The Board Man Cometh!! Kawhi Leonard Signs 3 Year (2+1), $103 Million Deal

Max Headrom · Post #661 » by **Max Headrom** » Fri May 31, 2019 7:28 pm

nabbs wrote:Kawhi going to leave Siakam to play with uncommitted superstar X, Redick’s illegitimate son and rich man’s Delon Wright?

Raptor fans like you makes me hope he leaves you guys no matter what team he'd go to...

Quake Griffin · Post #662 » by **Quake Griffin** » Fri May 31, 2019 7:41 pm

$50,000 for tampering.

Wonder if it was any of the people in our front office or a well known dufus who continues to make dumb mistakes?

#LastIdiotStanding

Ranma · Post #663 » by **Ranma** » Fri May 31, 2019 8:24 pm

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Ranma · Post #664 » by **Ranma** » Fri May 31, 2019 8:37 pm

I've never really been comfortable with active coaches, players, and team executives using the media as a platform as that relationship is rife with bias and self-promotion. I can respect the league sending a message to team representatives outside of players to discourage tampering, but the selective enforcement bothers the hell out of me.

The one incident that stood out to me was Magic coming on Fox's pre-game show for the World Series declaring that the Lakers would sign another superstar. The telecast proceeded to show a clearly prepared graphic of Durant in a Lakers uniform. Silver failed to fine the Lakers even further for that clearly coordinated production between Magic and Fox Sports.

Doc's comments pale in comparison. This is the same guy who compared DeAndre Jordan to Bill Russell, so his Kawhi-Jordan comparison was tame by relative measure.

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wco81 · Post #665 » by **wco81** » Fri May 31, 2019 8:56 pm

Wonder how much Doc got paid for his ESPN appearance.

He has money but hope he made at least $50k?

Post #666 » by **mkwest** » Fri May 31, 2019 9:32 pm

Doc got off kind of light. He should have been fined a couple hundred thousand, since he spoke highly of a handful of players that are free-agents this season and next...

At the end of the day, Silver "bent the knee" to the public outcries. That's worked for us in the past and put us in the position to get Ballmer, so it's worth taking the good with the bad afaic.

Ranma · Post #667 » by **Ranma** » Fri May 31, 2019 9:58 pm

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Post #668 » by **mkwest** » Fri May 31, 2019 10:28 pm

Raptors reporter for TSN

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Raptors reporter for The Athletic

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Wilbon also addressed it on PTI.

MartinToVaught · Post #669 » by **MartinToVaught** » Fri May 31, 2019 11:16 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:$50,000 for tampering.

Wonder if it was any of the people in our front office or a well known dufus who continues to make dumb mistakes?

#LastIdiotStanding

In all fairness, ESPN brought Doc on to analyze the Finals. What was he supposed to say about Kawhi: "no comment"? That would be viewed equally as suspicious.

I guess Doc's mistake was going on ESPN to begin with, but that's ridiculous. He shouldn't have to censor himself just because the league has no clue how to police the mess that is modern free agency.

My guess is that the Lakers cried to Silver to make him fine Doc. They're that petty and that desperate for anything resembling a "win" these days. Never mind the fact that there's a big difference between what Doc did and Magic's over-the-top antics that got him fined.

Ranma · Post #670 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 4:35 am

With all due respect to McCann, I consider the Lakers the fortunate ones since they should have been punished more than a cumulative total of $550,000 in fines over Magic's numerous and haphazard acts of tampering in public while he was an official member of their organization whether it's on TV or social media.

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Michael McCann, Sports Illustrated (5/31/19)

Johnson, of all people, should have known better than to guide Rivers into commenting so favorably about Leonard.

While appearing on ESPN last year in his capacity of president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, Johnson’s effusive comments about Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo led the NBA to fine the Lakers $50,000 for tampering. Johnson, one of the greatest players in NBA history and a Lakers star during the 1980s and 1990s, compared Antetokounmpo to how Johnson used to play. Johnson detected similar traits with respect to Antetokounmpo’s “understanding of the game, his basketball IQ, his creativity of shots for his teammates.” “That's where,” Johnson observed, “we [have the] same thing. Can bring it down, make a pass, make a play. I'm just happy he's starting in the All-Star game because he deserves that. And he's going to be like an MVP, a champion, this dude he's going to put Milwaukee on the map.”

A year earlier, Johnson attracted the NBA’s attention when, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he acknowledged that he wanted his Lakers to sign Paul George. The Oklahoma City Thunder employed George at that time.

Rivers and the Clippers are fortunate that the NBA’s punishment is not more severe. Under the league’s constitution, the maximum fine for tampering is $5 million. In addition, Silver could have suspended Rivers as well as strip the Clippers of draft picks and transfer those picks to the Raptors. The worst possible punishment, though, would have been to prohibit the Clippers from signing the target of tampering: Leonard.

Was NBA Justified in Fining Clippers After Doc Rivers Comments About Kawhi Leonard?

Ranma · Post #671 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 4:38 am

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Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times (5/31/19)

What makes Leonard’s free agency so interesting is that the two teams he’s expected to choose between have made such strong arguments to land him come July.

If he stays in Toronto, it won’t be because of the all-you-can-eat poutine and Tim Horton’s and the luxury views. It’ll be because the Raptors perfectly handled his health over the season, because they won a lot of games, because changing teams for the second time in two seasons is a lot and because he’s had career-defining moments like his series-winning shot against the Philadelphia 76ers and his dominance against the Bucks.

If he goes, it’ll be because the Clippers are in Southern California near his home. It’ll be because they’ve built an incredible culture in a short time since Steve Ballmer bought the team. It’ll be because Rivers reminded everyone what a good coach he can be over the last two seasons. It’ll be because their front office is full of bright thinkers including Jerry West. It’ll be because the Clippers can build a championship roster around Leonard either through trades or free agency.

Kawhi Leonard's Free Agency is a Touchy Subject, and Clippers Paid the Price

Ranma · Post #672 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 5:32 am

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Ranma · Post #673 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 7:34 am

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Ranma · Post #674 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 7:37 am

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Ranma · Post #675 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 7:54 am

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Haley O’Shaughnessy, TheRinger.com (5/30/19)

Some people like a 36-week-old picture on Instagram to show their thirst; the Clippers think that’s just adorable. Child’s play. You want real thirst? Try buying the rights to someone’s nickname. On Wednesday, Marc Stein reported that L.A. is “quietly” looking into the “feasibility of purchasing the portion of the rights to [Kawhi] Leonard’s “Klaw” logo that is still owned by Nike.” (Kawhi is now sponsored by New Balance.) The Clips would use the old Klaw logo to spice up their pitch in free agency meetings. That’s four-days-in-the-desert thirst. Swallowed-a-pint-of-salt thirst. We-want-to-show-up-the-Lakers-so-badly thirst. You have to respect Steve Ballmer for the creativity. Thank goodness he was married long before the invention of IG.

The Clippers Aren’t Hiding Their Thirst for Kawhi

Haley O’Shaughnessy, TheRinger.com (5/31/19)

But according to TrueHoop, it’s been likely since long before the Raptors took Game 1 that Kawhi will remain in Toronto. “Even before the Finals began,” wrote David Thorpe, a longtime friend of Raptors president Masai Ujiri, “we at TrueHoop heard from plugged-in sources associated with players and the league—but not the team—that Kawhi would return to Toronto, at least on a short-term deal.”

Don’t Say Bye to Toronto Kawhi Just Yet

itsme23 · Post #676 » by **itsme23** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 3:01 pm

No one truly knows.

It’s really 50/50 in my opinion between the Clips and the Raps. Don’t think any other team has a shot.

What is probably frustrating as a Clippers fan is Toronto had to go to their first finals in order to get a shot to keep Kawhi.

That essentially means he was absolutely 100 percent set on playing for this team short of a miracle.

He still might be set to play for Clips but I imagine it will be hard leaving a championship team who has treated you like a god and can give you the most amount of money.

EIther way June 30 will be interesting.

Quake Griffin · Post #677 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 3:34 pm

MartinToVaught wrote:
Quake Griffin wrote:$50,000 for tampering.

Wonder if it was any of the people in our front office or a well known dufus who continues to make dumb mistakes?

#LastIdiotStanding

In all fairness, ESPN brought Doc on to analyze the Finals. What was he supposed to say about Kawhi: "no comment"? That would be viewed equally as suspicious.

I guess Doc's mistake was going on ESPN to begin with, but that's ridiculous. He shouldn't have to censor himself just because the league has no clue how to police the mess that is modern free agency.

My guess is that the Lakers cried to Silver to make him fine Doc. They're that petty and that desperate for anything resembling a "win" these days. Never mind the fact that there's a big difference between what Doc did and Magic's over-the-top antics that got him fined.

My guess is they saw twitter, Real GM, and the Raptors got tired of it...aren't our scouts just camped out at their games this year (and I read the tweet above about the Raps being upset)?

No sympathy from me. It was a stupid comment on its own and cumulatively given our behavior this year, it was stupid.

We shouldn't be talking free agents at all but we've been pretty clear the entire year that the reason we're building our team this way is because we're the Los Angeles 2019 Free Agent Signers and not just the Los Angeles Clippers.

You can't spend all year winking, nodding at Kawhi, telling the world your entire purpose is to get one of these free agents and then get on ESPN and compare him to Jordan.

Doc is an idiot POBO/ FO mind but he's not a total idiot in the rest of life's matters. He knew what he was doing. He pushed the boundaries and thought he could get away with it.

MartinToVaught · Post #678 » by **MartinToVaught** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 3:37 pm

Now that Kawhi's staying with Toronto, I'm praying that this front office never again acts as cringey as they've done all season. Sending scouts to every game, trying to buy Kawhi's logo, etc. All these antics do is hurt our image.

We just need to keep patiently building through the draft and stockpiling young talent. We aren't a free-agent destination. We're the Clippers, and it will never be easy. We will have to earn our success the hard way.

wco81 · Post #679 » by **wco81** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 4:19 pm

Clippers clearly signaled that Kawhi was their #1 target.

If KL doesn't come, they can turn to other FA targets but wonder if other max FAs like being the team's second choice.

NBA superstar egos ...

Ranma · Post #680 » by **Ranma** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 6:07 pm

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