LaMarcus Aldridge Gives Back $7.25 Million in Buyout with Spurs (Edit: Woj Says $5.8 Million) (Edit 2: Ouch, Looks Like Only $2.7 Million Now) (Edit 3: Wait, it might actually be $7.25 million)

[ElNono]

Kawhi was definitely not outright the best player on the '14 squad. He was tied with Manu for third in scoring during the '14 playoff run.

Arguable. He was the Finals MVP, and you can't spin that. He had to defend the best player in the league at the time, perhaps all time, for the entire series. He wasn't even getting plays called for him then.

[daslicer]

1. And I called bull on that, because he had Kawhi before the injuries and instead of getting out of the way, he started pouting about his touches and his role (fact). Then you went into spin mode on how he did get out of the way, despite I dared you to show me that he did. And you didn't, because you know you were doing revisionist history.

Everybody can read what we post here, tbh... when you changed your tune and said they both choked, now that's fair. I don't mind people ganging up on that bag nephew, but don't give this guy a pass in the process.



You keep trying to crowbar Manu in this convo, you should know by now it doesn't work. I didn't say the whole 'feels' thing in a demeaning manner, I was simply pointing it out based on what you posted. Namely:







See? it's all about how you feel. Look, you can feel however you want, tbh, we're not talking about you (or Manu), we're talking about LMA. He wasn't getting paid to quit when the going got tough. That's not what leaders do. Not season after season after season.
Sure, probably the series ends the same way. But show a little fight. At least pretend that you care. Do it for your teammates.



No, it's not a new logic. Players that have the hardware, and in this case, multiple hardware leading their teams throughout the whole playoffs and finals have always happened to get the benefit of the doubt for a poor game, a poor decision, or even a poor series here or there. Like it or not this game is about winning that LOBT, and the winners do get to write history. Kerr didn't get "The Last Dance", Jordan did. Does Jordan gets that show if he loses the 6 finals? No he doesn't. You don't get participation trophies in this thing.

LMA know this too well also, that's why he quit on this team (again) a few weeks ago hoping somebody will give him a ring. He just will never be in the upper echelon of true winners in this league though, because despite demanding to be the absolute leader, he always cared more about himself than the team winning.



I already agreed that this league if full of made. But I also think there's an extra special category of flat out losers like Carmelo or LMA in this league, where not only they're made, their pettiness get in the way of winning.

KD is absolutely made, but he didn't get in the way of the Dubs ringing. He didn't quit when everybody were saying on his second season he was playing iso too much.



Agree about Pop, but both Jax and Nephew, as much hate as you possibly can have for them, are a big part of the reason we have two more banners at the AT&T.

Never hid my disgust for LMA either, tbh, and while it completely blows to be 100% correct about him, it does suck the Spurs didn't move him while they could still fetch something for him.

1. Actually I did prove to you LMA got out of the way in the '16 playoffs when Kawhi lead the team in FGA in games 4-6 against the Thunder. The Spurs ended up losing all 3 of those games against the thunder. He deferred to him again in the '17 playoffs when Kawhi lead the Spurs in FGA in every game that he played except game 1 against in Warriors in which he was on pace to have the most FGA again until Zaza took him out.

2. Jax and Kawhi played big roles in winning those 2 les as good role players. Jax lucked out playing with peak Duncan who statically had the third best playoff run of all time. Duncan also statistically was the best player on the '14 team not by a big margin like he was on the 4 others but that goes to show you how good he was in '14. LMA didn't get to play with that Duncan so we will never know how successful he would have been with either '03 or '14 Duncan incarnations. If you want to be angry about LMA choking in games 4 and 5 of the Thunder series fine but other than that he was not put in the position to win a le.

So what were you right about LMA? That he didn't win les with the Spurs? That's not really a Nostradamus prediction right there considering what transpired with Zaza taking out Kawhi and then the Spurs losing Kawhi. Let me ask you a question what was your expectations of what LMA could provide the Spurs from '17-'19? Did you expect the team to be a le contender with him?

[daslicer]

Arguable. He was the Finals MVP, and you can't spin that. He had to defend the best player in the league at the time, perhaps all time, for the entire series. He wasn't even getting plays called for him then.

So going by your logic Andre Iguodala was the best player on the Warriors during the Warriors playoff run in '15. Also Cedric Maxwell was the best Celtic player on the '81 Celtics le team because he won Finals MVP.

[ElNono]

So going by your logic Andre Iguodala was the best player on the Warriors during the Warriors playoff run in '15. Also Cedric Maxwell was the best Celtic player on the '81 Celtics le team because he won Finals MVP.

Not my logic at all, that's entirely your claim. I said it was arguable, and that you can't spin his Finals MVP (which means he did something right).

Who was the best player in the '14 squad in your opinion? IMO, it's very difficult to pin it on one specific guy that year. Kawhi certainly up there though, IMVHO.

[daslicer]

Not my logic at all, that's entirely your claim. I said it was arguable, and that you can't spin his Finals MVP (which means he did something right).

Who was the best player in the '14 squad in your opinion? IMO, it's very difficult to pin it on one specific guy that year. Kawhi certainly up there though, IMVHO.

Statistically I go with Tim Duncan. He was second in scoring on the team during the playoffs, and lead the team in rebounds, along with being the defensive anchor in the paint. He wasn't the best by a big margin like he was on the first 4 les but I give him the edge. The big 3 statistically all performed better than Kawhi in the Mavs and Thunder series. Kawhi wasn't consistently good enough in the '14 playoffs to be considered the best player on the Spurs. Did he deserve Finals MVP? Yes he did I'm not going to dispute that but he wasn't the best player for the whole entire playoff run. That's simply not true.

[ElNono]

1. Actually I did prove to you LMA got out of the way in the '16 playoffs when Kawhi lead the team in FGA in games 4-6 against the Thunder. The Spurs ended up losing all 3 of those games against the thunder. He deferred to him again in the '17 playoffs when Kawhi lead the Spurs in FGA in every game that he played except game 1 against in Warriors in which he was on pace to have the most FGA again until Zaza took him out.

Except that's not what you said. Let's see:

1. He did get out of the way. His scoring dropped drastically during his two year stretch playing with Kawhi.

and I responded:

No he didn't get out of the way. He took the most shots for that entire series. He was full on 4 more 2PA than the second guy (nephew) for the entire playoff run. I dare you go look it up and tell me I'm wrong. Don't give me revisionist history.

Go ahead, look that up ('16) and tell me I'm wrong. Here: https://www.basketball-reference.com.../SAS/2016.html

And goes without saying he was the top shot taker as well in the regular season despite not being the top scorer (neither was he in the playoffs).

But you're correct they both choked that year.

2. Jax and Kawhi played big roles in winning those 2 les as good role players. Jax lucked out playing with peak Duncan who statically had the third best playoff run of all time. Duncan also statistically was the best player on the '14 team not by a big margin like he was on the 4 others but that goes to show you how good he was in '14. LMA didn't get to play with that Duncan so we will never know how successful he would have been with either '03 or '14 Duncan incarnations. If you want to be angry about LMA choking in games 4 and 5 of the Thunder series fine but other than that he was not put in the position to win a le.

I'm unhappy with LMA's entire tenure on the Spurs, because I already knew this guy was a serial quitter with an inflated ego. And turns out that, indeed, he was all of those things.

The Spurs wasted a lot of time and money on him. Now, I don't think the original signing was wrong, you can always take a flyer on a guy like that and see if you can change him, but it became clear fairly soon that was not happening and they should have ejected this loser a long time ago.

As far as Jax and Kawhi, I'm simply pointing out that no matter how much you hate them, they were important cogs, within their roles, in having two more banners hanging from the AT&T. Let's call it a silver lining. LMA doesn't even have that.

So what were you right about LMA? That he didn't win les with the Spurs? That's not really a Nostradamus prediction right there considering what transpired with Zaza taking out Kawhi and then the Spurs losing Kawhi. Let me ask you a question what was your expectations of what LMA could provide the Spurs from '17-'19? Did you expect the team to be a le contender with him?

I was right he was a quitter, that he wanted to be known as the man but not actually be one when it mattered. I was right he was a diva, and despite being on an actual contending team coming off a championship, the first thing he could think about is demand more touches.

I'm comfortable in stating that while Kawhi was here this was a contending team. Am I incorrect? My expectation was that he was going to swallow his ego chasing a ring and take a back seat to an emerging star in Kawhi, and try to learn a few things like not coming into camp fat from a legend like Tim.

Clearly my expectations were too high.

[ElNono]

Statistically I go with Tim Duncan. He was second in scoring on the team during the playoffs, and lead the team in rebounds, along with being the defensive anchor in the paint. He wasn't the best by a big margin like he was on the first 4 les but I give him the edge. The big 3 statistically all performed better than Kawhi in the Mavs and Thunder series. Kawhi wasn't consistently good enough in the '14 playoffs to be considered the best player on the Spurs. Did he deserve Finals MVP? Yes he did I'm not going to dispute that but he wasn't the best player for the whole entire playoff run. That's simply not true.

That's fair. I think there were a lot of unsung heroes that year. Splitter was very solid in a number of series. Even Pop, for all the he pulls off these days, I thought that was the best coaching job he did in many, many years (probably fueled by the up the year before).

[weeks]

LMA is just a weird ing dude.

[DMC]

Kawhi was definitely not outright the best player on the '14 squad. He was tied with Manu for third in scoring during the '14 playoff run.

Player and scorer not necessarily the same thing.

[DMC]

Except that's not what you said. Let's see:



and I responded:



Go ahead, look that up ('16) and tell me I'm wrong. Here: https://www.basketball-reference.com.../SAS/2016.html

And goes without saying he was the top shot taker as well in the regular season despite not being the top scorer (neither was he in the playoffs).

But you're correct they both choked that year.



I'm unhappy with LMA's entire tenure on the Spurs, because I already knew this guy was a serial quitter with an inflated ego. And turns out that, indeed, he was all of those things.

The Spurs wasted a lot of time and money on him. Now, I don't think the original signing was wrong, you can always take a flyer on a guy like that and see if you can change him, but it became clear fairly soon that was not happening and they should have ejected this loser a long time ago.

As far as Jax and Kawhi, I'm simply pointing out that no matter how much you hate them, they were important cogs, within their roles, in having two more banners hanging from the AT&T. Let's call it a silver lining. LMA doesn't even have that.



I was right he was a quitter, that he wanted to be known as the man but not actually be one when it mattered. I was right he was a diva, and despite being on an actual contending team coming off a championship, the first thing he could think about is demand more touches.

I'm comfortable in stating that while Kawhi was here this was a contending team. Am I incorrect? My expectation was that he was going to swallow his ego chasing a ring and take a back seat to an emerging star in Kawhi, and try to learn a few things like not coming into camp fat from a legend like Tim.

Clearly my expectations were too high.

LMA did what LMA has always done. He started in KD's shadow and was unfairly compared to him early on. He was better than he should have been given he's basically a 2pt jumper guy with some around the rim abilities. There are very very few NBA stars who don't have huge egos. You won't see another Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki most likely. They are individual corporations now, fighting for their bottom lines.

[duncan2k5]

Can't believe ppl are still defending this emo, egotistical quitter who bailed on every team because there was another player taking the shine.... He demanded a trade after the most team success he has ever had, and mailed it in this year because he felt we weren't good enough... Then had the audacity to demand another trade after being benched for poor play

[KobesAchilles]

Arguable. He was the Finals MVP, and you can't spin that. He had to defend the best player in the league at the time, perhaps all time, for the entire series. He wasn't even getting plays called for him then.

Dude put up 12 points a game in the first round. Wtf kinda best player does that? I can't think of a team that won a chip when their best player put up 12 points a game in a 7 game series. what team could even win round 1 when their best player gives them that ?

[KobesAchilles]

Player and scorer not necessarily the same thing.

He sucked the entire round1. He was pretty damn good the second round. He sucked in round 3 and was awful the first 2 games of the Finals. Then he had THREE amazing games of his life and it was awesome! It was epic! It got us that damn ring! But those were the only 3 games he was ever the best player on our team

[lefty]

Seattle will have some banners up there after the move.

.

[lefty]

Not my logic at all, that's entirely your claim. I said it was arguable, and that you can't spin his Finals MVP (which means he did something right).

Who was the best player in the '14 squad in your opinion? IMO, it's very difficult to pin it on one specific guy that year. Kawhi certainly up there though, IMVHO.

Finals MVP is totally spinnable tbh

Bird only scored 15 ppg in the 81 FInals, but his impact was much bigger than Maxwell's and he made clutch plays, not just in the Finals but in the entire playoffs

MJ stole the 96 FInals MVP from Rodman; Demar Dejordan only had 1 good game, Rodman was more instrumental in those Finals

Kareem should have won Finals MVP in 1980; sure, Tragic had that great game 6, but Kareem absolutely destroyed the entire 76ers frontline in the previous 5 games; the only reason Tragic won it was because the media liked him more than Kream

[RD2191]

LMA quit on the Spurs multiple times, period. Anyone arguing otherwise is a sucking homer. Just because he did it "professionally" doesn't mean . Spurs accomplished jack with him and he has only himself to blame. Requesting a trade after a historic Spurs regular season and a deep playoff run just because you weren't getting your touches? gtfo Dude's a quitter and a loser, always has been. Didn't do in Portland, didn't do in SA, him.

[daslicer]

He sucked the entire round1. He was pretty damn good the second round. He sucked in round 3 and was awful the first 2 games of the Finals. Then he had THREE amazing games of his life and it was awesome! It was epic! It got us that damn ring! But those were the only 3 games he was ever the best player on our team

Agreed. He was a very good role player during that playoff run but he was not even close to being a star yet. He showed flashes of it in the Blazers series, and the final 3 games of the Miami series but outside of that he was just a good role player.

[daslicer]

Player and scorer not necessarily the same thing.

In NBA history the best player on a le contender is always the 1 or second scorer on the team. The only time this wasn't true was when Bill Russell was on the Celtics and Magic on the Lakers. In Magic's case he was usually third in scoring on the Lakers but his play making also generated a ton of points. Name me a time when the best player on NBA championship team wasn't the number 1 or 2 option in scoring.

[daslicer]

LMA quit on the Spurs multiple times, period. Anyone arguing otherwise is a sucking homer. Just because he did it "professionally" doesn't mean . Spurs accomplished jack with him and he has only himself to blame. Requesting a trade after a historic Spurs regular season and a deep playoff run just because you weren't getting your touches? gtfo Dude's a quitter and a loser, always has been. Didn't do in Portland, didn't do in SA, him.

But he will ring in Brooklyn.

[K...]

It can be both true that LMA was a punk ass pansy and also the best post duncan player (not including the player who can't even wipe his own ass anymore) we will see in many years. People who hate LMA are in for a sore experience as there are 500 lma types for every duncan.

There's an entire seperate thread about "did lma quit" this thread for trolling about how lma scoring 12 points is the difference between the spurs making the playoff.

[DMC]

In NBA history the best player on a le contender is always the 1 or second scorer on the team. The only time this wasn't true was when Bill Russell was on the Celtics and Magic on the Lakers. In Magic's case he was usually third in scoring on the Lakers but his play making also generated a ton of points. Name me a time when the best player on NBA championship team wasn't the number 1 or 2 option in scoring.

You're moving the goalposts a little bit. You said best scorer now you're moving it to number one or number two.

So if we take it to a single game, Patty Mills is the high scorer on the game does that make him the best player on the floor? What if Kawhi Leonard only has 10 point but he has five steals 7 blocks at about 15 rebounds?

The best player on the floor isn't dependent on his individual numbers that game or even that series, if LeBron James was playing he would be the best player on the floor regardless of who else is on the floor and whatever their results were in that series because how can the best player in the NBA not be the best player on a team?

[Ice009]

LMA did what LMA has always done. He started in KD's shadow and was unfairly compared to him early on. He was better than he should have been given he's basically a 2pt jumper guy with some around the rim abilities. There are very very few NBA stars who don't have huge egos. You won't see another Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki most likely. They are individual corporations now, fighting for their bottom lines.

What do you mean by LMA started in KD's shadow? I don't recall them playing together. Did they play together in college, or do you mean when Seattle still had a team and it was Portland and Seattle in the same state?

[Darius Bieber]

Dude is 8-12 with 22 points in 23 minutes

[Ice009]

Dude is 8-12 with 22 points in 23 minutes

Great for us . We don't have any big men on the team capable of doing that.

[daslicer]

Dude is 8-12 with 22 points in 23 minutes

He even caught an alley-oop from Kyrie.