sp6r=underrated wrote:CIN-C-STAR wrote:sp6r=underrated wrote:
sounds like the anti-Kawhi. Kawhi fell out with organizations he felt were trying to force him to play when he wasn't ready. Zion may be falling out because he feels the team keeps him off the court.
That's actually not quite accurate.
The Spurs medical staff cleared him to play because they said his condition was chronic and would have to be managed throughout his career, not something that would ever heal completely.
But when he rejected that diagnosis and chose to rehab independently, it was reported that the organization offered to declare him out for the remainder of the season so he could focus on his rehab, but he didn't want that either. So I wouldn't say he thought they were trying to force him to play even if he disagreed with the medical staff's diagnosis.
Anyway, Kawhi fell out with the organization because he wanted to play in a larger market where he thought he would get bigger endorsement deals, he wanted more control within the organization, and, specifically, he wanted to play in LA which is near where he grew up.
There's a lot of truth to the fact he was hell bent on LA and was going to go there once he became a free agent no matter what. Toronto is a huge market, big endorsement opportunity being face of Canada and he still left for LA.
But I think it grew toxic with San Antonio, necessitating a trade due to falling out over how the injury was handled.
To put it otherwise, if Kawhi-San Antonio hadn't had falling out over the handling of his injury it would have a been a normal superstar departure rather than what went down.
Ok you just went from 'Spurs rushing him back' to 'how the injury was handled'. It's an important distinction, but one that has a broader context.
That the Spurs, long known for protecting and prolonging player careers by being overly conservative, rushed their star player back is as absurd now as it was in any point it has been previously asserted.
* Spurs kept #2 out during the PLAYOFFS when he hurt I think his ankle, despite his wanting to play.
* Spurs and #2's camp were in agreement to try to play in some games back in Jan. '18.
* Curious how #2's camp disagreed with the chronic tendinopathy diagnosis, sought several doctors, and it was the 8th (associated with 76ers) that gave alternate muscle ossification diagnosis. Yet now the chronic issue has been used by #2's camp for sitting out & is the accepted diagnosis.
* #2 got his own team of doctors from summer of 2017. So he played through POs, got his ankle injured, walked around fine in August promo tour in China in 2017, but by October he was limping because if his knee...
* The broader context I referred to was #2's camp causing rifts between the player and team as far back as 2016 (that we know of), from at least the time that then agent Brian Elfus was fired. Their camp wanted special treatment, wanted a say in organization decisions, were jealous of the perks Westbrook, for example, of all players, were getting, and with new management seeking a bigger market, the plan ensued.
This last point never gets mentioned despite being reported about by Woj, Wright, Shelburne, etc.
Zion's actually way closer to the #2 mold than was originally stated, organizational differences notwithstanding:
Family interference
Weirdo injury not healing right, organization has been shut out, team mates, too (until his recent return to the team. What a guy. Bad PR was building.)
Longs for a specific bigger market.
