viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1998495
Just gonna copy my post from there...
When the entire league basically stops while waiting to see what team you're going to, these other guys have to still be prepared for anything. So you finally pick the Clippers and you bring PG and everywhere you look, its portrayed as if these guys are coming to save the Clippers. If you're Lou Williams, Montrez Harrell, etc. no matter what you think of them as players, they busted their ass last year for this team. Other guys busted their ass. Hell Kawhi wouldn't even come to the Clippers unless he had a "2nd star" to come with him. You think these guys don't know that? They hear the same stuff we hear. That's not exactly showing your new teammates you have a lot of confidence in them. You have some personal pride. So ok, you just roll with it, we're gonna have a great year and win the title and everything will be fine. But if you've ever been in a relationship, a woman may let you get away saying all kinds of bs but wait until you guys really get into it over something, she's bringing up literally EVERYTHING you've ever said negatively to her whether you said it directly to her or she implied it. People don't forget and they often remember when things go wrong.
Except, your new saviors don't play all the time, one of your supposed saviors doesn't play with any urgency at all.
On most teams, the teams chemistry is mostly affected by the teams best player correct? If the teams best player is unhappy, things arent going to go well for that team.
Kawhi didn't have to worry about chemistry in San Antonio because they already had it and he wasn't the best player.
He didn't have to worry about it in Toronto because they had already had it.
Now he comes to the Clippers, a team with no winning history, never gone to a conference finals, and he basically expects to just waltz in, never say a word, practice when he wants to(even though he's in great shape, everybody else still has to practice and when things don't go right, stuff like this is going to start bothering people more), take over, and everybody else is just going to follow behind like little puppy dogs.
Obviously Kawhi himself didn't say any of that, but that's the situation.
He's the best player, but he doesn't seem to have ability to rally his teammates around him. He's just a really good individual player who can elevate a team that's already pretty good.
He's not Lebron. And I'm not a Lebron fan.
When you compare them, you really see its about more than just ability on the floor. Teammates rally around Lebron, want to play FOR Lebron. No matter what you think of Lebron.
Guys just play WITH Kawhi.
You can see it on the floor. Look at how uninspired Lou Will and Harrell played. I know they got destroyed on defense but they could have absolutely played better on that end. And even on the offensive end, they didn't play inspired. I don't buy that out of shape crap, these dudes are fine. They weren't hurt. Lou just wanted some wings(allegedly) and Montrez lost his grandmother and had to take time off. In the end, its their own fault, theyre professionals. But at the same time, their "saviors" are supposed to galvanize the team and have them ready to play in the playoffs. Last year they played team ball, pick and roll with Lou and Trezz, blah, blah, but now you're 2 stars are complete iso players. We know PG doesn't like to have any plays ran for him as he told Donovan in OKC and I saw that here with the Pacers so he just does his own thing. Its hard for those other guys to get in the flow. In the regular season, they were fine as you can see but in the playoffs, its a different story. That's also on Doc for not finding a way to get these guys involved.