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

Kawhi called Kobe on that shot

 

Its certainly a double standard. He should be fined no question. I am more concerned with the reputation of our own FO and ownership group around the league and with league offices. I would rather get our own house in order and not worry too much about what other teams are doing.

 

have to agree here, everyone tampers but magic with his clout to go along with his interviews, tweets, etc. n rob shadyness did us no favor

 

SMH

 

I think whatever Rob was doing was just so blatant and bad the league had to bring the hammer down.

BUT, now that the standard has been set, they need to address it when other teams do stuff like this.

 

Excuse me but what the s**t is this?

 

Hi @D-Fish Man !

Absolutely!

AEG is working on a partnership with New Balance for a myriad of other things, independent of Kawhi Leonard. Part of it does have to do with helping promote both New Balance and Kawhi if he chooses to come here. That also means a lot of $$ for Kawhi and his camp. They have been in touch with him regarding this, but there's no confirmation that Kawhi has committed to LA. He's definitely interested, though.

Lakers have also asked AEG to prepare a business pitch for Kawhi for the summer. This is common practice, and AEG is usually present for big free agent meetings doing something similar. That is being worked on, and it is related to New Balance as well.

Regards,
Mr. Rambis

 

Thanks!

 

Kobe's the one who taught Kawhi that baseline fadeaway, the one he hit twice as game winners specifically.

 

$50k fine. finally.

 

...as long as it’s not the Clippers.

 

He will sign a shorter term deal, i.e going the Durant route leaving him the flexibility to leave whenever he wants if he decides to do so...

IMO.

 

I can definitely see him doing that.

 

careful you might be enforcing a mythical forum rule number 1 enacted by a shadow Clipper fan here

 

I don’t think Doc was far off on his comment that Kawhi’s the best 2-Way player since MJ.

However, i think the most accurate statement should be “Kawhi’s the best 2-way player since Kobe”. Let’s not forget, Kobe was the best 2-way player since MJ.

Having said that, it gave me the idea of how the Lakers should pitch Kawhi this summer during their free agent meeting.

Kawhi’s actually a very likeable (thus... marketable) player because he’s been so quiet for so long, nobody knows anything about him. Since he never shows any emotion, you never get the polarizing effects players like Kobe, Curry, LeBron get where half the world loves them, half hate them because of the comments they make, their demeanour on the court could be considered “arrogant”, etc:

The pitch from a marketing standpoint is Kawhi’s admittedly finally getting his true recognition now in Toronto. But imagine the recognition he can get by being on the Lakers. The Lakers were headlining ESPN the night before the NBA finals because of office politics. If it was any other franchise, nobody would even blink. The Lakers were talked about so much on ESPN, even Adam Silver jokes that ESPN is the Lakers channel. Love it or hate it, good or bad, the Lakers are always somehow relevant because they are the crown jewel of the NBA. Now imagine Kawhi in a spotlight that bright, a likeable guy and you market him as this funny but awkward guy.... which New balance has been doing an amazing job at (ie check out his “I’m a fun guy” shirt lol). Send the message that Kawhi + Lakers from a marketing/endorsement standpoint will becoming as appealing as Steph Curry. Suddenly kids all over the world want to be like Kawhi.

Now from a basketball aspect, we need LeBron to be cooperative as part of the pitch. Kawhi and LeBron have the potential to be a better duo than MJ/Scottie. The difference is it’s going to be Kawhi who would be in the MJ role while LeBron is in a role of super-Pippen. It makes sense from an age standpoint, it preserves Lebrons longevity by making him the Scottie Pippen facilitator, but he can still get his buckets here and there... but the demand won’t be for him to do both. LeBron facilitates and gets Kawhi and others going, where Kawhi is the primary focus on offense which he has shown he can score extremely efficiently. Let’s not forget he can also put the other teams best perimeter player in a straight jacket.

Like I said, LeBron would need to cooperat and in the pitch meeting say “Kawhi, this is your time now. You be Michael, let me be your Scottie and let’s dominate this together”.

If Kawhi agrees to sign with us, I honestly think a Kawhi/LeBron duo could realistically have Kawhi average 30/8/5 while LeBron averages 25/10/10.... both of them with field goal percentages above 50%.