Scoundreldays wrote:clipperlover wrote:wco81 wrote:
Ballmer pretty much has to extend both PG and Harden, because of the opening of the Intuit Dome in October, right?
But a couple of months ago, the Clippers were cited as potential dark horse to win the WC and now, they see, to be hitting a nadir as the season winds down.
So their individual performances in the postseason as well as how well the team does should determine the size and shape of these extensions?
They’re both having as good a season statistically as other seasons in their careers. PG will turn 34 in early May and Harden will be 35 towards the end of August.
Regardless of how they perform in the playoffs, the team needs them for the regular season including the inaugural season at the new stadium.
So it’s hard to see a big discount for either of them. Clippers can’t replace their production, period.
Nope. If these guys don't step up and help achieve a LONG and competitive playoff run, then they won't be getting extensions. Unless they are going to take their chances by walking away completely, they will need the Clips to facilitate a sign and trade. There will be teams thinking they are "on the cusp" that could make reasonable offers.
I agree extending them if they choke in the playoffs would be a massive. It will only worsen as they age. Just admit the PG, SGA trade didn't go according to plan and move on.
I don't think a COVID impacted season right as the team was getting into its stretch run, Kawhi tearing an ACL in the middle of the 2021 playoffs, losing PG to a severely hyper extended knee on a common rebound or Kawhi tearing his meniscus in the 1st round of the 2023 playoffs was part of anyone's plan.
Kawhi doesn't go in the 2021 playoffs and we are sailing into the NBA Finals vs the Bucks. We were better than the Suns. Would we have won the title? Probably not. The Bucks and Giannis would have been a tough matchup.
We made the trade. It is what it is. I am sure there was a contingent of Boston fans that were whining back in 2007 when they traded away all of that young talent. The young talent they traded away ended up doing jack squat. We had Clippers fans back in the day that were on board with the Clippers not trading away our young guys for Paul Pierce. What happens if Shai tears his ACL in the playoffs and is never the same again?
Draft picks and young players are a crap shoot. Ballmer isn't into crap shoots. At the time of the trade, PG was #3 in the MVP voting and Kawhi was coming off of a Finals MVP. We had missed the playoffs in 2017-2018 and were trounced in the 1st round in 2018-2019. Ballmer wasn't sitting back waiting. He was willing to spend money to get the big fish and wasn't going to let some future draft picks stop him. I am sure he made more off of Kawhi and PG merchandise sales in the 1st year than the entire 2018-2019 team combined.
Is Frank a good GM? I don't think so. I think that is because he has an owner with a bottomless pocket. If Ballmer forced Frank to stick to a budget that kept the team under the luxury tax aprons, Frank would be forced to be a better talent evaluator. Ballmer is like all of the other billionaire owners that think they just need to spend their way to a title.
We had decades with a shrew businessman running the show staying below the salary cap to get paid by the big spenders teams. We had all kinds of young talent over those years. We didn't make the playoffs much and lost a lot of games. However, only Ballmer's 2021 playoff team ever went farther in the playoffs than the 2005-2006 or the 2011-2012 Clippers. Until Ballmer decides he wants to reign in the spending and no longer wants to pay the luxury tax bills, we can just stop worrying about draft picks.