Woj: Kawhi still leaning towards Clippers, Raptors have a lot of work to do still

[xAIRNESSx]

I would love for Kawhi to stay. He's not just a great player, but he genuinely comes off as a really great guy.

With all the load management, I felt like he owed the team at least 1 more year, but he gave everything he had in the playoffs and took us to the promised land. Nothing but love for Kawhi.

[Steelo Green]

All this is just noise. We will know in 2 weeks. We have the Raptors argument:

-Title
-trust in organization, something he said is the reason he left SA
-a great team around him with a great blend of young and old with a growing #2 in Siakam
-a medical staff that has proven they can take care of his health better than most if not all teams (load management is a precedent, sitting is one thing, but not the way Toronto did it)
-world class city and the number one show in town
-relationship with his teammates (talks of this in his sit down with Kyle)
-an organization that is tight lipped (as indicated was important in the sit down with Kyle)
-most money by quite a bit
-Masai, one of the best GMs in basketball (and he's not going anywhere, Larry Tanenbaum laughed at the idea, and Washington writers shot down Woj in less than an hour)
-you know what you get

Clippers argument:

-2 hours away from home
-potentially able to add a second star, but the rest of the roster is Gallo, Lou, Harrell, SGA and I guess Shamet? Everyone saying Kawhi wins anywhere he goes is completely undervaluing Fred, Kyle, Siakam, Gasol, Ibaka, Danny. The team around Kawhi was very good, they were a 600 team around him, them taking GS to 6 is being blown out of proportion.
-weather

Taxes are the same in Cali and Toronto and then of course more money in Toronto.

Objectively look at it and tell me the decision that makes sense.

[OldSchoolNoBull]

All this is just noise. We will know in 2 weeks. We have the Raptors argument:

-Title
-trust in organization, something he said is the reason he left SA
-a great team around him with a great blend of young and old with a growing #2 in Siakam
-a medical staff that has proven they can take care of his health better than most if not all teams (load management is a precedent, sitting is one thing, but not the way Toronto did it)
-world class city and the number one show in town
-relationship with his teammates (talks of this in his sit down with Kyle)
-an organization that is tight lipped (as indicated was important in the sit down with Kyle)
-most money by quite a bit
-Masai, one of the best GMs in basketball (and he's not going anywhere, Larry Tanenbaum laughed at the idea, and Washington writers shot down Woj in less than an hour)
-you know what you get

Clippers argument:

-2 hours away from home
-potentially able to add a second star, but the rest of the roster is Gallo, Lou, Harrell, SGA and I guess Shamet? Everyone saying Kawhi wins anywhere he goes is completely undervaluing Fred, Kyle, Siakam, Gasol, Ibaka, Danny. The team around Kawhi was very good, they were a 600 team around him, them taking GS to 6 is being blown out of proportion.
-weather

Taxes are the same in Cali and Toronto and then of course more money in Toronto.

Objectively look at it and tell me the decision that makes sense.

Don't forget, they'd have to dump either Gallo or Lou to have room for a second full max.

[PhilBlackson]

I've said it a thousand times...

I believe him + Jimmy Butler are going to the Clippers and that's been the plan for them and the franchise all along.

It sucks for us and Philly but not much can do about it. They will be a nasty group.

[Roscoe Sheed]

The clippers won 48 games with the above roster in the west- and that is with a developing back court. Fact is they did take the near full strength warriors to 6 games. They have a solid roster

[OkcSinceSGA]

One interesting point that Cris Carter said was that Kawhi stayed with San Diego State even after programs from UCLA et al were recruiting him b/c they believed in him before he won the high school state championship. That he could've left for somewhere else, but didn't b/c of that established trust.

I think Kawhi would stay in Toronto b/c, as Kawhi has stated a couple times, Masai stated from the beginning that he believed in him and wanted to do whatever possible to keep him healthy for the playoffs.

If Kawhi is consistent in his decision-making, then that will be perhaps the biggest factor that keeps him in Toronto, compared to the Clippers.

On top of that, Raps have the best chance of repeating (at the moment) should he decide to stay. The West is wide open without any clear contender thus far, and the best teams in the East outside of the Raps look to all be taking a step or two (or more) back. Philly could lose some players (Butler, Redick, Harris), Boston losing Kyrie and likely go back to rebuilding, and Milwaukee won't be able to keep all their free agents.

Lowry and Gasol and Ibaka get a year older, but Siakam could take another step forward as could OG (who can be an effective 3+D and didn't even play in the playoffs this year). VanVleet would be entering a contract year. As will Lowry, Ibaka, and Gasol. One more push with this core isn't unreasonable and wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the Raps to at least make it back to the Finals. Raps very well could be Kawhi's best chance to repeat, and after that, while every other big team will be locked into huge contracts, the Raptors will have big cap space to restructure again moving forward.

Give Kawhi player options and continue to build to the strengths of the team and another Finals run wouldn't be out of the question.

Kawhi wouldn't be able to jump into contention with the Clippers unless they signed Butler and/or Kemba and/or Kyrie. And kemba looks like he is gonna re-sign with Charlotte, and Kyrie looks like he's headed towards Brooklyn. Durant and Klay are irrelevant next year. I doubt Kawhi wants to wait a year struggling on a team that could be forced to play him more than the Raps did this year, just to make the playoffs.

Clippers won 48 and went to 6 with WAY healthier Warriors team despite Lou and Gallo missing time. No clear star. In the WEST. Yet somehow the Clips can't be a contender unless they add a 2nd star?

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

[Jim Todd Jr.]

woj really taken a step back this year

i wouldnt resign him

[CIN-C-STAR]

DeRozan, Poeltl and 1st round pick is not "a lot of assets". JV , Delon and CJ - again not that much in terms of assets. Delon would have been let go this off season because of our cap situation and he wants to get paid and he was fighting for minutes with FVV. CJ is useless. JV and Gasol are a wash at best.

They are still an extremely deep team with an emerging 2 way all-star in Pascal Siakam and a young bench of FVV Norman OG and Serge and probably the top 3 best starting 5 in the NBA.

We'll have to agree to disagree here. Putting aside Derozan, who was basically replaced by Kawhi, they lost four young rotation players and two draft picks.
I consider that a lot of assets.
Mind you, those were great moves if the goal was to win this season, but those assets are still going to be hard to replace going into the future in a salary cap league where things like the luxury tax, cap holds and Bird rights matter.
Masai is a great GM so not saying the situation is hopeless or anything, and obviously they have a great team in the short term if they just bring everyone back. And Siakam should continue getting better. But the cupboard is a bit more bare even if it was well worth it for a championship.

They only traded 1 first round draft pick, not 2. The other pieces were expendable.

Who are the 4 young pieces? Poeltl , Delon and JV -- that's 3 as far as I can count?

They also traded a second-round pick in the Gasol deal. Still well worth it, obviously.
But you're correct that only three young guys were dealt, not four. My mistake.
Still a lot of assets imo. Nothing crazy by any means, but not nothing.

[Madhouse]

Read on Twitter

/photo/1

nobody knows what Kawhi will do. He probably hasn't even decided or thought about it much.

[Steelo Green]

One interesting point that Cris Carter said was that Kawhi stayed with San Diego State even after programs from UCLA et al were recruiting him b/c they believed in him before he won the high school state championship. That he could've left for somewhere else, but didn't b/c of that established trust.

I think Kawhi would stay in Toronto b/c, as Kawhi has stated a couple times, Masai stated from the beginning that he believed in him and wanted to do whatever possible to keep him healthy for the playoffs.

If Kawhi is consistent in his decision-making, then that will be perhaps the biggest factor that keeps him in Toronto, compared to the Clippers.

On top of that, Raps have the best chance of repeating (at the moment) should he decide to stay. The West is wide open without any clear contender thus far, and the best teams in the East outside of the Raps look to all be taking a step or two (or more) back. Philly could lose some players (Butler, Redick, Harris), Boston losing Kyrie and likely go back to rebuilding, and Milwaukee won't be able to keep all their free agents.

Lowry and Gasol and Ibaka get a year older, but Siakam could take another step forward as could OG (who can be an effective 3+D and didn't even play in the playoffs this year). VanVleet would be entering a contract year. As will Lowry, Ibaka, and Gasol. One more push with this core isn't unreasonable and wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the Raps to at least make it back to the Finals. Raps very well could be Kawhi's best chance to repeat, and after that, while every other big team will be locked into huge contracts, the Raptors will have big cap space to restructure again moving forward.

Give Kawhi player options and continue to build to the strengths of the team and another Finals run wouldn't be out of the question.

Kawhi wouldn't be able to jump into contention with the Clippers unless they signed Butler and/or Kemba and/or Kyrie. And kemba looks like he is gonna re-sign with Charlotte, and Kyrie looks like he's headed towards Brooklyn. Durant and Klay are irrelevant next year. I doubt Kawhi wants to wait a year struggling on a team that could be forced to play him more than the Raps did this year, just to make the playoffs.

Clippers won 48 and went to 6 with WAY healthier Warriors team despite Lou and Gallo missing time. No clear star. In the WEST. Yet somehow the Clips can't be a contender unless they add a 2nd star?

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

You're really overvaluing those 6 games.

The Raptors took the Cavs to 6 games because they just trolled the entire series.

The Warriors looked like they were just trolling. Klay even said they were looking towards Houston.

If GSW wanted to sweep LAC they would have.

The Magic took it to 5, are they a Kawhi away from being a contender? No, because they don't have 2 other all-stars and insane depth.

FVV gave Toronto 22 in a game 7 with knock down triples and he's their 4-6 most important player.

[LouisLitt]

He's probably leaving.

But to be honest, I don't care.

[OkcSinceSGA]

One interesting point that Cris Carter said was that Kawhi stayed with San Diego State even after programs from UCLA et al were recruiting him b/c they believed in him before he won the high school state championship. That he could've left for somewhere else, but didn't b/c of that established trust.

I think Kawhi would stay in Toronto b/c, as Kawhi has stated a couple times, Masai stated from the beginning that he believed in him and wanted to do whatever possible to keep him healthy for the playoffs.

If Kawhi is consistent in his decision-making, then that will be perhaps the biggest factor that keeps him in Toronto, compared to the Clippers.

On top of that, Raps have the best chance of repeating (at the moment) should he decide to stay. The West is wide open without any clear contender thus far, and the best teams in the East outside of the Raps look to all be taking a step or two (or more) back. Philly could lose some players (Butler, Redick, Harris), Boston losing Kyrie and likely go back to rebuilding, and Milwaukee won't be able to keep all their free agents.

Lowry and Gasol and Ibaka get a year older, but Siakam could take another step forward as could OG (who can be an effective 3+D and didn't even play in the playoffs this year). VanVleet would be entering a contract year. As will Lowry, Ibaka, and Gasol. One more push with this core isn't unreasonable and wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the Raps to at least make it back to the Finals. Raps very well could be Kawhi's best chance to repeat, and after that, while every other big team will be locked into huge contracts, the Raptors will have big cap space to restructure again moving forward.

Give Kawhi player options and continue to build to the strengths of the team and another Finals run wouldn't be out of the question.

Kawhi wouldn't be able to jump into contention with the Clippers unless they signed Butler and/or Kemba and/or Kyrie. And kemba looks like he is gonna re-sign with Charlotte, and Kyrie looks like he's headed towards Brooklyn. Durant and Klay are irrelevant next year. I doubt Kawhi wants to wait a year struggling on a team that could be forced to play him more than the Raps did this year, just to make the playoffs.

Clippers won 48 and went to 6 with WAY healthier Warriors team despite Lou and Gallo missing time. No clear star. In the WEST. Yet somehow the Clips can't be a contender unless they add a 2nd star?

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

You're really overvaluing those 6 games.

The Raptors took the Cavs to 6 games because they just trolled the entire series.

The Warriors looked like they were just trolling. Klay even said they were looking towards Houston.

If GSW wanted to sweep LAC they would have.

The Magic took it to 5, are they a Kawhi away from being a contender? No, because they don't have 2 other all-stars and insane depth.

FVV gave Toronto 22 in a game 7 with knock down triples and he's their 4-6 most important player.

Okay disregard the playoffs if you want. They won 48 despite missed time from two best players. Kawhi is worth at least 10 wins. How the hell aren't they a contender lol? Lou+Harrell still under contract. SGA/Shamet very promising. Best bench in NBA all want to return (Beverley biggest flight risk if someone offers big deal, but I imagine with Kawhi he stays for discount).

Clippers had a far better bench than the Raptors all year, stop the homerism nonsense. In fact the Clippers had the highest scoring bench in recorded NBA history. They were a legit 10-12 deep. It's literally what kept them afloat. Despite all the hype the Raptors weren't even a top 5 bench arguably.

[phanman]

Clippers had a far better bench than the Raptors all year, stop the homerism nonsense. In fact the Clippers had the highest scoring bench in recorded NBA history. They were a legit 10-12 deep. It's literally what kept them afloat. Despite all the hype the Raptors weren't even a top 5 bench arguably.

That is just crazy. That bench was obviously hampered by the decision to bring Siakam into the starting unit this year but Freddy, Norm and Ibaka all played crucial roles in each successive series to the finals. They didn't play well in every series, but it was a highly productive bench and huge difference as to why we were able to power pass the Bucks and Warriors.

Also it makes sense the Clippers have a better bench as their salaries were much more spread out with only 2 guys making 10+ in salary. Masai went top heavy with a 8-man rotation when he decided to make the trade to bring in Gasol. We traded 3 rotation players for an upgrade in at center. It obviously hampered the production we received from the bench, but people don't seem to forget that OG was injured the entire playoff run.

[Steelo Green]

Clippers won 48 and went to 6 with WAY healthier Warriors team despite Lou and Gallo missing time. No clear star. In the WEST. Yet somehow the Clips can't be a contender unless they add a 2nd star?

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

You're really overvaluing those 6 games.

The Raptors took the Cavs to 6 games because they just trolled the entire series.

The Warriors looked like they were just trolling. Klay even said they were looking towards Houston.

If GSW wanted to sweep LAC they would have.

The Magic took it to 5, are they a Kawhi away from being a contender? No, because they don't have 2 other all-stars and insane depth.

FVV gave Toronto 22 in a game 7 with knock down triples and he's their 4-6 most important player.

Okay disregard the playoffs if you want. They won 48 despite missed time from two best players. Kawhi is worth at least 10 wins. How the hell aren't they a contender lol? Lou+Harrell still under contract. SGA/Shamet very promising. Best bench in NBA all want to return (Beverley biggest flight risk if someone offers big deal, but I imagine with Kawhi he stays for discount).

Clippers had a far better bench than the Raptors all year, stop the homerism nonsense. In fact the Clippers had the highest scoring bench in recorded NBA history. They were a legit 10-12 deep. It's literally what kept them afloat. Despite all the hype the Raptors weren't even a top 5 bench arguably.

There's a such thing as overachieving.

They don't have any all-star beside Kawhi if they added him.

In the PO depth is irrelevant unless you get injured. It's usually 8, at most 9, guys.

Star power wins always.

Toronto has 3 stars currently, one fading, one rising, and former stars and then depth on top of that.

Then you consider how good Gallo's health can be consistently.

Everyone misses games, Kyle missed a lot, OG was out for major time, Val, Kawhi 22, we can go on and on. Raptors slept through the regular season.

If you think Kawhi + current Clippers is a title winner, you're mistaken.

Houston took GSW to 6 as well, are LAC = Houston? If Houston added Kawhi then yeah, they're big time contenders, not LAC.

Raptors had won rounds before adding Kawhi, the Clippers had a one off year and you can bet if you ran with the same group they'll either miss or be a borderline PO team.

GSW without Durant and Klay and they should still be big time favourites against these same Clippers and even you with a gun to your head would pick them.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Clippers had a far better bench than the Raptors all year, stop the homerism nonsense. In fact the Clippers had the highest scoring bench in recorded NBA history. They were a legit 10-12 deep. It's literally what kept them afloat. Despite all the hype the Raptors weren't even a top 5 bench arguably.

That is just crazy. That bench was obviously hampered by the decision to bring Siakam into the starting unit this year but Freddy, Norm and Ibaka all played crucial roles in each successive series to the finals. They didn't play well in every season, but it was a highly productive bench and huge difference as to why we were able to power pass the Bucks and Warriors.

Also it makes sense the Clippers have a better bench as their salaries were much more spread out with only 2 guys making 10+ in salary. Masai went top heavy with a 8-man rotation when he decided to make the trade to bring in Gasol. We traded 3 rotation players for an upgrade in at center. It obviously hampered the production we received from the bench, but people don't seem to forget that OG was injured the entire playoff run.

I'm not ripping you guys. As you said, you traded depth for a superstar. I'm just responding to your fan base's trolls here. Keep them in check and I won't have to educate. It's perfectly okay to accept the Raptors are the superior team and still acknowledge a competitor is better at something. Some of these Raptors "fans" are saying asinine **** right now. I'll chalk it up to being drunk or high celebrating I guess.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

[Detective]

Woj really doesn't like Masai's FO because he never gets info from them. So he panders like a hobo.

[LightTheBeam]

Has someone who used to live in L.A. It's such a overrated city. Traffic, Forest fires, lots of phonies and most importantly it's so spread out you have to drive everywhere.

Only good thing is the weather. Its not like Kawhi has any aspiration to be a celebrity and hollywood producer like lebron.

Kawhi is rich enough to move his family anywhere he goes.

Couldn't agree more! Lived there twice and was miserable. 1 hour commute to work 8 miles away on a good day. Enjoy the rat race! If I was an NBA player id go where I could win/make money, and all offseason id be somewhere on a tropical beach with my friends/fam!

[Ado05]

They guy is gone, but he got the job done here.

Salute Kawhi.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I personally hope he resigns with the Raptors, it gives me 8 chances to see him next season in games against the Knicks, Celtics, Nets and Sixers. I want more stars in the EC since I live close enough to go to multiple cities, it also keeps ticket prices in check since I have more chances to see them.

[tdotrep2]

Can someone please tell me why Woj who just works for espn cares so much about Kawhi leaving Toronto?
Why does he cars
It seems like he wants it to happen

espn have been pushing the clipper narrative the whole year, jerry and doc have friends in the company it wouldn't be far fetched if they planted a lot of this. I also woudn't be shocked if they strike out on fa's and too say that they for sure have a better future than the raps is stupid. You got a good crop of young guys with siakam whos got more potential than any young player on the clippers and a boat load of cap space with the vets right who could come back on really friendly contracts... oh yea masai ujiri gets to plan it out as well... if kawhi goes to the clippers its literally just about location.