another indication of the depth of the discord. The Spurs know how extensively I’ve covered Leonard’s career and were incredibly accommodating on a trip to San Antonio earlier in his career, including notoriously grumpy coach Gregg Popovich.
But times, suddenly, inconceivably, have changed. The supposed perfect match – the unassuming superstar and the unorthodox organization built on selfless humility – has frayed at the edges, perhaps irreparably. They have trust issues.
Leonard is suffering from quadriceps tendinopathy just above his right knee, a painful condition that is best treated with rest and rehabilitation. The tricky part is, unlike many other injuries, there is no prescribed recovery window. It could be weeks, could be months, could be shorter, could be longer.
Leonard missed the season’s first 27 games, returned for nine in December on limited duty (23.2 minutes and no back-to-back games), and hasn’t played for the Spurs since. And may never again.
There are whispers that he thinks the Spurs’ medical staff misdiagnosed the injury, or at least didn’t properly assess its severity, leading him to seek a second opinion and have a specialist in New York take control of the rehab. Spurs physicians have since declared him healthy; Leonard says he still can’t explode off the leg.
The impasse boiled over late last month, when Leonard showed up for the annual team picture, posed in his No. 2 jersey and quickly left. His teammates later confronted him at a players-only meeting that, if you know anything about the Spurs, no doubt was arranged by Popovich while they struggled to make the playoffs for a 21st-straight season. The Spurs headed west for a road trip. Leonard headed east for more private rehab in New York.
Veteran point guard Tony Parker fired a verbal dart by telling reporters that he recovered, with no issues, from a quad injury “100 times worse.”
Leonard didn’t return fire, but former Spurs wing Stephen Jackson did: “The fact that came from Tony, that’s super low … I wouldn’t be surprised if this makes Kawhi want to leave. When your teammates are going against you in the media like that, not having your back, and you know that’s coming from up top (in the organization), why would you want to be there?”
There are also reports of increasingly strained relations between the front office and Leonard’s chief adviser, now his uncle after nudging aside his longtime agent. That this might be a leverage play ahead of contract talks or to force a trade.
Leonard, 26, has two years remaining on a contract that paid him $18.8 million this season but is eligible for unrestricted free agency in July 2019. The Spurs can keep him by offering a “supermax” extension after next season worth $219 million over five years – or $9 million per year more than he could get in free agency.
Or they can trade him this summer, while he still has value, while they can still get something in return.
A year ago, that eventuality seemed unthinkable. With each passing day, with each passing game that Leonard is not in uniform, with each passing slight from a teammate, it seems more and more plausible. The Celtics? The Lakers? Someone else?
But understand one thing about Leonard: This is not about money.
It never has been. This is a guy who lives well below his means, doesn’t have an entourage, doesn’t wear gaudy pin-striped suits, isn’t blinged out. Who drove the same Chevy Malibu he had in college when he got to the league, then replaced it with his first car, a ’97 Chevy Tahoe.
Who, sweat drenched, interrupted one of his summer workouts in San Diego to sign his current five-year, $94,343,130 contact, then immediately returned to the gym for the final hour of the session.
“I was scheduled to work out,” he explained later, “so I did.”
The only things that have ever mattered to him are playing, and winning. And loyalty.
It’s why he stuck with SDSU, the first school to recruit him out of King High in Riverside, when the blue bloods tried to pry him away late. And it’s why he can’t and won’t play for an organization he doesn’t trust.
Life tends to make things complicated. Leonard’s quadriceps tendinopathy might be, but the kid shooting baskets in an empty arena is not.
WTF Kori?
What’s your opinion, Kori?
Meh, I don't trust any type of source. Every single writer will have a bias depending from what side they get the info.
Yes, but not one single writer has any positive feel for Spurs and Kawhi. It's all negative. Maybe that sells. But the only person saying nothing is wrong is Danny Green.
Expect more leaks from Kiwi camp sources to SD and LA based writers as his group peppers the way for a departure to the Lakers this offseason. Kiwi may never speak but his people will not stand idly by and let pro-PATFO sycophants like McDonald control the narrative...
Oh, is broken, that's for sure. Whose fault is it is what is to be determined. A long history backs the Spurs up, though.
I don't think he's sitting out only because he had a falling out with the Spurs - I think he's still hurting enough to not want to jeopardize his long-term future.
But I do think that if he was just hurt (and that there was no rift), he'd be sitting behind the bench cheering on his teammates.
What alt do you usually post under, tbh?
As you can see, I'm still pinked. Please return me to proper BNSF status. Toot sweet.
Side note: Why do a bunch of you call Kawhi "Kiwi"... that was Sean Marks' nickname?
The only way Kawhi goes to LA this off season is if SA trades him there and I can’t see that happening.
None...
I have no control of that.
Only betas call Kawhi that.
None. I just read the forum every once in a while.
You certainly could ask for a favor. For cantthinkofanything and myself. I have like 3 important post quotes that I can't check.
Do you have a “side” here in this Kawhi vs Spurs debate? I have no problem with Kawhi wanting to protect himself and not play injured with such a big contract on the line, but he’s stepped over the line with how he’s gone about the situation.
How do you feel?
Avante has more privileges than me. And he's a...well...you know.
Wow, great to see you Kori. Damn. Been a while. Hopefully everything is going well.
You're welcome.
If you misbehave, I will delete you entirely.
Everything is great. Thanks.
What leak was referenced in this article ? It's an opinionated article on what this guy has been reading in the media too. Nothing new here besides he was denied a media pass to Spurs games.
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