Rust_Cohle wrote:Kevin Willis wrote:DatHomieYouHaTe wrote:You could tell something was off. Kawhi was super awkward here. He is a great player but his personality while here was weird. Seems way more comfortable in LA and our team seems more happy as well which is good for both parties. Let's be real Kawhi wanted to go to LA and let everyone know it. We traded for him knowing that as well.
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Agree but by the end of the season Kawhi bought in and liked it here. A part of me wants Kawhi to fail to illustrate he was wrong to think this team wasn't good enough. Kawhi has a lot of hidden storylines to disprove.
- This Clippers team is better than the Raptors team. That justifies his decision to leave for more talent
- The Raptors needed him to win. If the Raptors get a better record without Kawhi than with - which is possible - it shows that Kyle is the true leader of this team. It would be a knock against Kawhi
- Kyle's \ Pascal's \ Gasol's \ FVV's numbers greatly improve. Shows that Kawhi's presence actually made other players sacrifice their game.
- Our Defensive Rating stays really good. Shows that Kawhi was an important part of our defense but not the only part. Also Clippers improving their defensive rating shows that Kawhi can make a teams defense improve on his own.
- Style of offense. Clippers offense right now is a lot like ours with Kawhi but even more Kawhi dominant. Our offense is like ours without Kawhi (last year) and the Clippers last year
Raps without Kawhi don’t get out of the second round. Also the east is much worse than the west this season. Clippers are missing PG which is massive. Kawhi still looks like the best player in the league.
Kawhi was even calling the Raptors “them” and “they” during the championship celebration. He’s definitely much more comfortable in LA. Raptors did everything they could but he really had to drag them through those first two rounds last year. I think Raps are still a good team but clippers look really scary this early. Tons of potential and all without Paul George. Kawhi will probably get
MVP.
Last year Raps don't get out of the second round without Kawhi - that's correct. This year who knows, the playoff brackets aren't set yet. Yep the East is weaker than last year where there was Milwaukee, Philly, Boston and Toronto who were all called championship caliber by Klay at some point.
Kawhi wanted to go home since he was in San Antonio. However if he had to he would stay here another year for another run until either Lakers or Clippers got their stuff together. He was leaving regardless, it just mattered when. Clippers are scary but they're flawed. They have some elite role players but the Raptors had a team of interchangeable 3+D guys who were good but not superstar level. Their starting line-up had guys who all were, are or could be All-Defensive team players. That doesn't include Ibaka off the bench. That's a ridiculously good team. Paul G. is a superstar level all-around level. Lou is elite bench scorer. Montrezl is an elite hustle guy. Beverley is an elite defender. But there are weaknesses there. Make Bev a scorer or shooter. Make Lou defend. Make Montrezl a shooter. Sag off Zubac.
Raptors first round needed Kawhi to slap some sense into them at the beginning of the series. After that they demolished Magic and didn't need Kawhi. They needed Kawhi for Philly. Team effort for Milwaukee and GSW. Raptors were one of the better 3+D teams to win a championship. They weren't the most talented - by far. They didn't have the best defense. They didn't have the best shooters or offense or coaching. But the whole rotation could 3+D, were long and disruptive with Kawhi leading it.
Anyways metrics will show the impact of Kawhi this year. That was my point, get rid of the subjective and look at the data. For instance Kawhi's usage rate is 40% this year. Last year it was 30%. That's No. 2 in the league. That's why Clippers are flawed, they rely too much on him. For comparison Lebron, Pascal and Doncic are around 30%. Right now he's hands down MVP but they rely too much on him.
