Everything 2018 Off Season

[white men can't jump]

Nope. He's upset that the Raptors traded his bestfriend. So he acted like a little bitch in front of the reporters.

7 days since the Raptors traded for Kawhi and Lowry hasn't even reached out to him. What a great leader. He should've reached out to him THE DAY the trade was announced.

If this continues then I want Lowry out of this team.

So you think it's a negative that Lowry is choosing not to make this a public spectacle more than it already is? When the guy we acquired is one of the most low-key, anti-spectacle players in all pro sports?

What do you want him to do? Hold a "welcome Kawhi" parade down Yonge street?

I wouldn't read into his answers at all. Maybe he even has spoken to Kawhi but doesn't want to make it a thing. Maybe he's waiting for a face-to-face, because anything else is kind of pointless anyway. Stop being such a drama queen.

[Puffer]

Mark Twain on Science (or Raptor News): "One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact."

[golden]

Just watched the interview with Lowry.. he was all business to be honest. Just wanted to keep it about USAB and not go into non USAB stuff. Wish he said more about the Raptors, but what are you gonna do?

I'm sure he'll have plenty to say when training camp starts.

Looking at the whole clip, yeah, they were baiting him pretty hard and Kyle handled it as well as he could without blowing a gasket.

[A.I]

You just love drama so you're trying to make this into some, when it's really not.

Kyle's always, even in the best of times, been ornery with the media. He doesn't want to make life harder for a friend. Don't read too much into it.

Agreed. I’m sure Lowry talked to Kawhi. Hes just dodging the question to avoid being involved between Demar and Masai.

[Truth Teller]

If Lowry doesn't like the trade, we can trade him too. He wasn't Mr. Playoff either. The wizards series for the first playoff series he performed well in.

NO ONE on this team is untradeable.

[A.I]

Everything 2018 Off Season

If Lowry doesn't like the trade, we can trade him too. He wasn't Mr. Playoff either. The wizards series for the first playoff series he performed well in.

NO ONE on this team is untradeable.

When did he say he didn’t like the trade? The media is trying to bait him to try and get a reaction out of him, he handled it well, didnt say anything. Hes in a lose-lose situation if he says anything.

[A.I]

This is good to hear.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/rapto...ick-nurse.html

[MixxAOR]

This is good to hear.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/rapto...ick-nurse.html

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse describes his introductory meeting with Kawhi Leonard (via @dfeschuk)https://t.co/e4dOZ9Mduo pic.twitter.com/0QfpL2BOF0

— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) July 28, 2018

“I sat down and said, ‘Do you have any questions?’ And he started firing them,” Nurse said. “And it just led us to a really easygoing (conversation). Not what I was expecting. Very smart. Very intelligent. Very engaging. Really enjoyed it … (Management) had to drag us out of there in the end because they had to go do something else. But it was great.”

Surely, as the basketball talk with Leonard went on for some 45 minutes — and Leonard, in Nurse’s words, “lit up like a Christmas tree,” at one point rising to join Nurse diagramming schemes on the whiteboard — Nurse must have been breathing a sigh of relief. The incommunicative enigma who somehow had a falling out with the gold-standard franchise in San Antonio wasn’t some petulant nightmare. Instead, he sounded very much like a typical NBA player concerned about how he’ll fit with his new team, not to mention an elite NBA player deeply hooked on the game’s intricacies.

“We could have gone forever. (Raptors management) kept knocking on the door and I was like, ‘A couple more minutes.’ Because we were really into it,” Nurse said. “It was fun to listen to his take. He asked me, ‘How are you going to use me? Where are you going to get me the ball? What do you see?’ And I told him, ‘Listen. To me, you can do pretty much everything. You can post. You can drive. You can handle it up the floor. You can play screen and roll. You can come off pindowns.’ I said, ‘Did I miss anything?’ He’s like, ‘No, that’s about it.’ I said, ‘You’ll probably be doing all that stuff.’ ”

[Shaolin Fantastic]

That Nurse stuff is very encouraging

[golden]

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse describes his introductory meeting with Kawhi Leonard (via @dfeschuk)https://t.co/e4dOZ9Mduo pic.twitter.com/0QfpL2BOF0

— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) July 28, 2018

So Kawhi really does love to talk....... about basketball. Who knew?

[Puffer]

I wouldn't be surprised if Kawhi turns out to be a professional who wants to do well and cares about the Raptors performing well while he is a member of the team. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts the team first, in terms of winning, and doesn't care much about individual stats as long as they win games. I wouldn't be surprised if Kawhi finds out he is simpatico with several members of the team and respects all of them as hard working guys who are focused on winning and wanting to do it the right way. It wouldn't surprise me if he is surprised to find out that everyone on the team takes as much pride in their defensive effort as in their scoring and he comes to love playing with them. What happens next summer won't surprise me either.

[Demographic Shift]

Again, he's just trying to avoid sounding like he's bitching about DeMar, or Masai, or Kawhi. There is no functional way for him to do so without making himself the talking point. He's trying to take the pressure off everyone else, or at least that's how I read it.

True...still a bit ..and it’s just a bit .....of a dick move pulling the Marshon Lynch single answer routine. The Raptor beat guys are just doing their jobs..hes had a week to come up with a one time diplomatic answer....No one is happy when a friend leaves...

Ahhh..maybe saying nothing works too...tough spot to be in.

[inthepaint]

This is good to hear.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/rapto...ick-nurse.html

Neat. So he's a basketball enthusiast and elite athlete, that is reclusive and doesn't care for drama and twitter gossip, but opens up when presented with the chance to talk about actual ball. I like him already.

[Hotshot]

I wouldn't be surprised if Kawhi turns out to be a professional who wants to do well and cares about the Raptors performing well while he is a member of the team. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts the team first, in terms of winning, and doesn't care much about individual stats as long as they win games. I wouldn't be surprised if Kawhi finds out he is simpatico with several members of the team and respects all of them as hard working guys who are focused on winning and wanting to do it the right way. It wouldn't surprise me if he is surprised to find out that everyone on the team takes as much pride in their defensive effort as in their scoring and he comes to love playing with them. What happens next summer won't surprise me either.

Hold on there, as much as we hope for the best what he pulled with Spurs was no where near professional. We can hope that its a new page in Kawhi's life.

[planetmars]

This is good to hear.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/rapto...ick-nurse.html

The Kawhi stuff was cool.. but this part made my ears perk up:

He spoke of a roster that now includes “six starters,” or six players who are accustomed to starting — including Lowry, Leonard, Green, Jonas Valanciunas, OG Anunoby and Serge Ibaka — and talked of the importance of some of those players being open to coming off the bench. And he reiterated more than once his mission as a rookie head coach: playoff success.

“I’ve got to get them to play the best they can come April, May and June,” Nurse said. “We need to play in June. Let’s play in June. Maybe we can make up some T-shirts.”

Playoff success.. that's all I want as a fan. I'm expecting a lot of variety of line ups. May lose some games, but it could all be worth it in April and May.