Kawhi Leonard Discussion: “I’m A Snake Clipper Guy.”

He will probably, fly out back to LA to spend the 4th (Happy July 4th) with his family, and announce his decision on Friday.

 

Top 3 earners Lebron, Stephen and KD and what do these dudes have in common? hmmm Something that starts with C and ends with A.

 

Not to be a grammar Nazi, but Fewer endorsements. Fewer before a plural noun, always. As in Kawhi has fewer Olympic medals than LeBron. Kawhi has less money than LeBron.

 

I slept 20 mins so far tonight. Woke up and here I am now.


My thoughts as of 4:24AM EST
- Lakers have to be in the lead. As many have mentioned he seems like a methodical guy. It's annoying to wait but him being this way is what got him to this point. I believe the Lakers are in the lead because there's just no way he makes more money in Canada, and there's no way he gains more popularity and increases his financial opportunities than signing with one of the greatest franchises in sports. It's plain common logic that he would thrive in just about every way in Los Angeles as a Laker.

- If he chooses to stay in Canada with a team that is not as good as what the Lakers could be (even without him on the roster), and with the said taxes, less media exposure would afford him less income, I'll just leave with the understanding that his thought process is far more different than what common logic would tend to be and we have to be fine with that. Some people are just different, and we just have to move on. Sign Cousins.

Him being on the Raptors is not going to stop us from winning a championship. The west being as open as it is now, the only thing that would stop us is poor chemistry or injuries. AD is a juggernaut on his own. LeBron still has a good amount left in the tank. We get shooters that can even somewhat play defense and we're good.

 

It's been noted that AD would rather play the 4 and Vogel wants him at the 5 because of what he's learned about the modern NBA offense during his time away from coaching for a few seasons. I just think Cousins will probably come cheap for one season like last year and be able to be used as the 5 that coach Vogel wants even if AD starts at the 5. Even him being less than 100 percent of the player he was, Cousins at least is a big body that can handle the ball a bit enough to make small plays here and there and he has the ability to hit from outside. Also, I don't remember his defense ever being too bad even coming back from injury. Also sets good screens.

I also think AD is too thin and that worries me about injuries with him banging in the paint with bigger bodies like Embiid, Gasol, Marjanovic, Jordan, etc. Him being outside allows his full game to be used in my opinion.

 

It depends on the sport for me. The NFL went full mercenary, the 90s they were out of control, and I gradually lost interest. I follow my favorite college players now.

NBA, I had just moved to California from Michigan, when Larry and Magic were battling in college. My best friend was a hardcore Lakers fan, so when Magic came, I was hooked.

I rejoiced the 80s, slogged through the early - mid 90s, rejoiced again as another dynasty was born, ushering in a new millennium.

I was an every game fan. Didn't miss any. Watched many, more than once.

Through all the years, I think Kobe is my favorite. I remember everything about the work outs, rumors, draft/trades. Vlade for an 18 yo kid, and I was totally cool with it.

A bit of me died, when he got hurt. I still despise D'antoni to this day, because of it. I watched the occasional game, his goodbye tour. It was just gut wrenching. Reminded me of all our mortality. He was/IS just a KID!

LeBron didn't do it for me. I enjoy Kuzma. He reminds me of Kobe, with a few of those moves. Not in his league of course... but little reminders.

AD excites me, if he stays healthy. I think being in LA will be good for him. I think building a cast around him and LeBron, can and will win.

I think Kawhi, would make them a generational juggernaut.

But, I'll always be a Lakers fan. Sometimes a bit more rabid, than others. Age has mellowed me a lot. I laugh at a lot of it, and the reactions nowadays. It's just a game.

 

One theory... he wanted to know if we tried to trade for him. He wants to know how badly we wanted him.

Perhaps this is all a test. Are we willing to wait for him knowing we’re losing out on valuable free agents? Or as time goes on are we going to put pressure on them? Who knows.

Personally, I’m almost at the point now where if we don’t hear from him in the next day or two, I’d rather go fill out our team. I hate indecisive people. I’m an older fella so I’ve had to make major decisions in my life that’s impacted many people. Move it, move it, move it!!!

 

Btw for those who care, this is what the Raptors GM said a couple of weeks ago about the Kawhi meeting.

“There’s definitely more (things to be done),” Webster said, via Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. “As you can imagine, there are a ton of thoughts and ideas. Collecting those and putting them more in presentation, or a little more in order, will help … as we start to think about the different ways to pitch him.

“Obviously we’ll want to put a couple special touches on it. But throughout the year we’ve been talking about the things we can offer and what made this season so special. I think we’ll just continue that.”

And Webster said the team must avoid any kind of complacency after winning a title. It would be easy to stand pat but it would also be counterproductive because good teams must always try to improve.

“Nick (Nurse) told us yesterday … he said ‘Stay hungry,’ ” Webster said. “I don’t want to say you necessarily have to fight (complacency) but you want (continued growth) to be a philosophy of the organization and it has been to this point.

“I don’t expect that to change. It’s stay hungry, go find players.”
^^^^^
IMO, they talked about how they were going to improve the team, over the next few years. Whether that be targeting big stars in the coming years, or adding to their deep roster.

 

lemmie try.

"We give few f***s about grammar on this site." Or is it fewer?

 

Haha savage

 

Kawhi shows up at the Dodgers game tonight.

 

[Cris Carter on FTF] “I think Kawhi is going to make an announcement on Friday”

 

But we still do have a separate proper English thread in the Open section