Kawhi regarding Toronto weather: "Just wear a jacket. We're in a building. We're not outside playing in a snow"

[dbhoops]

I need more info on the snow blower purchase.

[OakleyDokely]

I need more info on the snow blower purchase.

RealGM at its best.

[dukes_wild]

So much gold in this interview

[___Rand___]

Kawhi is apparently a nature guy, and in that interview he said he likes the scenery in Toronto..he stay

for sake of time for some of us, when did he say that?

[binjumper]

Kawhi is going to leave because of these dumb *** questions.

"Kawhi, if you hear the news or tv talking about you, do you laugh it off or does it bother you"

Kawhi: "Nah I dont really buy into reading media, I dont watch a lot of TV, I dont have any social media.

"Does the noise surrounding you motiviate you to play harder?"

Kawhi: "its kind of hard to do that if I dont listen to it"

Umm those questions were asked by US media so actually they help us prove to him the environment is better here.

Oh ok true my bad.

Kawhi is going to quit basketball because of these dumb *** questions haha.

so you're just going to move the goal post instead?

[Sherlock]

Even if you play for LA or Miami, you still spend half of your season on the road in cold cities.

Reason why I don't get the cold weather stigma Toronto has, as if teams on the East Coast (New York, Boston, Philly), Mid-West (Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland) don't experience the same winters we do here; if not colder. It's just something that leans back to the whole American ignorance of us living in Igloos over here. It's ridiculous.

Let's talk about cities with NBA teams and how they're described.

Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Indiana, Cleveland (without LeBron), Toronto -- Cold.

New York -- Mecca of basketball
Boston -- Championship town
Philadelphia -- City of brotherly love, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere
Chicago -- Michael's home

This has nothing to do with climate. The differences between the two are a) size/stature of city including number of players who grow up playing there and b) legacy of winning. Toronto is working on both issues simultaneously, but it'll take time.

[Badonkadonk]

What makes you say that?

- Clippers are worse than the Raptors
- Raptors can give him 5-years and $50 million more than anyone else

I think he's gone because nothing's really changed since he wanted to go there in the first place.

Everybody knew Toronto would be one of the top teams in the East. Things have kind of gone according to plan. If he wanted to go to LA after the Spurs (whether it's family, weather, home or w/e, it doesn't matter), then nothing has appreciably changed in that equation IMO.

This season is the most fun I've had as a Raptors fan. I'm just enjoying it while I can and am thankful we hoodwinked the Spurs even for one year of this.

Things can change though as you develop relationships with teammates/coaches/management during a long season. I feel Kawhi is a guy that above all needs to feel comfortable with his surroundings and if he feels comfortable in Toronto, he will re-sign. It happened to PG who prior to last season was all set to sign with the Lakers until he played a full season in OKC.

Well that is definitely my hope. I think everybody here would love to see that. I just think given his personality it's going to be impossible to read into how he's weighing things or how those relationships (or that comfort with the city) is growing.

Until that happens, I just have to assume that he still wants what he wanted before while keeping my fingers crossed.

[SHFT]

Umm those questions were asked by US media so actually they help us prove to him the environment is better here.

Oh ok true my bad.

Kawhi is going to quit basketball because of these dumb *** questions haha.

so you're just going to move the goal post instead?

It was a ****ing joke....BOTH TIMES lol lighten up dude

Sent from my LG-H915 using RealGM mobile app

[Sherlock]

Just the feeling I get from following Kawhi and the Raptors. I know he's a quiet person and pretty hard to read, but there are some little things that make me think he's just biding time and trying to make the most out of this season while also taking every precaution and leaving himself multiple options to choose from

- Clippers are 17-10 even without Kawhi
- Clippers have some nice pieces already and a lot of roster flexibility
- Lowry would be 34 during the next season's playoffs, and 35 the year after that - who can replace Lowry? I'm not talking just about Lowry's production, but also his leadership... Clearly not Delon or FVV or Anunoby... Maybe Siakam can make another jump?
- Clippers have Los Angeles - not only one of the top cities with great weather, but also Kawhi's hometown
- Kawhi doesn't seem like someone shying away from competition, so he might enjoy a rivalry vs LeBron
- Kawhi doesn't seem like a money-driven guy, and it's not like he's actually losing $50 million by choosing the Clippers. He wouldn't retire after that 4 year contract, would he? He'd also get more lucrative endorsements in LA which would help to balance it out (no pun intended).

I don't know... As I said, I don't think that it's impossible to convince him to stay in Toronto, but I think it's at most a 20-25% possibility. At the end of the day, we all have our opinions and it's all just speculation. We don't know what's in Kawhi's head.

Its true he would get 50mil less signing a 4 year contract with the clips. However, you are always one injury away from seriously derailing your career. A torn ACL/achilles in a timeframe of 4-5 year is completely possible. Best to secure that $$$

Besides Why compete in the wild wild west when the east is so much easier. At the end of the day its the family aspect that matters most to him if he has to make a decision.

Good post, thanks. Didn't know that the 50 million difference is comparing the first 4 years of both contracts.

Not correct. The $50MM difference is comparing a 5-year $191MM contract to a 4-year $141MM contract. If you compare only the first 4 years of both deals, the difference is that Toronto can pay Kawhi about $6.5MM more in total over those 4 years than can LA. That's because the first year salary both Toronto or the Clips could offer would be the same $32.7MM, and the only difference comes from the fact that Toronto can offer 8%/year raises (because they have his Bird rights since they acquired him via trade) whereas the Clips can only offer him 5%/year raises since they don't have his Bird rights.

more details in this thread: https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1734899

If you believe like I do, that Kawhi would be better served signing a 1+1 or 2+1 type of deal with whatever team he chooses, the Clippers' financial offer will be pretty similar to Toronto's and when you consider the possibility of endorsement revenue in LA vs. Toronto, the Clippers overall financial offer may be superior to Toronto's.

[Ackshun]

will never get this dumb argument tbh. new york is prob as cold. these guys are millionaires and with stuff like uber, u really dont even need to walk anywhere anymore lol.

What if you do want to walk. Maybe eat a sandwich outside in the sunshine.

He isn't basketball 24 7. They have time to be human beings.

That said, he needs to stay

[RaptorsNorth]

Weather questions about Toronto are stupid:

Current Weather in:

Toronto => +1c
Boston => -1c
Cleveland => 0c
Milwaukee => +2c
Minneapolis => -4c
New York City => +2c
Detroit => -3c
Philadelphia => +2c
Chicago => +2c
Indianapolis => +2c
Denver => +1c
Salt Lake City => -1c
Charlotte => -1c
Washington DC => +2c
Atlanta => 0C


Doesn't seem too bad in Toronto compared to most other cities in the league

also there is no snow on the ground yet, and tomorrow is +5 c

[DG88]

Kawhi is going to leave because of these dumb *** questions.

"Kawhi, if you hear the news or tv talking about you, do you laugh it off or does it bother you"

Kawhi: "Nah I dont really buy into reading media, I dont watch a lot of TV, I dont have any social media.

"Does the noise surrounding you motiviate you to play harder?"

Kawhi: "its kind of hard to do that if I dont listen to it"

That was the LA media so works for us

[WaltFrazier]

Even if you play for LA or Miami, you still spend half of your season on the road in cold cities.

Reason why I don't get the cold weather stigma Toronto has, as if teams on the East Coast (New York, Boston, Philly), Mid-West (Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland) don't experience the same winters we do here; if not colder. It's just something that leans back to the whole American ignorance of us living in Igloos over here. It's ridiculous.

I live in Barrie, and our winter is a lot colder and snowier than TO's. You guys don't even need snowblowers in the big city, do you? Rarely. That one fluky cold AS game probably did a lot of damage to Toronto's reputation, but I bet Kawhi is mart enough to see through that.

[Rust_Cohle]

Weather questions about Toronto are stupid:

Current Weather in:

Toronto => +1c
Boston => -1c
Cleveland => 0c
Milwaukee => +2c
Minneapolis => -4c
New York City => +2c
Detroit => -3c
Philadelphia => +2c
Chicago => +2c
Indianapolis => +2c
Denver => +1c
Salt Lake City => -1c
Charlotte => -1c
Washington DC => +2c
Atlanta => 0C


Doesn't seem too bad in Toronto compared to most other cities in the league

Toronto has WAY worse wind chill though. I think it's one of the top 2-3 cities on that list, but weather wise the wind chill is brutal.

[mieshpal]

All the american media are trying so hard to sway Kawhi to playing in the LA market. Too bad for them he is not like other NBA stars.

Sent from my SM-G950W using RealGM mobile app

[talha_raps]

Weather questions about Toronto are stupid:

Current Weather in:

Toronto => +1c
Boston => -1c
Cleveland => 0c
Milwaukee => +2c
Minneapolis => -4c
New York City => +2c
Detroit => -3c
Philadelphia => +2c
Chicago => +2c
Indianapolis => +2c
Denver => +1c
Salt Lake City => -1c
Charlotte => -1c
Washington DC => +2c
Atlanta => 0C


Doesn't seem too bad in Toronto compared to most other cities in the league

Toronto has WAY worse wind chill though. I think it's one of the top 2-3 cities on that list, but weather wise the wind chill is brutal.

You obviously have never been to Chicago

[Inevitable]

Even if you play for LA or Miami, you still spend half of your season on the road in cold cities.

Reason why I don't get the cold weather stigma Toronto has, as if teams on the East Coast (New York, Boston, Philly), Mid-West (Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland) don't experience the same winters we do here; if not colder. It's just something that leans back to the whole American ignorance of us living in Igloos over here. It's ridiculous.

I live in Barrie, and our winter is a lot colder and snowier than TO's. You guys don't even need snowblowers in the big city, do you? Rarely. That one fluky cold AS game probably did a lot of damage to Toronto's reputation, but I bet Kawhi is mart enough to see through that.

Can’t even afford homes with large enough driveways to need snowblowers here.

[team edward]

“ only thing with good or great players is they do it every night” I guess Kyle is out of that group.

... unless “it” means “actually suiting up and playing every game, including back to back which are the only scenario where you actually play every night”

[team edward]

Reason why I don't get the cold weather stigma Toronto has, as if teams on the East Coast (New York, Boston, Philly), Mid-West (Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland) don't experience the same winters we do here; if not colder. It's just something that leans back to the whole American ignorance of us living in Igloos over here. It's ridiculous.

I live in Barrie, and our winter is a lot colder and snowier than TO's. You guys don't even need snowblowers in the big city, do you? Rarely. That one fluky cold AS game probably did a lot of damage to Toronto's reputation, but I bet Kawhi is mart enough to see through that.

Can’t even afford homes with large enough driveways to need snowblowers here.

cant even afford homes

[Lord_Zedd]

Those are some serious cringe-worthy questions. Much worse than our media asking about what they think about the Leafs.

Unfortunately Jerry West can't send them packing like Bruce Bowen, but he needs to put a muzzle on those guys