Lakers VS Slippers Discussion

Such a great player but his knees are so fragile- Brandon Roy situation

 

lol if that thread is true

but didn't lue just say he's coming back next season?

 

Torn meniscus is the medical term for the condition more commonly known as "Clippers knee."

 

Welp..Kawhi has 2 Finals MVP and a few rings. His place in the Hall of Fame is secure. It's still great to see him reap all the bad Karma, from his classless acts during free agency. f*** the Clippers!!!

 

Kind of crazy how guys like Lebron have changed the expectations for players. Bill Simmons point out that Isiah was done by the age of 29. Kawhi is 31 so he's on the more classic. Wade played for years but he wasn't the same age 31 and older.

 

Kobe was on perhaps not as long but similar amazing in longevity career retaining his skills and effectiveness, similar to Kareem in his later years until the achilles got him.

 

Yep, no sympathy for KL or Balmer. Now he has 44 million and 48 million to pay. And first round exits to show for it.

KL played Bron and the Lakers (and his family played Magic) all to (i) leverage Balmer to get George and (ii) draw out the free agency period to dry it up on the Lakers. SAS saying “force him to retire” is wrong and dumb, but his take that Kawaii is “the worst superstar you can have on your team” is harsh and true. AD makes us feel that way sometime. But he delivered a chip. Clips still clipping. And I freaking love it!!!!

 

the clippers and kawhi aren't going to garner much sympathy, much like us. but this is part of the game. you knew what you were getting into with kawhi. we know what we're into with AD, etc.

as i said the other day, the thing that needs to be reconsidered is the concept of load management. it clearly doesn't do kawhi any good, for example. so why not just play him a reasonable amount of minutes when he's healthy instead of riding him to death and then shelving him for months at at time?

phx is doing it with kd right now, too. you guys do realize his injury history, right?

 

If Kawhi wasn't load managed, he wouldn't have made it to the playoffs. That guy is done as a full-time player in this league. He might be able to extend his career some by coming off the bench.

 

Lue taking Doc River's whole "we never lost with our full team" nonsense is just gold. lol

 

All I'm going to add is, I reeeeeally hope they manage to sign Russ long term this off season. Look how happy he is with all them toilets down there, how could they let him go after all the joy they've experienced together?

 

Yeah, it's not a switch you can turn on and off. You have to allow ramp up or those muscles aren't getting the needed in season reps.

I think they should've rested him on back to backs, maybe on the back end of long road trips but other than that keep him activated. Keep the minutes down to the high teens- low 20s when you want to give him rest and then ramp him back up to minutes in the mid 30s as needed and as the season progresses after the all star break.

This version clearly didn't work for him or for the Clippers.

 

But they lost a 3-1 lead against DEN. They also led by 20 or so in every of the last 3 games they lost. I remember, bacause i was sure we were gonna finally play them in th PO.

 

Nobody would be this harsh regarding Kawhi and his injuries if he wasn't such a creep, but he is, so here we are. It'd be one thing if he showed some remorse, some contrition, made public statements vowing to come back stronger, or acted warmly towards the ownership, the FO that gave him an extension, his coaches, etc. Or as Ryen Rusillo put it, "could you just say or do ONE THING that let's us know you view this as a partnership?" But no. He lives in San Diego, won't talk to the coaches, won't talk to ownership, and does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to acknowledge the fans. So he is getting every bit the slander he deserves.

Boy did we ever dodge a bullet with this guy, even if it was against our better judgment at the time.

 

Should have known from all that SA ordeal

 

i think because a) people will keep paying him basically no matter what and b) he simply doesn't care about what anyone thinks. he's accountable to himself (and i suppose whoever constitutes his inner circle) and literally cannot be bothered about anything else. it's almost noble if it didn't play as pathology.

as for the clippers, i feel like they knew what they were getting into. that was a deal with the devil of sorts. some of us weren't super sure about pursuing kawhi before he went to toronto because the interpersonal warning signs (and the injuries) were already there and glaring. and even after the toronto gamble worked out, it was still so weird to me that he basically didn't even consider staying there. and then the whole thing with us and the clips. i mean, he made their FO decisions before he even signed there! that was insane to me.

so, yeah, i'm not even sure it's a curse or bad luck (as their ringer mouthpiece put out today). though i do agree with his larger premise that they basically have to just ride it out.

 

Retire?? 44 million and 48 million.