Everything 2019 Offseason!

[Hotshot]

I am waiting until summer of 2036 when Toronto will draft Kawhi Jr thus fulfilling the 2nd part of the prophesy.

Team Canada will also have a roster spot ready (he was born in T.O so this is his true home for the future king).

[A.I]

I think it's kinda just common respect to have some sort of thank you/goodbye message. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean much i still am thankful he brought us a chip but still theirs some class to giving a heartfelt message to the organization and fanbase who helped rebuild his public image. Maybe it's just the canadian in us that expects a respectful exit.

I'd rather hear the thank you coming from Kawhi's mouth in a press conference rather than a letter that would likely be edited by his PR. Whether people want find ways to be upset at Kawhi, I think what he said was genuine. Yes he may have wanted to go home to LA, but I think he genuinely enjoyed his time here, he won a championship after all and gave it his all in the Playoffs.

[hotfuzz]

He has no ability to put out a paragraph? kinda a weak thank you to the team that revitalized his career.

No way dude. Doing it in a press conference is way more genuine than throwing up some half hearted thank you paragraph on IG most likely written up by his agent.

[Hotshot]

Kawhi said whatever needed to be said during the victory parade.

Nothing else is needed.

[golden]

In the end, it was about family for Kawhi. Good on him, actually. There was never a chance he was staying. Have to keep this in mind for the next one. Fortunately, there's no NBA team in Greece.

Could the reigning champions have done anything more to keep their star?

“You know, once I got together with my team and we put the pros and cons down, it was never about winning a championship,” Leonard said to Yahoo Sports. “It was about what the future has to hold. And for me, myself and my family, that's what type of decision I had to make. It’s no discredit to Toronto, I just wanted to play at home. I wanted to do that before I got traded there, and obviously when I got there, it was a goal of mine to make history and get them a championship, and I feel like I did my job there pretty much and that I should be granted to go play where I wanted to after I gave them what they needed. I just wanted to play at home. Like Paul said, our families are able to come to games. But just from my own thinking, it’s like we're in the NBA and I played eight years already. Eight years can fly by so fast, and we’re not able to do anything with [our families] eight or nine months of the season.

“So once the summer comes, you got three months to either go see family, train and do your other business obligations. There’s really no time to see them, to see your family. I love my family. Over the last five or six years, I’ll go back home and see my family, my nieces and nephews, and they’re talking, playing, shooting basketballs, and I’m like, ‘Dang, I missed all this. Y’all talking already. What? You’re doing this?’ So it’s like, ‘Man, where the hell have I been?’ It feels like you been in a matrix or something.

“For me, it was a family situation more so than a basketball decision. Basketball is going to be here long without me, so I feel like when we’re here, we just have to make sure we share it with our loved ones, and that’s one of the big reasons why I came to the Clippers.”

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/kawhi...l?guccounter=1

[G__Deane]

Leonard also opened up on how he’s feeling heading into his first season playing in his home state. It’s safe to say the Riverside, Calif., native isn’t regretting his career-altering choice.

“It’s still kind of surreal. Just being able to have Paul on my team and just being back home and playing,” he told Nichols. “It’s just a great experience. It’s probably going to be my first time playing with an elite player at his level, around the same age as me, same talent. You know, I’m excited to play. I can’t wait til training camp starts, to get into season mode, to put on a jersey, pass someone a ball, you know, just talk on the floor.

“I can’t wait. I’m excited.”

[LJ2]

God I hope the Clippers have a disastrous season.

[A.I]

Leonard also opened up on how he’s feeling heading into his first season playing in his home state. It’s safe to say the Riverside, Calif., native isn’t regretting his career-altering choice.

“It’s still kind of surreal. Just being able to have Paul on my team and just being back home and playing,” he told Nichols. “It’s just a great experience. It’s probably going to be my first time playing with an elite player at his level, around the same age as me, same talent. You know, I’m excited to play. I can’t wait til training camp starts, to get into season mode, to put on a jersey, pass someone a ball, you know, just talk on the floor.

“I can’t wait. I’m excited.”

I don't see anything wrong with this. Both him and PG are in their primes. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili were all past their primes when Kawhi was developing.

[suspenders]

Well, I think that article is closure. He never was going to stay. He came, played his heart out, helped us win our 1st championship, then went back home.

Can't really fault the man.

It is what it is.

[LJ2]

Couldn't agree more. He did his job and he earned the right to play where he wants to play.

Love Kawhi, but I do not want it to be all rainbows and sunshine for him as far as basketball in concerned. I want the Clippers to lose, and lose often. It would be great if he never comes close to another championship again.

[RandomGuy]

Couldn't agree more. He did his job and he earned the right to play where he wants to play.

Love Kawhi, but I do not want it to be all rainbows and sunshine for him as far as basketball in concerned. I want the Clippers to lose, and lose often. It would be great if he never comes close to another championship again.

[slaw]

Kawhi is going to get 97% fans with a standing O, as he should.
MLSE will want to make sure that Toronto continues to look like a great place for players to land and the media/talking heads will actually feel they have to encourage it, which isn't necessary.

OT but did anyone watch that manic Ballmer is the Kawhi/George presser? That dude is flat out wacked and embarrassing and seems totally at odds with kawhi's outward vibe .... I guess I prefer my wackjob billionnaire owners more like Cuban

Ballmer is definitely not my style but the guy did alright for himself, so, he should probably keep doing whatever has worked....

[planetmars]

I guess he's staying in the NBA. And no, not with the Raptors.

[Apollo]

I don't even know what you're attempted point is in the first bolded part ....

They're there to service gate revenue, TV revenue, ad revenue and any kind of other local or international revenue you can think of, not necessarily owners as they charge from time to time.

If you don't think the league prefers the mega-stars in LA or New York over Milwaukee or the Pels, I don't know what to tell you. They need the small market teams to make a league but as long as no one rocks the boat too hard and just accepts the revenue sharing, they're happy for the Knicks or Brooklyn or Boston or Chicago or LA to win every single season ..... preferably just LA or New York

If your theory were correct then you wouldn't see teams like Oklahoma, Toronto, Washington and Portland paying luxury tax last season.

[G__Deane]

If your theory were correct then you wouldn't see teams like Oklahoma, Toronto, Washington and Portland paying luxury tax last season.

WHY?
You don't think every team still tries against the odds? What an odd theory you have