Yea, the difference between a superstar offensive player and a star. Other thing is that Dirk's defense and impact on defensive rebounding was better than many gave him credit for.nickhx2 wrote:i used to argue with anyone and everyone that pau gasol was a better player than dirk. i simply looked at it like, well pau does everything pretty well and there's two sides to the game, so... so what if dirk's a better offensive player? he rebounds like a dork for his size and doesn't defend nearly as well as pau, not as gifted a passer, etc.
it took me a long, long time (and some learning of humility) to understand that you can't just look at numbers and players on paper. a player who can pierce through the upper-echelons of playoff-level defenses designed specifically to deny you every easy bucket is a player who can win a series - seemingly all by themselves.
and it was during their run through the heat that i was like "oh, ok yeah, stupid take by me," that i fully came around to the idea. and i bring this up, because to me, this is one aspect of what critics of the move don't quite get. paul george has never been that guy whose game gets better as the stakes go higher. that's why we got kawhi first and foremost (though that turned out to be ill-fated). and the organization got pretty tired of paul george being just another guy during the playoffs, despite asking for something that would have busted up the team's flexibility.
the team didn't want to offer him more than they wanted, and he didn't seem all that enthused about staying, either. it was about as clean-cut a split you'll see and the fact that podcast critics, or whomever, still seem to be going on about a thing that this team has moved on from, for months already, should inform us about how ill-informed they are on what the team thinks (and wants) to begin with.
Also, I agree, a lot of people are simply not acknowledging that both sides did what they felt was best for them.
PG rightly can say I'm not taking a discount and shorter contract knowing I might not even last here and be traded to whomever gives the best offer, meaning I could end up somewhere I would never choose.
Clippers can also say, hey, we don't want to give you the bigger money, and we aren't comfortable giving a no trade clause because it makes us stuck. It's an impasse, no solution, everyone moves on, life goes on.
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