The Board Man Cometh!! Kawhi Leonard Signs 3 Year (2+1), $103 Million Deal

mttwlsn16 · Post #641 » by **mttwlsn16** » Thu May 30, 2019 5:02 am

MartinToVaught wrote:This is embarrassing, cringeworthy and reeks of desperation. The Clippers need to stop begging and act like a normal franchise.

Not like they're trying to steal his klaw name. Pretty sure Kawhi switched to Nike, and Nike owns klaw. We're basically offering to buy it back for him. I think it's a nice gesture. And hilarious.

Roscoe Sheed · Post #642 » by **Roscoe Sheed** » Thu May 30, 2019 5:07 am

MartinToVaught wrote:This is embarrassing, cringeworthy and reeks of desperation. The Clippers need to stop begging and act like a normal franchise.

Or perhaps it was just something the clippers front office is exploring and is being blown out of proportion by the media and fans

Post #643 » by **QRich3** » Thu May 30, 2019 10:43 am

lol yeah the article literally says they just explored it internally without it going anywhere, and that the NBA executives who leaked it found it a completely normal thing that's discussed when you try to look for an edge. But that won't stop people that want to freak out about everything from getting fake outraged.

wco81 · Post #644 » by **wco81** » Thu May 30, 2019 2:48 pm

We’ll combine it with the Clippers obviously watching every game KL played, one could say it reeks of being needy ...

Post #645 » by **QRich3** » Thu May 30, 2019 2:58 pm

wco81 wrote:We’ll combine it with the Clippers obviously watching every game KL played, one could say it reeks of being needy ...

****'s that mean? being needy? I mean which team is not needy for talent, specially of this caliber? I will never get this culture of comparing every situation in life to high school flirting dynamics.

wco81 · Post #646 » by **wco81** » Thu May 30, 2019 5:53 pm

I mean it looks thirsty the way Frank was going to Raptors games. Now this.

Wammy Giveaway · Post #647 » by **Wammy Giveaway** » Thu May 30, 2019 6:26 pm

wco81 wrote:I mean it looks thirsty the way Frank was going to Raptors games. Now this.

I've been opposed to Leonard coming to the Clippers ever since he was announced as a candidate, and I have not wavered from that opinion. The more they present themselves as desperate, the more I really see it as Kawhi Leonard being the Clipper's savior.

Didn't they learn their lesson about how hunting for saviors only gets them into trouble? The superstar experiment of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, how their egos, pettiness and otherwise evil personalities got in the way of winning a championship, always coming up short in the playoffs and being in the press for the wrong reasons. That's why the Lakers are still revered in the league, even with the dysfunctional mess that's going on within the Buss family. When the Clippers were ripped of their superstars and left with just role players, they learned how to compete properly, operate team basketball, playing for one another to their capable strengths. Making the playoffs and getting two games from the Warriors, including a 31-point comeback in Game 2 to kill any chance of a sweep, was all the good press they needed. And now they want Leonard, not for his winning, but so that the Clippers can learn from him how to win when the press is fixated on the Lakers, how to survive the wrath of the media, knowing that the only press they'll ever get is bad ones.

Clippers still want to be loved, respected and worshiped like the Lakers. When the media claims allegiance to a franchise, you don't try to steal theirs by one-upping them. You have a new generation of independent and up-and-coming media groups who are starting out or have no idea who to cover, target them instead.

As for me, the real savior is Jerry West, the visionary who created the Lakers and Warriors dynasties. I think there are still more diamonds in the rough to be had. The Clipper's true strength is in depth and underestimation; stick with role players, trust in the draft. The Raptors drafted guys who were outside the lottery (1 through 14) or were undrafted like with Fred Van Vleet prior to their sacrifice trade of DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard - and they're in the Finals. The odds of Leonard staying in Toronto should they win the title are 100%, and I know for one thing the Clippers aren't going to settle for lesser stars. The role player method is probably the best thing for the Clippers, for it gave them true humility.

esqtvd · Post #648 » by **esqtvd** » Thu May 30, 2019 7:22 pm

Wammy Giveaway wrote:
Didn't they learn their lesson about how hunting for saviors only gets them into trouble? The superstar experiment of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, how their egos, pettiness and otherwise evil personalities got in the way of winning a championship, always coming up short in the playoffs and being in the press for the wrong reasons.

This is all backwards. The only reason they competed for a championship in the first place was because of those guys, esp CP3. And the team was built exactly as the Raptors were--Blake was drafted, and CP was traded for top-10 picks Gordon and Aminu, Kaman and a 1st.

As it turned out, yes, the CP-BG phalanx was too flawed to win, but 9 of the last 10 championships were won by Steph, LeBron, Duncan or Kobe, top 10-15 HOFers all. You don't win the Larry without one of those guys, and Kawhi is flirting with that stratosphere.

CP is considerably below that cut. We just weren't good enough, but still put together by far the 5 best years in Clipper history and CP was our savior. It was a beautiful thing. We won 48 games this year with Doc's smoke and mirrors, but let's be honest--we're really a long way from being even a consistent 50-win team. And since Ballmer has no intention of tanking, we're only gonna get a HOFer through free agency.

Not thrilled.

wco81 · Post #649 » by **wco81** » Thu May 30, 2019 9:31 pm

KL is having a PHENOMENAL playoffs.

He's shooting 55% on deep pull up 3s and by other metrics, he's having maybe one of the top 5 postseasons of all time.

NBA TV is running the Warriors-Toronto game. I think KD had 51 but Kawhi had like 40 and he was 9-11 at one point, easily getting any shot he wanted over any defender, including a lot of pull ups all over the court.

So his playoffs form isn't some fluke.

He's going to get a big full court press from many teams. I can't believe Lakers are wasting that much time with Kyrie. You go all-in on Kawhi and then look at others as second choices. KD is great but KL is 3-4 years younger. And he may have felt pain in his quads against Milwaukee but it didn't hurt his performance at all.

BillTheGOAT · Post #650 » by **BillTheGOAT** » Thu May 30, 2019 10:19 pm

I'm rooting for the Clippers to get him, I want him out of the East. He's elevated himself as the best player in the game IMO.

wco81 · Post #651 » by **wco81** » Thu May 30, 2019 10:21 pm

Even if he goes to the Lakers?

Quake Griffin · Post #652 » by **Quake Griffin** » Fri May 31, 2019 5:37 am

Well.

He’s not getting swept out of the finals.

Post #653 » by **QRich3** » Fri May 31, 2019 11:46 am

Raps played a pretty amazing game, I didn't think they had all this in them after the regular season. They're a really good defensive team with a bunch of resources on offense to get out of dry spells. I still think the Dubs are gonna win and it's not gonna be all that hard for them despite game 1, but I wouldn't be as surprised now if the Raps are able to win it. Rooting for them to make it, anyway.

nabbs · Post #654 » by **nabbs** » Fri May 31, 2019 2:04 pm

Kawhi going to leave Siakam to play with uncommitted superstar X, Redick’s illegitimate son and rich man’s Delon Wright?

Quake Griffin · Post #655 » by **Quake Griffin** » Fri May 31, 2019 3:49 pm

nabbs wrote:Kawhi going to leave Siakam to play with uncommitted superstar X, Redick’s illegitimate son and rich man’s Delon Wright?

Some of our fans are going to be optimistic about Kawhi coming here no matter what.

Losing to Philly was gonna make him come here.
Losing the 1st 2 games to Milwaukee was gonna show him he had no help and needed to come here.
Now the idea is that no matter the finals turn out, hes coming here.

A home in San Diego, where he went to college, legitimately 2 hours from any Clipper facility is proof he wants to be a Clipper.

I don't buy any of it.
I won't buy any of it until I know he's in a room with Jerry and Co.

Until then, he's physically and "spiritually" a Raptor to me and will be a Raptor on Opening Night next year.