Leadership starts at the top

[MathiasPW]

And now that he was forced to sell to Balmer, the Clippers now won the Kawai and PG sweepstakes because Kawai realized that the Clippers are now the best run franchise in LA.

How are they the best run franchise? Some players made a decision to play together there and they are able to pay them is what I see.

I'm not saying they are run poorly or anything. It just seems more like its almost irrelevant because the players made the decision. Contracts don't matter, players sign a contract then demand trades and the owners go along with it.

Maybe in a year or two one or both of George and Leonard will be demanding more trades and some other teams will be so well run as to be chosen destinations.

Well they really did a pretty remarkable job going from Paul, Griffin, Redick, Jordan to this team quickly.

Paul wants to go to Houston. So they do a S&T, get a pick, Beverley and Lou...for a guy that was leaving. Redick leaves, but they sign Blake to a max...but maybe their whole goal was to sign him to a huge deal instead of lose him for nothing and then try and sign him later for more assets. Either way, they DID trade him to the Pistons for Tobias Harris, a couple other players and a couple picks. Then they take SGA in the draft.

Then they trade Harris for a first round Philly pick, the unprotected Heat pick we know well, and Landry Shamet.

So they added all these picks, Shamet, Beverley and Lou, and made cheap solid FA signings like Harrell and JaMychal Green.

But they had that stockpile of picks and young players, along with Gallinari who they had previously traded for as well to trade for the George.

Now of course this all hinged on Kawhi wanting to go to LA if they do the George trade. They probably don't do that trade if Kawhi isn't coming too.

But even without those guys, and this same team, they won 48 games after trading away all those big names, starting a couple rookie PGs, so they have a solid organization, development, coaching.

We try and start a couple of rookies, even both lottery picks (one being the #1 pick), along with Booker and win 19 games and blame it on being young. They start 2 rookies with Gallinari and Beverley and win 48.

This strategy only seems successful because their team massively overachieved last season. They basically traded all their stars for picks and so-so players (including Tobias who became more picks).
Had they sucked, Kawhi would have gone to the Lakers and they would be just another bottom dweller with cap space, like we were two seasons ago.

Their biggest merit might have been NOT making huge mistakes.

[WeekapaugGroove]

If Ayton and Booker are as good as some think they are, they really should be able to have a similar season. Their supporting cast and depth is better (Plumlee and rookie Len vs Ayton/Baynes for starters).

Booker should be able to take a major step this year..he has offensive threats all around him and if he is a top tier player, and especially a great shooter, he should be able to take his game to star level. And Ayton should really be the star being taken #1 in a stacked draft ahead of Doncic. If that pick was deserving, I hope we see why.

While I haven't agreed with every move your last paragrxxdx beaph is what I like about this offseason. They need to know what they have in those two and this year should give a real evaluation without the excuses that were built in the last couple few years. This is important because if either guy isn't what they think they can be then they need to pivot and find some guys who can be the main dude. I'm not saying this will be the end all be all peak years for these guys or that if they don't make the playoffs it's some type of failure but we should get a real picture of just how good they are.

I agree that I would have preferred them getting some more defenders but even that's a bit of a litmus test because realistically if they are really cornerstones ayton needs to take a step and protect the rim and Booker needs to at least hold his own and not be terrible. Because if we're being honest it's just not tennable that their two best players just suck at D and need to have a roster built around them that hides them. There's a very limited upside to that.

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I agree with you in the sense that if they are real stars you shouldn't need to surround them with defensive players (particularly Ayton) and I see twitter folks saying similar things.

But if they are TRULY surrounding them (or more paticularly, Ayton) with offensive guys because they think these guys can be defensive studs right now like people like David Nash, Max and I guess what you are saying here are thinking, I think that's a mistake. I mean if you take Ayton, you know that defense for him is an enormous work in process at best. Maybe I've just watched him longer and am not as confident as you guys with that. I think he might be able to get there, but I would have supplemented with more defensive help and not expected it immediately.

To me it's not that Ayton needs to be a defensive stud right away but I don't mind throwing him in the fire and making try to be one. He has the physical tools to be good on that side of the ball so it's not like he drawing dead like the lead footed guys like kanter. Hiding him would be the wrong approach for his development IMO.

Booker is a different story because he'll never be a good defender and doesn't really need to be. He does need to give better effort and not be terrible. By taking some of the offensive load off his plate he shouldn't have an excuse to take off as many plays on that side of the ball. Plus Rubio is a good defender and should help him in the backcourt.

Hell they might even be better defensively at PF because while Saric isn't great he's better that Warren or Anderson. I would have preferred a better backup that kaminsky though.

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[bwgood77]

While I haven't agreed with every move your last paragrxxdx beaph is what I like about this offseason. They need to know what they have in those two and this year should give a real evaluation without the excuses that were built in the last couple few years. This is important because if either guy isn't what they think they can be then they need to pivot and find some guys who can be the main dude. I'm not saying this will be the end all be all peak years for these guys or that if they don't make the playoffs it's some type of failure but we should get a real picture of just how good they are.

I agree that I would have preferred them getting some more defenders but even that's a bit of a litmus test because realistically if they are really cornerstones ayton needs to take a step and protect the rim and Booker needs to at least hold his own and not be terrible. Because if we're being honest it's just not tennable that their two best players just suck at D and need to have a roster built around them that hides them. There's a very limited upside to that.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I agree with you in the sense that if they are real stars you shouldn't need to surround them with defensive players (particularly Ayton) and I see twitter folks saying similar things.

But if they are TRULY surrounding them (or more paticularly, Ayton) with offensive guys because they think these guys can be defensive studs right now like people like David Nash, Max and I guess what you are saying here are thinking, I think that's a mistake. I mean if you take Ayton, you know that defense for him is an enormous work in process at best. Maybe I've just watched him longer and am not as confident as you guys with that. I think he might be able to get there, but I would have supplemented with more defensive help and not expected it immediately.

To me it's not that Ayton needs to be a defensive stud right away but I don't mind throwing him in the fire and making try to be one. He has the physical tools to be good on that side of the ball so it's not like he drawing dead like the lead footed guys like kanter. Hiding him would be the wrong approach for his development IMO.

Booker is a different story because he'll never be a good defender and doesn't really need to be. He does need to give better effort and not be terrible. By taking some of the offensive load off his plate he shouldn't have an excuse to take off as many plays on that side of the ball. Plus Rubio is a good defender and should help him in the backcourt.

Hell they might even be better defensively at PF because while Saric isn't great he's better that Warren or Anderson. I would have preferred a better backup that kaminsky though.

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I definitely don't think they should hide him...you can't really hide a C, but it's nice to have a defensive 4 that can play next to him sometimes to help....be it through example but also just have another smart defender there. Embiid had Covington around and also Simmons who was quality and could guard bigs and Gobert had Favors to start his career. Towns has improved substantially with Covington there as well.

When you have to worry about your own guy AND helping all the time it just makes it tougher, especially on a young guy trying to learn. Rubio should help to some extent, sticking to guards, and Bridges as well if he's in the lineup with him.

[SlovenianDragon]

I have to ask...how much longer are we going to put up with this asshat?

Sarver strikes me as the kind of guy that even if he was done with the team and wanted to sell it he wouldnt just to spite the fans.