Report: Some of Kawhi teammates upset about Kawhi getting preferential treatment. Via bleacher report.

[Zeno]

Load management is going to be a more common thing in the future. Doc already said he intends to load manage Joel Embiid.
Look at Major League Baseball, the starting pitchers only pitch a few innings, we possibly won't ever see a 300 win pitcher again, and rarely a complete game. Not trying to go off topic by mentioning another sport but it's the best example I can give.

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The key to load management is to get the players that do play to not let up because others aren’t playing. Unless you team culture is really good, I think the tendency is for load management of a key player to be a signal to the rest of the team that this game is not that important. Your baseball example is a good one also in that look at how many guys throw high 90s now compared to before. It’s heading toward maximizing performance over shorter intervals.

[John Murdoch]

i would still take Kawhi over KD but both of them tarnished theyre legacies unnecisarrily

[ReggieSlater]

I think people are underrating Kyle in all this. He's everything that Kawhi isn't as far as leadership and personality. The Clippers don't have a guy like that, and don't have the culture that Kyle and DeMar created over the last decade. Kawhi was able to come in and just do his thing.

I firmly believe they will figure it out though. All these locker room issues are always blown out of proportion.

[G R E Y]

People talking about these three Clips players getting shipped out are missing the bigger picture:

This is now four years and counting spanning three teams where increasing exemptions and demands by #2 and his group on and off the court have been issues. They were lucky to have been shielded by discretion of previous FOs, but things still trickle out over time. Even it's only fringe details, and there's a lot more than what we're hearing, there's a pattern of behaviour that has a common denominator.

Team mates of three teams didn't like not only the load management but how it was handled by #2 and his group.

FOs had to deal with not only the effects of LM in the locker room and on the court, but of demands by #2's group off of it, because that's how access to #2 has been controlled.

The part about being late often is a new wrinkle on an old issue, making sure everyone knows how special #2 is and therefore the same basic professionalism doesn't apply to him. Now, if nobody from Clips FO told #2 that wasn't ok, that's a problem. If he was told and still continued to be late - 'often' - that's a problem. If players who question it just get shipped out (Spurs wouldn't do that, so #2 shipped himself out to NYC after being asked about his repeated reneging on returning to play in a players-only meeting), it sends the message that one player utterly controls the franchise. If this is what Clips ownership and FO and coaching staff signed on for and are fine with tolerating, as you were.

But beware of the pattern. Truth will out.

Read on Twitter

[Homer38]

Load management is going to be a more common thing in the future. Doc already said he intends to load manage Joel Embiid.
Look at Major League Baseball, the starting pitchers only pitch a few innings, we possibly won't ever see a 300 win pitcher again, and rarely a complete game. Not trying to go off topic by mentioning another sport but it's the best example I can give.

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Load management isn't a new thing, Pop started load managing Duncan 15 years ago.

But never at the level of Kawhi in the last 2 years

In 2014, Duncan had played 74 games at 37 years old and in the next season at 38 years old, it was 77 games .... I don't think Kawhi will play 74 regular season games in one season another time in his career. If he does that, I'll be happy, but I have big doubts

[Jagic Mohnson]

Reminds me alot of the 2015 and 2016 Lakers players complaining about Kobe sitting out practices and then Kobe calling them soft and trash.

[Pharmcat]

Load management is going to be a more common thing in the future. Doc already said he intends to load manage Joel Embiid.
Look at Major League Baseball, the starting pitchers only pitch a few innings, we possibly won't ever see a 300 win pitcher again, and rarely a complete game. Not trying to go off topic by mentioning another sport but it's the best example I can give.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

The key to load management is to get the players that do play to not let up because others aren’t playing. Unless you team culture is really good, I think the tendency is for load management of a key player to be a signal to the rest of the team that this game is not that important. Your baseball example is a good one also in that look at how many guys throw high 90s now compared to before. It’s heading toward maximizing performance over shorter intervals.

the baseball analogy doesnt work because the starting pitchers are still going out there every 5 days. granted they may not pitch 8-9 innings but they are going out on their turn. If a starting pitcher started skipping turns and going out every 10 days, then that analogy would work. Leonard has made a mockery of the regular season, Im not aware of any starting pitcher who is doing what Leonard does.

[Homer38]

Reminds me alot of the 2015 and 2016 Lakers players complaining about Kobe sitting out practices and then Kobe calling them soft and trash.

The difference was that Kobe was very old and very washed at this point ... Kawhi is in the middle of his prime!

[timdunkit]

Kawhi clearly is not a leader and needs players around him who are. His time at the Spurs/Raps/Clips has shown that out. But not being a leader, does not make you a problem (just means you can't lead the solution).

I don't think Kawhi is a diva like most people are making him out to be; though it might be a little different with Uncle Dennis around. It's also fair to say that Kawhi has to take some responsibility for what his Uncle does, as he chose his Uncle as his agent.

I would just say to those Clippers players, what did you expect? He load managed during his season with the Raptors. And, frankly, which NBA team has not provided their superstar players with special privileges? If this is coming from a disgruntled player, it just seems their got ego hurt because a superstar player came to town and they were pegged down a few notches in terms of importance to the franchise.

[Pharmcat]

People talking about these three Clips players getting shipped out are missing the bigger picture:

This is now four years and counting spanning three teams where increasing exemptions and demands by #2 and his group on and off the court have been issues. They were lucky to have been shielded by discretion of previous FOs, but things still trickle out over time. Even it's only fringe details, and there's a lot more than what we're hearing, there's a pattern of behaviour that has a common denominator.

Team mates of three teams didn't like not only the load management but how it was handled by #2 and his group.

FOs had to deal with not only the effects of LM in the locker room and on the court, but of demands by #2's group off of it, because that's how access to #2 has been controlled.

The part about being late often is a new wrinkle on an old issue, making sure everyone knows how special #2 is and therefore the same basic professionalism doesn't apply to him. Now, if nobody from Clips FO told #2 that wasn't ok, that's a problem. If he was told and still continued to be late - 'often' - that's a problem. If players who question it just get shipped out (Spurs wouldn't do that, so #2 shipped himself out to NYC after being asked about his repeated reneging on returning to play in a players-only meeting), it sends the message that one player utterly controls the franchise. If this is what Clips ownership and FO and coaching staff signed on for and are fine with tolerating, as you were.

But beware of the pattern. Truth will out.

Read on Twitter

I ragged on the SAS in the past, but its clear now they were in the right on the Leonard situation and he dragged them into the mud and try to ruin their meticulous reputation of being player friendly when it comes to sports science and medical management of players

[Reeko]

I had never heard that about Kyle. That's kind of disappointing. I guess that's part of the benefits of having a strong organizational structure from the top on down, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Webster who reigned him in, he seems to understand how to talk to the players and it looks like Kyle respects him.

That's because it's incorrect. Kawhi's practice habits have always been regarded as exceptional. Kyle has never cared about practice. On Danny Green's podcast he shares a story with Kyle about how Nurse asked Danny and Kawhi to confront Kyle on his lax practice habits at the beginning of the season. Danny pointed out how awkward it was to be put on the spot.

Seems like a lot of luck played into it.

I believe Lou and Harrell being gone can fix things

Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. The Raptors were prepared, the Clippers were not.

[HMFFL]

Load management is going to be a more common thing in the future. Doc already said he intends to load manage Joel Embiid.
Look at Major League Baseball, the starting pitchers only pitch a few innings, we possibly won't ever see a 300 win pitcher again, and rarely a complete game. Not trying to go off topic by mentioning another sport but it's the best example I can give.

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Agreed, but there's got to be a better way to do it, right?

LeBron plays like 1/2 to 3/4 speed all season, doesn't participate in all the practices, but he's involved and is throwing parties and keeping guys together even during the shutdown and the Bubble...

Kobe in the later part of his career, didn't participate in many practices, but he played the games and set the bar for his players... And those teams sucked anyway... There was no expectation of the finals for them.

Kawhi being a cold fish AND not physically being there, is a problem... Especially on a team with Contender expectations.

Good points.
Lebron and Kobe greatly improved in this area to bring their teammates together. Those two are just made different than Kawhi. I'm sure Kawhi cares but he doesn't seem to have that Alpha mentality like Kobe and Lebron.

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[kbitboc]

I think if you load manage, you have to do it against the bad teams and play against the good teams. The problem with Kawhi, he was sitting out against the good teams too.

[Kilroy]

Reminds me alot of the 2015 and 2016 Lakers players complaining about Kobe sitting out practices and then Kobe calling them soft and trash.

The difference was that Kobe was very old and very washed at this point ... Kawhi is in the middle of his prime!

...And the other lakers WERE soft and trash.

Most of Kobe's ire was directed at Nick Young and his tendencies to show-boat in games they were loosing by big amounts... And Russell who eventually sold Nick Young out.

They were mentally soft and complete trash with the Lakers. Everyone thought it.

[Zeno]

Load management is going to be a more common thing in the future. Doc already said he intends to load manage Joel Embiid.
Look at Major League Baseball, the starting pitchers only pitch a few innings, we possibly won't ever see a 300 win pitcher again, and rarely a complete game. Not trying to go off topic by mentioning another sport but it's the best example I can give.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

The key to load management is to get the players that do play to not let up because others aren’t playing. Unless you team culture is really good, I think the tendency is for load management of a key player to be a signal to the rest of the team that this game is not that important. Your baseball example is a good one also in that look at how many guys throw high 90s now compared to before. It’s heading toward maximizing performance over shorter intervals.

the baseball analogy doesnt work because the starting pitchers are still going out there every 5 days. granted they may not pitch 8-9 innings but they are going out on their turn. If a starting pitcher started skipping turns and going out every 10 days, then that analogy would work. Leonard has made a mockery of the regular season, Im not aware of any starting pitcher who is doing what Leonard does.

Why it better to play every game and hold back? This isn’t a comment on Kawhi specifically, it is just a general question for the regular season, do you prefer 80% effort in 100% of the games or 100% in 80% of the games? (The percentages are just for way of example, I know no one gives 100% in the regular season.).

[LesGrossman]

Kawhi isnt "lazy" or anything. He is still suffering from a severe injury and why would he burn all he has in the RS? Ironically the same people whining in here, found it totally acceptable that LeBron "cruised" on D throughout the whole RS to a degree that there are several lowlight videos out there evrery season. So one could ask, whats worse? Taking games off but showing up 100% for those you play, or playing almost all, but giving minimal effort on D, because only offensive effort shows in the boxscore? I find the whole outrage somewhat hypocritical.

[Homer38]

Kawhi isnt "lazy" or anything. He is still suffering from a severe injury and why would he burn all he has in the RS? Ironically the same people whining in here, found it totally acceptable that LeBron "cruised" on D throughout the whole RS to a degree that there are several lowlight videos out there evrery season. So one could ask, whats worse? Taking games off but showing up 100% for those you play, or playing almost all, but giving minimal effort on D, because only offensive effort shows in the boxscore? I find the whole outrage somewhat hypocritical.

Good try but this post has nothing to do with LeBron

[bluemj32]

Can't blame the players being upset at all.

This is what this organization inherited when you have Kawhi, Uncle Dennis, his Best friend Jeremey Castleberry (who gets an assistant coaching job at every team he's at).

Not hating at all bc they clearly have shown they are going to try and so what they want, so it's more if the organization who has to have a backbone.



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[Ben-N1ce]

Anytime I hear about Pat Beverly complaining I laugh. I just do.

[bluemj32]

Role players getting mad that a 2x finals MVP and nba champion gets special treatment, oh boy. Kawhi's inability to carry a team in the RS might hinder his value slightly, but he makes up for it by being one of the best players in the world come playoff time. Virtually every superstar gets preferential treatment, if they wanna criticize him for something then it would be for having a terrible game 7.

And honestly Pat Bev is a major contender for biggest disparity between a player's actual talent and how talented they think they are. He's a decent rotation guard that's allowed to foul on almost every possession defensively, his opinion on how his team should be run doesn't exactly hold much weight.

From what we've all read and from what former starts have said this is not the norm. There's a reason why the fall out in San Antonio was bad.

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