Everything Kawhi Leonard

[Hotshot]

What can't be lost is losing your fans interest in the regular season. I was lucky enough to go to 30+ raptors games this year, if the roster didn't change I doubt I would have go to more than 3. This restores faith in the franchise, and their willingness to take the moves necessary to compete for a championship. They couldn't have rolled back the same team.

Exactly, nobody was buying that a new coach would make significant difference when going up against the NBA toughest opponents come playoffs time. Raptors bought their time, collected good assets and made a big splash to shake things up without compromising the future. That was in hindsight the right thing to do and very risky & ballsy move. You want to be part of the big boys club, you take risks like OKC did and hope it works out and if it don't (like the Pelicans with Cousins) you can still find a way to keep going and win. It also sends a message that mediocrity isn't acceptable outcome in Toronto.

[The Great One]

dude he won't enter free agency if he does that. Do you understand that? And he wanted to play in US basketball in summer so he can't pull that shit

We don't really know Leonard. Yet we all act like we know the guy.

That dude sat the entire season last year with an "injury" that Pop and Parker and Ginobili and other Spurs players questioned.

[Ebonhawke]

What turn? as usual you're missing the point.

It's not about DeRozan. It's about Leonard. If he sits the entire season(which sounds like a possibility) then the Raptors just basically traded arguably the greatest player in franchise for NOTHING.

If he plays just enough to satisfy the conditions of the CBA, and then sits etc - then the Lakers will simply offer him like $5M a season, because no other team will offer him a contract - he'll have screwed himself out of over a 100 million dollars, and will be a pariah to a lot of people around the league. You think Stevie Francis got criticism for refusing to go to Vancouver? Kawhi sitting out two years just because he wants to play in LaLa land will be worse.

This trade is less than 12h old - before everyone gets all worked up about emotional reactions etc - give the respective players a chance to process through the change and adjust/adapt.

[MixxAOR]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...-dealt-knicks/

A frustrated DeRozan also said he considered asking for a trade himself when Lowry seemed headed to the Knicks in the 2013-14 season. Toronto had just traded Rudy Gay and Lowry appeared next.

"If you get traded, I’m going to ask for a trade too," DeRozan recalled telling Lowry.

fuck off with evil Raptors bullshit

[RandomGuy]

We don't really know Leonard. Yet we all act like we know the guy.

That dude sat the entire season last year with an "injury" that Pop and Parker and Ginobili and other Spurs players questioned.

The thing we are trying to explain is - he doesn't have a choice.

[The Great One]

If if if...again you spent all June bitching about the Raptors didn't do anything in the off season that hadn't happened yet.

You gotta pre heat the oven your hot takes aren't even ready for consumption when you serve them up

Keon,

Just yesterday you were talkin about how Kawhi is toxic and how trading DeRozan for him bad idea. You also said that the best offer you'd make is Powell + a 1st or something like that. And now you're all aboard the Kawhi bandwagon?

[KeonClark]

Keon,

Just yesterday you were talkin about how Kawhi is toxic and how trading DeRozan for him bad idea. You also said that the best offer you'd make is Powell + a 1st or something like that. And now you're all aboard the Kawhi bandwagon?

*if it was known Kawhi isn't coming here

I said DeRozan poeltl and a 1st If we knew he'd come and play hard. Now there's a lot left to unpack and yes there could still be egg on masais face for this.

I'm putting it all aside. I've made like 13000 posts here, same as you. It's really fucking exciting to add Kawhi Leonard and watch this drama unfold now. "Team run it back plus nick nurse" did not excite me in the slightest. This type of move happens maybe ever 20 years to a franchise. This is just really fucking cool, whether it works or not

[Hotshot]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...-dealt-knicks/



fuck off with evil Raptors bullshit

This is a business first and for most and it isnt like the Raptors did him dirty like Boston did I.T.

DD spend 9 years in Toronto and they have invested in him a quarter of a billion dollars.

[Apollo]

I don't think people realizes how bad this trade is lol. They just traded arguably the greatest player in franchise history who wants to be a career Raptor for a guy that might not even play for the Raptors.

It's a bad look for the franchise too. Read the reactions from the players.

How many stars get benched in the fourth quarter of one of the most important games of his career? I guess there was no coming back from the embarrassment of that series. There were rumors for months that there was going to be a big price to pay for that series and it just wasn't the coach.

[white men can't jump]

T rex is human clickbait lol

The Steven A/Skip Bayless of RR. He can't help himself.

[The Great One]

How many stars get benched in the fourth quarter of one of the most important games of his career? I guess there was no coming back from the embarrassment of that series. There were rumors for months that there was going to be a big price to pay for that series and it just wasn't the coach.

AGAIN, it's not about DeRozan. It's about Leonard.

After the season ended i said that it's time for Masai to make some changes. I was aboard trading for Kawhi even for a rental. I even said that i would trade the ENTIRE roster for Kawhi Leonard or Klay Thompson.

But then Chris Haynes just a couple of housr ago tweeted that Kawhi has no desire to play in Toronto. That's a problem.

[The Great One]

The Steven A/Skip Bayless of RR. He can't help himself.

^ The Molly Qerim of RR.

[RandomGuy]

AGAIN, it's not about DeRozan. It's about Leonard.

After the season ended i said that it's time for Masai to make some changes. I was aboard trading for Kawhi even for a rental. I even said that i would trade the ENTIRE roster for Kawhi Leonard or Klay Thompson.

But then Chris Haynes just a couple of housr ago tweeted that Kawhi has no desire to play in Toronto. That's a problem.

What if I'll tweet that he wants to play for Toronto? Will that change your perspective?

[MixxAOR]

Windhorst just said he'll play

[Apollo]

AGAIN, it's not about DeRozan. It's about Leonard.

After the season ended i said that it's time for Masai to make some changes. I was aboard trading for Kawhi even for a rental. I even said that i would trade the ENTIRE roster for Kawhi Leonard or Klay Thompson.

But then Chris Haynes just a couple of housr ago tweeted that Kawhi has no desire to play in Toronto. That's a problem.

So? He said he has no desire to play in 27 other markets. He used the leverage he had and lost. Now he has some tough choices ahead. If he doesn't mind tanking his career then he won't show up. If he doesn't mind hurting his image then he can phone it in. If he doesn't mind losing out on another $50M to go along with the $30M he just lost then he'll sign directly with the Lakers or Clippers.

The trade is about DeRozan too though. Let's not forget that series or all the times he under performed.