How Come Buford and Gregg Popovich Get a Pass for Blowing the Kawhi Leonard Trade?

[WeTheNorth123]

jrue holiday gets 5 pick, kawhi leonard gets 1 pick. this is beyond ridiculous.

Masai is beyond GOAT

Look at what he turned Andrea Bargnani into...

Look at what he turned Rudy Gay into...

He would have never made that Bogdanovic blunder that the Bucks made....bring Yannus AntAntakompo home!!!

[Jadoogar]

trying to cokblock a conference rival is the easy answer. did you not think of that, private pyle?

That might be the dumbest reason to turn down a trade. If you are rebuilding, what do you care what other teams are doing?
That said, if Ben Simmons or Jayson Tatum were never on the table, the trade wasn't terrible. And clearly their goal was remain competitive rather than rebuild. You can disagree with their goal (i do, they should have rebuilt), but they accomplished what they set out to do.

[DoctorX]

They get a pass from me for not trading with the Lakers. Kawhi didn't deserve to be there after tanking his value and sabotaging the Spurs title hopes by sitting out a year and refusing to communicate with them.

Secondly the Lakers were not offering the same deal they were offering the Pelicans for Davis. I will also say I'm not amazed by Ingram. To me he is an empty stat player that can't win you games. There are plenty of them throughout the league. So I don't care about missing out on him.

Spur screwed up in my eyes not trading Kawhi during the trade deadline of 2018 when they could have gotten Tatum and Jaylen Brown for him. I have heard the Celtics offered both for him around January of 2018. That was a mistake by RC and Pop for not pursuing that trade.

Thirdly I don't get why Laker fans continue to complain about the Spurs not trading Kawhi to them. You just won a god damn title and are still complaining about not getting Kawhi. To me that's just ludicrous. What did you want a super team of Davis,Kawhi,Lebron?

It has nothing to do with that. Obviously I'm elated the Lakers didn't get Kawhi because they ended up getting AD.

This is more about exposing bias and just wondering why Popovich gets a pass.

Even Phil Jackson didn't get a pass for his failures with the Knicks.

Just calling a spade a spade. Pop should be focused on making the best move possible for the Spurs, period. Not trying to not help the Lakers or not help Kawhi.

How was it a great move for the Spurs? Ingram is an empty stat player like Derozan? I don't see how he would made the Spurs any better than what Derozan did. Like I said before the move I'm upset with Pop not doing was the Tatum/Brown for Kawhi deal. That trade would have helped out the Spurs tremendously.

[NoZoLakers]

lol at thinking Ainge wouldve given Tatum/Brown for Leonard, he wouldn't even do that offer for AD

[Jadoogar]

It's really wild that they couldn't get Siakam or OG in the trade or force us to take back a bad contract.
Raptors basically gave up nothing. Demar/Lowry had run it's course and a rebuild was coming. Getting a superstar for an overrated treadmill allstar, easily our third best young prospect AND not taking back any long term money is genius.

Even if raptors lost in the second round and Kawhi left, the trade would have been worth it from our perspective.

[baldur]

lol at thinking Ainge wouldve given Tatum/Brown for Leonard, he wouldn't even do that offer for AD

Regardless of whoever is involved, I think he starts with asking for 3 first rounders at least.

[DoctorX]

Ingram is an empty stat player in which the Spurs would have had the same results with which is barely making the playoffs or being a lottery team. Let's see they could have had an empty stat Derozan and help the Raptors win a title or have empty stat Ingram and help the Lakers win a title. I still go for option A as painful as it was.

yea im sure you're more happy that tor got a ring lol, every one knew Derozen wasnt a real star, even their own fan base knew this

I didn't enjoy Kawhi winning. I wanted him to fail and it sucked to see him succeed but it would have been much more painful if he won with the Lakers.

[bullsaficianado]

I don't know why Laker fans are complaining about Pop not sending Kawhi there. There is no AD trade with Pelicans if Spurs took Ingram, Ball, etc. It worked out well for both Lakers and Raptors.

Ingram is an ok talent but if it's true Spurs passed on Tatum/Brown for Kawhi that's really dumb.

[DoctorX]

lol at thinking Ainge wouldve given Tatum/Brown for Leonard, he wouldn't even do that offer for AD

Lol at hyping empty stat Ingram as a great option for the Spurs.

[DoctorX]

I don't know why Laker fans are complaining about Pop not sending Kawhi there. There is no AD trade with Pelicans if Spurs took Ingram, Ball, etc. It worked out well for both Lakers and Raptors.

Ingram is an ok talent but if it's true Spurs passed on Tatum/Brown for Kawhi that's really dumb.

The rumor is the Celtics offered both in either December of 2017 or January of 2018 but the Spurs rejected the offer believing they could resolve their issues with Kawhi. When the Spurs tried to deal with the Celtics again in the summer of 2018, Ainge then refused to give up either Brown or Tatum for Kawhi.

[KobeHas5Rings]

5 rings

Phil Jackson has 11 rings and no one gave him a pass for his Knicks' time.

Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan and doesn't get a pass for his moves in Charlotte.

I can see your point for Spurs' fans, but it seems like Pop gets a universal pass.

[KobeHas5Rings]

I don't know why Laker fans are complaining about Pop not sending Kawhi there. There is no AD trade with Pelicans if Spurs took Ingram, Ball, etc. It worked out well for both Lakers and Raptors.

Ingram is an ok talent but if it's true Spurs passed on Tatum/Brown for Kawhi that's really dumb.

Straw man argument.

No Laker fan is complaining about not getting Kawhi. Obviously I am happy we didn't, and happy how it turned out.

My point was clearly about Popovich and that trade not being labeled the huge failure that it actually was.

We call out GM's and bad trades all the time here but that one got a pass.

[NoZoLakers]

lol at thinking Ainge wouldve given Tatum/Brown for Leonard, he wouldn't even do that offer for AD

Lol at hyping empty stat Ingram as a great option for the Spurs.

better than Derozan lol, Ingram already accomplished something DD could only fantasize bout, shot 40% from 3s oh yeah an all star in the west at 23, while DD wouldn't even sniff a skills contest invite

[G R E Y]

Oh fun!

Why didn't mean PATFO send sulking #2 who publicly tanked his value for a year to the very destination he wanted? The answer is in your question.

The answer isn't in the LAL "Godfather offer" which despite including Ingram, also included Deng's albatross contract which LAL are still trying to shed. So, LAL would've gotten the best player in the deal AND shed salary? Awesome.

We'll do this one more time: Spurs sought an All Star, a prospect, and a pick. The ONLY team that provided all three was TO. Regardless of what you think of the Ingram / DeRozan comparison as players, Ingram didn't in fact help NOP get any further. DD was an immense vet benefit in the locker room, eased scoring pressure from double- and triple- teamed LMA, and had two of the most efficient seasons of his career with us. Plus, his contract is up in 2021, at which point we will have the second highest cap space. Plus we just re-signed Jakob who is very important for us defensively and a great locker room guy, plus we drafted projected lottery talent Keldon Johnson at 29. Remember that name. Watch what this kid will do.

I have no doubt PATFO had even less desire than usual to deal with the Lakers. But the argument would be far stronger had PATFO turned down exactly what it sought. LAL, despite whatever people may think of BI, simply didn't match what Spurs sought. Simple as that.

I mean this sincerely, but I like the deal more and more the longer we are from it. Not just by addition by drama subtraction, but we are a better team with a higher floor and a higher ceiling because of it. It took some foresight and discipline to hold out for the right deal, which despite the handcuffed circumstances, nevertheless fulfilled a long-standing mandate of good for the present, and good for the future. We're good.

[NoZoLakers]

yea im sure you're more happy that tor got a ring lol, every one knew Derozen wasnt a real star, even their own fan base knew this

I didn't enjoy Kawhi winning. I wanted him to fail and it sucked to see him succeed but it would have been much more painful if he won with the Lakers.

you do realize clippers offered their 2 lotto picks that yr as well right? one which turned into Alexander who looks to have a brighter future than DD too

[DoctorX]

lol at thinking Ainge wouldve given Tatum/Brown for Leonard, he wouldn't even do that offer for AD

Lol at hyping empty stat Ingram as a great option for the Spurs.

better than Derozan lol, Ingram already accomplished something DD could only fantasize bout, shot 40% from 3s oh yeah an all star in the west at 23, while DD wouldn't even sniff a skills contest invite

Yes great achievement by Ingram and he still couldn't lead his team to the playoffs which is the definition of an empty stat player.

[DoctorX]

yea im sure you're more happy that tor got a ring lol, every one knew Derozen wasnt a real star, even their own fan base knew this

I didn't enjoy Kawhi winning. I wanted him to fail and it sucked to see him succeed but it would have been much more painful if he won with the Lakers.

you do realize clippers offered their 2 lotto picks that yr as well right? one which turned into Alexander who looks to have a brighter future than DD too

And what does this have to do with the Lakers offer? Now you are trying to change the subject.

[NoZoLakers]

Lol at hyping empty stat Ingram as a great option for the Spurs.

better than Derozan lol, Ingram already accomplished something DD could only fantasize bout, shot 40% from 3s oh yeah an all star in the west at 23, while DD wouldn't even sniff a skills contest invite

Yes great achievement by Ingram and he still couldn't lead his team to the playoffs which is the definition of an empty stat player.

sure but he hasnt gotten paid till now, while dd.is an empty stat man getting nearly 30M and now spurs have to decide if they want to pay him an extension

[NoZoLakers]

I didn't enjoy Kawhi winning. I wanted him to fail and it sucked to see him succeed but it would have been much more painful if he won with the Lakers.

you do realize clippers offered their 2 lotto picks that yr as well right? one which turned into Alexander who looks to have a brighter future than DD too

And what does this have to do with the Lakers offer? Now you are trying to change the subject.

the op shouldn't have made the thread laker related, facts are spurs blew off both la team to spite leonard but ended up doing themselves a disservice

[bronxknicksfan1]

Repeatedly saying BI is an empty stats player doesn’t mean it’s true. At the same time, I understand why the Spurs would refuse to do business with the Lakers.