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Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll

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Which of the Following Players Would You Most Like to Pair with Kawhi for the Clippers?

Poll ended at Wed Jul 3, 2019 1:22 am

Jimmy Butler
1
4%
Kevin Durant
11
39%
Kyrie Irving
1
4%
Anthony Davis
6
21%
Giannis Antetokounmpo
4
14%
Other (specify in thread)
5
18%
 
Total votes: 28

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Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#1 » by Ranma » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:22 am

While it's far from a sure thing that Kawhi Leonard will be a Clipper once he becomes a free agent, I think it's safe to assume that he'll be the top priority for the organization this summer. With 2 max salary slots, being situated in what is considered the most desirable city in the NBA landscape, a wealthy and engaged owner advocating for a proprietary viewing experience with elements that will revolutionize how the game will be watched along with being counseled by the legendary Jerry West and a new arena in the works that will be adjacent to the greatest sports venue in the world, the Clippers are undoubtedly a prime destination for premier free agents.

Yes, anything can happen beforehand but barring any major developments with interfering or relevant consequences, the Clippers are now widely seen as the favorites for Kawhi's services for next season and beyond. Assuming that will be the case, I'm curious as to whom the board prefers to pair him with from the select list of notable players who are thought to be available in the near future.

The aim is to see who is the preferred partner for the Klaw as a Clipper. Don't be too concerned with who will be the most realistic possibility, though feel free to post that in this thread along with any other relevant commentary.

If someone feels that there has been an option that has been neglected, please select "Other" and note who that player should be. Otherwise, the list of options has been ordered in relation to how soon each player is anticipated to be available.

I was debating whether to do this so early, but I'm curious as to how public opinion will change over time, so I rationalized that I'll take periodic screenshots and post them in this thread as things play out into the upcoming summer of free agency.

Vote can be changed at any time.
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No Partners Nor Kawhi - Just Role Players 

Post#2 » by Wammy Giveaway » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:01 am

After all the mess that has happened with Jimmy Butler and Chris Paul, and the Clippers handling of the Blake Griffin trade, it may be best to just let the Clippers be a role players team. Have solid good character guys who know their roles, will be able to step up when needed to, and not be a problem for the locker room. I've given up on the Clippers ever getting a superstar starting lineup anyway. Build your team through the draft, you have Jerry West and now Lee Jenkins observing the new pool of players. Clippers will need to earn their superstars by winning games and making the playoffs every year, even if there is no leader. Gregg Popovich's true star is his system - Doc Rivers may or may not have that, but maybe there's a coach out there who can do what Pop did, making basketball about the way the game is played and not about the players.
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Spurs Didn't Win Without Superstar Talent 

Post#3 » by Ranma » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:37 am

It's not like Pop's championship Spurs teams were the 2004 Detroit Pistons. Popovich won titles with players like Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, and Kawhi Leonard. All of them are great players with 3 out of those 4 already sure-fire Hall-of-Famers and a different set of 3 from that aforementioned 4 widely considered to be superstar-level talent.
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Re: Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#4 » by wco81 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:44 pm

No team can sign AD except the Pelicans after this season.

They can offer him the super max. If he doesn't sign it, then the Pels would presumably look to trade him and many teams will make bids, since they'd have to send back salary to match AD's current contract, which is under $30 million a year IIRC.

Giannis isn't even a free agent until summer of 2021.

So unless the Clippers plan to have a max salary slot that year, he's not going to be a FA option for 3 years. Of course, probably a year or two before he hit free agency, the Bucks can offer him a super max extension and again, if he declines, then they'll have to trade him to get back assets.

So neither AD nor Giannis is likely to hit free agency before their current teams will try to salvage whatever they can.
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Order of Operations 

Post#5 » by Ranma » Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:53 pm

Yeah, I think most of us know that, which again, is why the list of options was ordered from soonest to latest in top-down manner with respect to expected availability. Nevertheless, those are the prominent names generating discussions in terms of star players possibly leaving for other teams in the near future. Still, it's nice to have the information and timeline posted for those who are unaware.
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Depends on How Things Play Out 

Post#6 » by Ranma » Sat Oct 27, 2018 1:44 am

wco81 wrote:So neither AD nor Giannis is likely to hit free agency before their current teams will try to salvage whatever they can.


One thing I should have acknowledged is if and when the Brow and/or Greak Freek become available on the trade market because of non-commitments to their respective teams' super-max extension offers, teams like the Lakers and Celtics would undoubtedly make big offers to try to get the inside track for their long-term services before they reach free agency. Both of those teams have the attractive assets to acquire either one of those star players as well as offer storied franchises in major media markets.

Like I said, the goal of the poll is not to determine which of the options is the most realistic but who is the most popular preferred choice. On the other hand, an argument could also be made that a Lakers or Celtics team that trades for one of those impending free agents might be less appealing from a competitive standpoint to a Clippers team with Kawhi, Tobias, Harrell, a more experienced Shai and an open max salary slot when they do officially hit the open market because it would be more lucrative for a traded AD or Giannis to wait until they actually hit free agency before signing a new contract whether it's with the team that traded for him or a new one.
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Halloween 2018 Screenshot 

Post#7 » by Ranma » Thu Nov 1, 2018 4:33 am

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End of November 2018 Screenshot 

Post#8 » by Ranma » Sat Dec 1, 2018 6:40 am

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Re: Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#9 » by Quake Griffin » Sat Dec 1, 2018 11:22 am

Wammy Giveaway wrote:After all the mess that has happened with Jimmy Butler and Chris Paul, and the Clippers handling of the Blake Griffin trade, it may be best to just let the Clippers be a role players team. Have solid good character guys who know their roles, will be able to step up when needed to, and not be a problem for the locker room. I've given up on the Clippers ever getting a superstar starting lineup anyway. Build your team through the draft, you have Jerry West and now Lee Jenkins observing the new pool of players. Clippers will need to earn their superstars by winning games and making the playoffs every year, even if there is no leader. Gregg Popovich's true star is his system - Doc Rivers may or may not have that, but maybe there's a coach out there who can do what Pop did, making basketball about the way the game is played and not about the players.

Draft’s important.

Clippers, again, would be signing up for Cap-Hell, Win-Now Mode with Doc lobbying to get his way with management, No real avenue to get better....the signees literally need to put us over the top or it’s 2013-2017 all over again.
_____________________
That said.
My rank is.

Anthony Davis
Kyrie and Shai in a co-PG/combo Guard role.
Middleton/Klay.

I’ll leave open the option for the Greek Freak. While I watch a lot of him and he is fantastic, I need more time to consider fit and giving him the keys to our franchise. I am more ready to give him the keys than I am to give him the keys with Kawhi here.

And I want nothing to do with Durant ir his obsession with LeBron.

As much as possible, I want stars we draft and can put in our HoF or guys coming from elsewhere that can be remembered as Clippers ala Kareem and Lakers.


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End of 2018 Screenshot 

Post#10 » by Ranma » Tue Jan 1, 2019 2:04 pm

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End of January 2019 Screenshot 

Post#11 » by Ranma » Fri Feb 1, 2019 8:02 am

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Midway Analysis 

Post#12 » by Ranma » Fri Feb 1, 2019 8:56 pm

What's interesting is that there apparently hasn't been much change in opinion since the poll started. The Greek Freak started out as the leading option only to have the Brow overtake him after two months mostly due to a gradual increase in participation in the poll with each newcomer--except for the one supporting Jimmy Butler in November--voting for Anthony Davis.

Before today, I looked to be the only one to have changed their vote when I went from Giannis Antetokounmpo to Davis back in the beginning of January. However, I noticed someone else has also just changed their vote today from Giannis to AD.

As of now, the Brow is the clear board favorite.

One could argue that, in light of recent events, Kyrie Irving should be an option for the poll. For now, I'd ask those who'd vote for him to select the "Other" option and note as much by posting in this thread. If there is a significant number of votes in his favor, I'll revise the poll options accordingly.


Update: After this post, someone changed their vote from Davis to "Other" without noting who the choice would be (Kyrie?).
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Re: Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#13 » by wco81 » Fri Feb 1, 2019 9:54 pm

Milwaukee looks pretty strong. Not clear they will come out of the East but they're as good a bet as any.

But they may lose some key players to free agency, with Bledsoe, Brogdon and Middleton all looking for big paydays.

Lopez probably as well.
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Re: Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#14 » by Yogatti » Sat Feb 2, 2019 1:19 am

Bradley Beal anyone?
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Beal's Appeal 

Post#15 » by Ranma » Sat Feb 2, 2019 7:54 am

Yogatti wrote:Bradley Beal anyone?


I'm sure most everyone here wants Bradley Beal on the Clippers, but he's not a true max-worthy player. This poll is primarily concerned with pairing Kawhi Leonard with another player worthy of a full-max salary commitment. If Beal could be had without compromising our endeavor to have 2 max star players, I'm sure practically all of us would be onboard.

Then again, it would also depend on the asking price in terms of trade. For instance, I wouldn't be inclined to give up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson for Beal right now.
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Kyrie Added as Option - Poll Reset 

Post#16 » by Ranma » Sun Feb 3, 2019 3:10 pm

I reluctantly went ahead and bit the bullet to add Kyrie Irving as an option to the poll. In light of his recent change of heart in Boston and the obscure rumor of him considering the Clippers, I felt it would be intellectually dishonest to exclude him as a stated option for people to choose as a preference at this point.

In any case, my revision has reset the poll, so please cast your vote. Below is the screenshot of the most recent results just before the reset.


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Re: Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#17 » by Quake Griffin » Sun Feb 3, 2019 8:05 pm

First Kyrie comment in here goes to.....

Quake.
Feels alright man.


I still view Kawhi as a glorified 2nd option. A guy like Kyrie is the type of player I'd want with the hall in his hands down the stretch in playoff basketball....creating and taking the big shots. I also don't want Kawhi to begin limiting the defensive player he is in his 30s because he has to be the number one option on offense. They'd make a great pair.
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End of March 2019 Screenshot 

Post#18 » by Ranma » Mon Apr 1, 2019 11:56 am

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Re: Preferred Partner for Kawhi Leonard on Clips Poll 

Post#19 » by madmaxmedia » Tue Apr 2, 2019 3:57 am

I guess another interesting poll would be, if the Clippers could only land 1 superstar this offseason, who would you like it to be?

It's hard though to consider Anthony Davis without taking into account we'd have to offer a huge package to land him.

I think another option would be to sign KL (or whoever) this year, but try to to keep things flexible enough that we might be able to create space to sign AD as a FA after next season. We don't need to resort to the Lakers' strategy of crappy 1-year rentals, just don't necessarily try to use up all our available cap space unless its for good value contracts that could be relatively tradeable. We'd keep Danilo for sure next year then, and see what happens after his contract ends (I wouldn't mind keeping him of course.)
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Another Poll and Purpose of This One 

Post#20 » by Ranma » Tue Apr 2, 2019 6:25 am

madmaxmedia wrote:I guess another interesting poll would be, if the Clippers could only land 1 superstar this offseason, who would you like it to be?

It's hard though to consider Anthony Davis without taking into account we'd have to offer a huge package to land him.

I think another option would be to sign KL (or whoever) this year, but try to to keep things flexible enough that we might be able to create space to sign AD as a FA after next season. We don't need to resort to the Lakers' strategy of crappy 1-year rentals, just don't necessarily try to use up all our available cap space unless its for good value contracts that could be relatively tradeable. We'd keep Danilo for sure next year then, and see what happens after his contract ends (I wouldn't mind keeping him of course.)


I think such a poll would be a good idea, so I would encourage you to set one up or we can wait until we get closer to free agency to do that. Perhaps after our postseason run?

The whole point of this poll was to determine who we would like to pair with Kawhi regardless of cost and availability. Part of the reason for that was to see later on whether it would be worth it to wait to pursue the desired target down the road or prioritize getting him or someone else immediately.

For instance, would it be worth it to sign Kawhi, for example, and keep Gallo and everyone else as you suggest and then either wait to try to sign AD as a free agent a little over a year from now or give up assets in order to acquire him sooner or even sign KD instead. Likewise, the same thing could apply to Giannis.

Giannis Antetokounmpo started out as the favorite in this poll but has since been overtaken by Anthony Davis, however, I wonder if AD's involvement with Rich Paul and Klutch Sports Group during their publicly failed attempt to strong-arm the Pelicans has affected that sentiment. This is basically why I have been monitoring the poll results with monthly screenshots (I missed February due to computer issues) and allowed for the poll choice to be able to be changed.

As it turned out, Durant garnered two votes after my latest screenshot update with a newly casted vote and one switched from the Brow.
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