Jurassic World 3: Where the Dinosaurs have Quad Injuries and Hate Their Shoe Deals

Reverend

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I basically agree with you.

Besides the ones you listed, another big unknown is how much luxury tax ownership is willing to pay to hold together a contending team. If Jaylen is gone in two years for budget reasons, Danny’s appetite for risk will be much greater than if there’s a prospect of having Kyrie, Tatum, Brown, and an aging Horford as the core of a contending team 4 years from now. (Let’s wait for Hayward to come back 100% before we start penciling him in for another max deal in a couple years, but he’s part of the puzzle too, as is whoever we take with the SAC pick if we keep it.)
I had to read this several time to let the ramifications soak in: It sounds like Danny has things set up such that he could took any one of several different avenues depending on how some of the young guys develop.

Which means he is basically playing multiple dimension chess. Like, for real. I mean, I know that's what a good GM wants to do, but how often can anyone actually pull it off?
 

lovegtm

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Which means he is basically playing multiple dimension chess. Like, for real. I mean, I know that's what a good GM wants to do, but how often can anyone actually pull it off?
I think you just described "normal chess."

Most GMs are playing something roughly between tic-tac-toe and checkers.
 

Reverend

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I think you just described "normal chess."

Most GMs are playing something roughly between tic-tac-toe and checkers.
Heh. I gave the choice of chess more thought than I care to admit...

That said, I take your meaning. But I think what you are thinking about is how the board develops, which yeah, is total chess and a great player keeps multiple options in play--indeed, the checkmate requires it.

But then I decided, like, he doesn't know which pieces are going to develop into which. So he has multiple "board" possibilities each with those multiple possibilities. The key is he has enough developing players with this kind of potential to have other "board" options if one doesn't play out--not just situations on the board, but whole boards (and, as I understand it, he can't keep all the pieces so he will have to choose among boards.)

I may need more or less coffee. But I think, yeah, we firmly agree here.
 

Devizier

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I think you just described "normal chess."

Most GMs are playing something roughly between tic-tac-toe and checkers.
I think GMs are more sophisticated than that.

One thing Ainge has done really well however is go against trends to his advantage. When it is fashionable to tank, he buys. When it was fashionable to buy, he tanked. Some of that really was dictated by circumstances outside his control, however.
 

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I think GMs are more sophisticated than that.

One thing Ainge has done really well however is go against trends to his advantage. When it is fashionable to tank, he buys. When it was fashionable to buy, he tanked. Some of that really was dictated by circumstances outside his control, however.
I still don't have a satisfying explanation of how he pulled off the draft day trade that brought Tatum and ANOTHER pick.

Like, I've seen the explanations. The closest one to being intellectually satisfying is @The Allented Mr Ripley 's "Jedi Theory". Nothing else makes any more sense.
 

moondog80

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I still don't have a satisfying explanation of how he pulled off the draft day trade that brought Tatum and ANOTHER pick.

Like, I've seen the explanations. The closest one to being intellectually satisfying is @The Allented Mr Ripley 's "Jedi Theory". Nothing else makes any more sense.
The consensus was that there was a big dropoff after Fultz/Ball, Ainge felt that Tatum was actually the top player (or at least in the same class as Fultz/Ball), and had the guts to act accordingly. The trade was far from universally loved here when it was first announced.
 

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The consensus was that there was a big dropoff after Fultz/Ball, Ainge felt that Tatum was actually the top player (or at least in the same class as Fultz/Ball), and had the guts to act accordingly. The trade was far from universally loved here when it was first announced.
Right. That's the part I don't understand. ;)
 

jaytftwofive

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I don't always agree with Screaming A. Smith but he was right on when this topic came up on First Take. Tatum and Brown are 2 of the best young players in the league and they're going to get better. Don't mess with this team at all. With Kyrie and Hayward back next season he says they will be a big title contender. But what do I know? I thought they gave up too much to get Kyrie. BTW our Red Sox are 15-2? I guess nothing to complain about there.
 

cheech13

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As Amin Elhassan pointed out on Ryen Rusillo's podcast, we don't really know anything about Kawhi or his mental or physical state because the only information we have is from leaks from the Spurs management. Kawhi and his team aren't particularly savvy with the media and they aren't well connected so they've lost control of the message. Ultimately we shouldn't read too much into the idea that he's injury-prone, or a malcontent, without better understanding his POV.
 

BigSoxFan

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As Amin Elhassan pointed out on Ryen Rusillo's podcast, we don't really know anything about Kawhi or his mental or physical state because the only information we have is from leaks from the Spurs management. Kawhi and his team aren't particularly savvy with the media and they aren't well connected so they've lost control of the message. Ultimately we shouldn't read too much into the idea that he's injury-prone, or a malcontent, without better understanding his POV.
Certainly true but we do know that Kawhi has missed a good amount of games in his career. He may not be “injury prone” but he does have a chronic injury that will cause him to miss games every year.

At the end of the day, I think Ainge will certainly investigate but will ultimately stand pat since, as has been mentioned, his stand pat position is incredibly strong and the Spurs are one of the few front offices where we don’t have a decided advantage in trade negotiations.

This whole situation reminds me a bit of Ellsbury in 2010. The following year he had an MVP calibre season so I’m willing to give Kawhi a pass if the price is right.
 

lovegtm

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Considering Ainge's drafting success of late, it seems like it might make more sense to let him work his magic with the SAC and MEM picks rather than trade them away for the multiple uncertainties that are Kawhi.
If he keeps drafting like this (or they get lucky and bink the Lakers' pick), figuring out how and whom to pay is going to become a very big concern.

However, I'm still pretty anti-Kawhi currently, just because of the injuries. If the team has good info that this is all just his camp pushing him out of San Antonio, then he becomes much more attractive.
 

BaseballJones

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I don't always agree with Screaming A. Smith but he was right on when this topic came up on First Take. Tatum and Brown are 2 of the best young players in the league and they're going to get better. Don't mess with this team at all. With Kyrie and Hayward back next season he says they will be a big title contender. But what do I know? I thought they gave up too much to get Kyrie. BTW our Red Sox are 15-2? I guess nothing to complain about there.
This is where I'm at basically. Keep this team together as much as possible. Hope to get another top pick next year if the ping pong balls fall their way.

Kyrie, Brown, Tatum, Hayward, and Horford is about as good a starting unit as you can find in the NBA, probably outside of Golden State. I mean, all five guys can score and except for Horford, all can put up 30 points. What team has enough defenders to keep all those guys in check? I know there's only so many shots to go around, but with that many options, they're almost always going to have a mismatch out there somewhere.

They'll have to figure out Rozier and the whole "he's fast becoming a guy who will price himself right out of Boston" thing. Also, what to do about Smart?

But even the deep bench guys like Yabu and Ojeleye and Bird and Theis seem like pretty useful players. If they can add a piece in the draft and run with that starting lineup above....holy smokes this team could be GREAT. And great for years to come.
 

cheech13

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Certainly true but we do know that Kawhi has missed a good amount of games in his career. He may not be “injury prone” but he does have a chronic injury that will cause him to miss games every year.

At the end of the day, I think Ainge will certainly investigate but will ultimately stand pat since, as has been mentioned, his stand pat position is incredibly strong and the Spurs are one of the few front offices where we don’t have a decided advantage in trade negotiations.

This whole situation reminds me a bit of Ellsbury in 2010. The following year he had an MVP calibre season so I’m willing to give Kawhi a pass if the price is right.
Amin also touched on this as well, stating that on three separate occasions in his career Kawhi has been cleared by San Antonio's medical staff only to promptly re-injure himself and miss more time. In other words, this could be as much about the Spurs' medical staff as it as about Kawhi's body. Again, we just don't know much.
 

finnVT

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In the "clearly not going to happen anyway" category, the interesting one to consider for me would be Hayward+SAC pick for Kawhi. That puts risk on both sides of the equation, gives the Spurs a star player with more years on his contract if they assume they're losing Kawhi anyway, and the C's the possibility for an ever-better superstar wing, if Kawhi is ok. Ages and salaries match better, etc. I think the personal relationships with Hayward preclude it (and he may have a no trade clause, though I can't quickly find anything about that), but it otherwise seems like a more interesting fit that JB/JT. A lineup of Kyrie-JB-Kawhi-JT-Horford is... well, it'd be something. Of course, that'll be the case with Hayward in there next season anyway.
 

Captaincoop

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The C's have been building toward the team they're going to have next year (and more importantly, for the next 2-3 years) for the last half-decade. I don't see why you blow it up preemptively to maybe get 5% better than you're already going to be in 2019 and lose the long-term advantage.
 

the moops

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The C's have been building toward the team they're going to have next year (and more importantly, for the next 2-3 years) for the last half-decade. I don't see why you blow it up preemptively to maybe get 5% better than you're already going to be in 2019 and lose the long-term advantage.
If Kawhi Leonard is healthy, and you are trading Brown + Rozier + draft picks for him, that team is much better than 5% better next year. Kawhi Leonard (healthy) is a top 5'ish player in the league, and most likely the best player on the team. I get that people are soured on him because of his injuries and whatever the fuck is going on bewteen him and the Spurs, but he is a special basketball player. And if he is playing on the 2019 Celtics alongside Kyrie, Tatum, Hayward, and Horford, they are the favorite to come out of the east, and pretty close to a coin flip against any western conference team.
 

BigSoxFan

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If Kawhi Leonard is healthy, and you are trading Brown + Rozier + draft picks for him, that team is much better than 5% better next year. Kawhi Leonard (healthy) is a top 5'ish player in the league, and most likely the best player on the team. I get that people are soured on him because of his injuries and whatever the fuck is going on bewteen him and the Spurs, but he is a special basketball player. And if he is playing on the 2019 Celtics alongside Kyrie, Tatum, Hayward, and Horford, they are the favorite to come out of the east, and pretty close to a coin flip against any western conference team.
Agree with this. You’re not really blowing up the team when you’re trading 1 starter. And the team is going to have a real problem retaining Rozier as it is.

I certainly do understand why some people wouldn’t be interested in a move like this but there is considerable upside here if Danny and Co feel this is just a relationship issue and there aren’t major long-term health concerns. Kawhi, when healthy, is a top 5 player and probably the best 2 way player outside of LeBron. We’re talking about a guy who shoots 50% from the field from the wing, almost 40% from downtown, and over 80% from the line. He is an incredible defender and can guard basically anyone.

A lineup of Horford/Kawhi/Tatum/Hayward/Kyrie would be absolutely impossible to guard and would be difficult to score against.

The downside here is real as well. Jaylen won’t ever be Kawhi. He may never go to an all-star game (I’d probably bet that he does at some point) but he’s a very good player who is younger and healthier. The Sac pick could easily turn into a top 5 pick and will be quite valuable even if it is more top 10ish. Kawhi will also require a max contract so you’re basically capped out if you make this deal.

In the end, I remain intrigued but am far from sold on a potential deal. If they demand Tatum/Sac, I quickly walk away. If Jaylen/Sac gets it done, then it gets very interesting. Anthony Davis isn’t going anywhere so not even entertaining that dream. Nobody else is even remotely available at the moment. Sometimes you just have to strike while the iron is hot and pounce on a guy like Kawhi even if you have concerns. The knee issue does bother me. You don’t make this deal if you even have 1 iota of concern there.

And that’s the best part of this. If Ainge does absolutely nothing this summer, he’ll likely enter next season with the 2nd most talented team in the league.
 

nighthob

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I don’t think that either Davis or Leonard are likely to end up here, but I would think that Boston would have more interest in the former than the latter for economic reasons. But, let’s look at the pros and cons...

Pros
  1. It’s Kawhi fucking Leonard, a top fivish player in his prime (hopefully).
  2. You immediately become the most talented team in the league (sorry, Golden State) given that the depth allows your starters to stay on cruise control for the entire season.

Cons
  1. You only have him for one year guaranteed, if he leaves you’re screwed.
  2. He might have chronic injury issues.
  3. That team gets real expensive really fucking fast.

Both Leonard and Irving are free agents after next year, and are signing new max deals in the Hayward range, if they stay. If Horford doesn’t opt out the 2020 Celtics are going to have four max guys making a combined $130 million or so.

The further complication is that you really need to hold on to Brown to lighten the defensive load on Leonard, and while Tatum is absolutely great on the defensive end, Brown’s the sort of four positional defender that you need to help out Irving and Leonard. So then in ‘21 you’re still facing four max guys, but you can recoup some savings from Horford, but that payroll is still pretty stratospheric.

For all these reasons I expect them to just roll with what they have so that Brown and Tatum’s rookie deals help get them to Horford’s post-max deal without breaking the bank.

Now, if Davis were made available, that’s a different matter as you could use Horford as the salary ballast in that scenario (even if you’re just dealing him to a third team for more picks/prospects to sweeten the offer for the Unibrower) while allowing Boston to retain Tatum and his extra year of short wages to offset luxury taxes.
 

HomeRunBaker

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With every Pelican win this post-season the job security of Dell Demps increases and the Brow/Boogie duo window grows wider. We all should have been rooting HARD for Blazers to sweep this series.......instead it may be swept the other way.
 

JCizzle

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With every Pelican win this post-season the job security of Dell Demps increases and the Brow/Boogie duo window grows wider. We all should have been rooting HARD for Blazers to sweep this series.......instead it may be swept the other way.
Do you think boogie is definitely back in NO? For how long? I can see a one year make good, I guess
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The minute the Pelicans won one road playoff game, the odds of Davis getting moved anytime soon plummeted. New Orleans may not be done making noise if they make it out of this round too.

Back on topic, you can bet Danny will call on Leonard. The guy's NBA game was honed by the best organization in the league and under a coach/regime whose philosophy is extremely similar to the Celtics - find players that fit your system and then coach all the way through to the back end of the roster so you have true organizational depth. Kawhi is a fit anywhere but there are few teams outside of Boston where he is as perfectly plug and play as he would be for the Celtics.

As for the cost, the Spurs aren't going to trade a player of Leonard's stature for much of a discount unless his physical issues are more serious than we know. I also suspect that bidders will include several teams beyond the Celtics and, say, the Lakers. If healthy, the guy can make a middling team a true contender. If I had to guess, the cost will almost certainly start with Tatum given his skillset and his contractual status. We may not want Danny to part with Tatum, Rozier, etc and a pick. But I bet if that is the price, he does it.
 

HomeRunBaker

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The minute the Pelicans won one road playoff game, the odds of Davis getting moved anytime soon plummeted. New Orleans may not be done making noise if they make it out of this round too.

Back on topic, you can bet Danny will call on Leonard. The guy's NBA game was honed by the best organization in the league and under a coach/regime whose philosophy is extremely similar to the Celtics - find players that fit your system and then coach all the way through to the back end of the roster so you have true organizational depth. Kawhi is a fit anywhere but there are few teams outside of Boston where he is as perfectly plug and play as he would be for the Celtics.

As for the cost, the Spurs aren't going to trade a player of Leonard's stature for much of a discount unless his physical issues are more serious than we know. I also suspect that bidders will include several teams beyond the Celtics and, say, the Lakers. If healthy, the guy can make a middling team a true contender. If I had to guess, the cost will almost certainly start with Tatum given his skillset and his contractual status. We may not want Danny to part with Tatum, Rozier, etc and a pick. But I bet if that is the price, he does it.
The other obstacle with Kawhi is signability. It has been rumored that he'll only sign long-term with the Lakers and the chances that he forces a deal to LA is a very strong possibility. If the Pacers dispose of Cleveland in 6 (as is my call as of right now), these chances increase precipitously in putting a power team back in LA.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The other obstacle with Kawhi is signability. It has been rumored that he'll only sign long-term with the Lakers and the chances that he forces a deal to LA is a very strong possibility. If the Pacers dispose of Cleveland in 6 (as is my call as of right now), these chances increase precipitously in putting a power team back in LA.
Good point - to clarify, I suspect Danny would only do that trade if he had a strong inkling that he could retain Leonard in Boston for a while. I suspect this year hammered home how putting all of the organizations eggs in one basket, season-wise, is extremely risky gambit.

Good young players with control and picks are the coin of the realm in the NBA these days - I would argue that while its still a "stars league", you will find few teams giving up a real haul for one year of a superstar like they did in the past. While the Indiana/Houston trade seems that way now, I doubt all involved knew Oladipo would become this good - and that's a bad example anyhow given that Oladipo and Westbrook weren't exactly a great fit together.
 

the moops

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The other obstacle with Kawhi is signability. It has been rumored that he'll only sign long-term with the Lakers and the chances that he forces a deal to LA is a very strong possibility. If the Pacers dispose of Cleveland in 6 (as is my call as of right now), these chances increase precipitously in putting a power team back in LA.
You sure do love these "he only wants to play in LA" posts :)

Kevin Love, Paul George, Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard. Im excited for the 2020 post about Jaylen Brown and LA
 

HomeRunBaker

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You sure do love these "he only wants to play in LA" posts :)

Kevin Love, Paul George, Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard. Im excited for the 2020 post about Jaylen Brown and LA
I'm not sure where LeBron or Kawhi ever fell into that "only wants to play in LA" category but they may once they hit FA. George has supposedly told this to former teammates and we'll know in the summer when he hits FA if this is true. Love hasn't had the opportunity to go to the Lakers as he wasn't not signing with Cleveland once LeBron was on board.
 

lexrageorge

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The minute the Pelicans won one road playoff game, the odds of Davis getting moved anytime soon plummeted. New Orleans may not be done making noise if they make it out of this round too.

Back on topic, you can bet Danny will call on Leonard. The guy's NBA game was honed by the best organization in the league and under a coach/regime whose philosophy is extremely similar to the Celtics - find players that fit your system and then coach all the way through to the back end of the roster so you have true organizational depth. Kawhi is a fit anywhere but there are few teams outside of Boston where he is as perfectly plug and play as he would be for the Celtics.

As for the cost, the Spurs aren't going to trade a player of Leonard's stature for much of a discount unless his physical issues are more serious than we know. I also suspect that bidders will include several teams beyond the Celtics and, say, the Lakers. If healthy, the guy can make a middling team a true contender. If I had to guess, the cost will almost certainly start with Tatum given his skillset and his contractual status. We may not want Danny to part with Tatum, Rozier, etc and a pick. But I bet if that is the price, he does it.
Ainge will call, but if that's the price, the deal doesn't happen, IMO. Just because I believe Ainge is higher on Tatum than we realize, and an injured and unsigned Kawhi doesn't seem like the type of player that Ainge will go "all in" for unless both of those concerns are addressed up front, which seems unlikely to happen.

You sure do love these "he only wants to play in LA" posts :)

Kevin Love, Paul George, Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard. Im excited for the 2020 post about Jaylen Brown and LA
And, yes, every potential free agent is rumored to want to play only in LA, and will never, ever consider joining other All Stars to win a potential championship in Boston. And, of course, if one brings up Garnett or Horford or or Hayward even Kyrie, you can expect to be shouted down with "but they really don't count". The broken record that grows ever more tiresome by the day.
 

MillarTime

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Count me out if it involves Brown or Tatum. Jaylen's 3pt percentage this season was better than any Kawhi season except one. We all know that Tatum has future superstar potential on his own.
I'm not entirely sure that it's rational, but this is where I am too. I'm totally invested in seeing what Brown/Tatum can becom. I think they (+ 2019 picks) offer tremendous financial flexibility for the next few years and potentially an extended championship window if the Irving/Hayward/Horford group can't get it done.
 

Imbricus

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I'm not entirely sure that it's rational, but this is where I am too. I'm totally invested in seeing what Brown/Tatum can becom. I think they (+ 2019 picks) offer tremendous financial flexibility for the next few years and potentially an extended championship window if the Irving/Hayward/Horford group can't get it done.
+1. Makes me nervous when people even start threads like this ...
 

Devizier

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With every Pelican win this post-season the job security of Dell Demps increases and the Brow/Boogie duo window grows wider. We all should have been rooting HARD for Blazers to sweep this series.......instead it may be swept the other way.
I love that playoff Rondo has gone from being an insular Celtics meme to a recognized fact by national NBA writers.
 

jose melendez

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The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of trading for Leonard. There are really only two possibilities. Either he has chronic injury issues or he's sort of a head case who's quit on a first rate organization. I don't really see a third option. We've got really good relatively cheap young players and a a couple of top rate older, but not old guys. This is a core we can keep together for a while. I don't think I make the move.
 

Eddie Jurak

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The salary cap doesn't give them a lot of leeway to trade for Kahwi now, unless they want to deal Irving (which seems like a bad idea).

They need to send at least ~$16.1 million in salary back to make any deal.

Tatum is $6.7
Brown is $4.9
Morris is $5.3
Rozier is $3
Yabu is $3.1
Ojeleye $1.3
Nader $1.3
Theis $1.3

So you are looking at Tatum+Morris+Rozier/Yabu+Nader+Sac pick, or Brown+Morris+Rozier+Yabu+Sac pick, or Brown+Tatum+Morris, or Brown+Tatum+Yabu+Nader.

I don't really like any of these options (even viewing Yabu+Nader+Morris as irrelevant except for their cap numbers).
 
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pjheff

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Certainly true but we do know that Kawhi has missed a good amount of games in his career. He may not be “injury prone” but he does have a chronic injury that will cause him to miss games every year. At the end of the day, I think Ainge will certainly investigate but will ultimately stand pat
The same could be (and was) said about Kyrie a year ago.

The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of trading for Leonard. There are really only two possibilities. Either he has chronic injury issues or he's sort of a head case who's quit on a first rate organization. I don't really see a third option.
The third option is a loss of trust, that team doctors are clearing him to play to help the team win in the short term while his personal physicians are holding him out to protect his next contract in the long term. With talking heads like Jalen Rose claiming that Isaiah Thomas cost himself $100 million by playing hurt last year, I can understand the possibility of skepticism on the part of Leonard and his handlers. Of course, the same skepticism may not make Boston a more attractive alternative in his eyes.
 

HomeRunBaker

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The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of trading for Leonard. There are really only two possibilities. Either he has chronic injury issues or he's sort of a head case who's quit on a first rate organization. I don't really see a third option. We've got really good relatively cheap young players and a a couple of top rate older, but not old guys. This is a core we can keep together for a while. I don't think I make the move.
The third option is that he's sick and tired of being prematurely clearly by the Spurs doctors when he knew he wasn't ready and/or given an incorrect diagnosis/recommendation on corrective surgery.

Everything I've learned from Kawhi since he was at SD State was that he competes. The problem I see isn't Kawhi.....it is the culture of the Spurs being similar to that of the Patriots and he's done with it.
 

moondog80

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The third option is that he's sick and tired of being prematurely clearly by the Spurs doctors when he knew he wasn't ready and/or given an incorrect diagnosis/recommendation on corrective surgery.

Everything I've learned from Kawhi since he was at SD State was that he competes. The problem I see isn't Kawhi.....it is the culture of the Spurs being similar to that of the Patriots and he's done with it.
How many people have left the Patriots and thrived? They know who to keep and who to let walk. I suspect the same for the Spurs. Buyer beware.
 

the moops

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The salary cap doesn't give them a lot of leeway to trade for Kahwi now, unless they want to deal Irving (which seems like a bad idea).

They need to send at least ~$16.1 million in salary back to make any deal.

Tatum is $6.7
Brown is $4.9
Morris is $5.3
Rozier is $3
Yabu is $3.1
Ojeleye $1.3
Nader $1.3
Theis $1.3

So you are looking at Tatum+Morris+Rozier/Yabu+Nader+Sac pick, or Brown+Morris+Rozier+Yabu+Sac pick, or Brown+Tatum+Morris, or Brown+Tatum+Yabu+Nader.

I don't really like any of these options (even viewing Yabu+Nader+Morris as irrelevant except for their cap numbers).
A resigned Monroe can be included, right? At 6 million or so. That is assuming he can't get a better deal elsewhere (which he probably can).
 

dhellers

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The third option is a loss of trust, that team doctors are clearing him to play to help the team win in the short term while his personal physicians are holding him out to protect his next contract in the long term. With talking heads like Jalen Rose claiming that Isaiah Thomas cost himself $100 million by playing hurt last year, I can understand the possibility of skepticism on the part of Leonard and his handlers. Of course, the same skepticism may not make Boston a more attractive alternative in his eyes.
The diagnosis of "IT losing $100m" is untenable. IT seems to have made a gamble that didn't pay off (demonstrating his value by leading team deep versus damaging himself by playing through injury). And I say this with respect to IT's sacrifices as a celtic -- you can't blame Celtics management . As Cotton Fitzsimmons said "The diference between coaching college and the pros is that in college you are talking to young men, in the pros you are talking to corporations".

Kawhi isn't in that position (of needing to prove himself). So it makes more sense for him to sit if there is any doubt.

STILL ...Marcus and Kyrie etc etc are on the bench invested in their current team's success. Does he distrust his teammates also?

That's kind of f'ed up, and is enough to strengthen the option of seeing what the current crew can do when healthy
 

Eddie Jurak

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A resigned Monroe can be included, right? At 6 million or so. That is assuming he can't get a better deal elsewhere (which he probably can).
I don't think so, but maybe. Depends on the CBA. I guess we've done it before (the incredible Keith Bogans windfall to make the Pierce and Garnett deal work), but that was done under an old CBA.
 

the moops

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I don't think so, but maybe. Depends on the CBA. I guess we've done it before (the incredible Keith Bogans windfall to make the Pierce and Garnett deal work), but that was done under an old CBA.
I thought I remembered there being talk about signing Monroe to the full DPE so that they could resing him for close to 10 million (120% of previous season's salary?) to include in a potential offseason deal.
 

ifmanis5

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How many people have left the Patriots and thrived? They know who to keep and who to let walk.
That would be Hall of Famer James Richard Garoppolo.

Healthy and happy Kawhi is one of my favorite players to watch. I would give Jaylen and a pick for him but not more given his health and contact demands. Still only 26 and likely looking to cash in so I doubt Boston is really an option anyway.
 

moondog80

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That would be Hall of Famer James Richard Garoppolo.

Healthy and happy Kawhi is one of my favorite players to watch. I would give Jaylen and a pick for him but not more given his health and contact demands. Still only 26 and likely looking to cash in so I doubt Boston is really an option anyway.

Point taken about JG, but he was a bit of a different circumstance.

San Antonio has been amazingly well run for the past 20 years and they are obviously in the best position to know what the deal is with Kawhi. If they are looking to trade him, I'd be very suspicious.
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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The third option is a loss of trust, that team doctors are clearing him to play to help the team win in the short term while his personal physicians are holding him out to protect his next contract in the long term. With talking heads like Jalen Rose claiming that Isaiah Thomas cost himself $100 million by playing hurt last year, I can understand the possibility of skepticism on the part of Leonard and his handlers. Of course, the same skepticism may not make Boston a more attractive alternative in his eyes.
Proves only that Jalen Rose doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to sports injuries.
 

lexrageorge

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A resigned Monroe can be included, right? At 6 million or so. That is assuming he can't get a better deal elsewhere (which he probably can).
Monroe could be part of a sign-and-trade if the Celtics, Spurs, and Monroe all agreed to it.

If Monroe was simply resigned by the Celtics, they would be unable to trade him until December 15th (there may be some bizarre exceptions to this rule, but they would be unlikely to apply here).
 

BigSoxFan

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Point taken about JG, but he was a bit of a different circumstance.

San Antonio has been amazingly well run for the past 20 years and they are obviously in the best position to know what the deal is with Kawhi. If they are looking to trade him, I'd be very suspicious.
The Spurs may have little choice in the matter. If Kawhi wants out, he can opt out of his contract next summer leaving the Spurs nothing for a franchise guy in his prime years. Yes, he’d make more money staying in SA but this isn’t a money hungry guy. By all accounts, he’s incredibly humble and hard working. Now, something is certainly off here so it might be in the best interest of everyone involved for the Spurs to deal him.

The franchise has been so successful since the mid-90s but now they’re at a bit of a crossroads. Pop is old and his wife just passed. Who knows how long he wants to do this. Their best player basically went AWOL. Their second best player is 33 in July. Dejounte Murray is mildly intriguing but they otherwise have no young talent to speak of. This is a team that probably needs a rebuild for a couple years.

They would certainly “lose” a Kawhi trade but if they can get a guy like Jaylen and a lotto pick or Ingram and Kuzma, I think they should jump all over it. The alternative is putting together squads that will get waxed by Golden State for the next few years before Aldridge ages out.

This is all assuming that the relationship with Kawhi can’t be repaired. Because that’s obviously the best solution for them.
 

mcpickl

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A resigned Monroe can be included, right? At 6 million or so. That is assuming he can't get a better deal elsewhere (which he probably can).
Yes, and Marcus Smart as well if San Antonio and the players had mutual interest.

Smart would be more likely, since it would have to be at least a three year deal. I'd think Monroe is unlikely to agree to a three year deal starting a 6M. If he can't beat that, he'd probably seek a one year deal and try again the following summer.
 

mauf

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Yes, and Marcus Smart as well if San Antonio and the players had mutual interest.

Smart would be more likely, since it would have to be at least a three year deal. I'd think Monroe is unlikely to agree to a three year deal starting a 6M. If he can't beat that, he'd probably seek a one year deal and try again the following summer.
Monroe just got bought out. Unless he’s looking to sacrifice money to go ring-chasing, he’d be foolish to turn down 3/18. At least, I don’t think any GM would offer him more than that — Monroe is a classic guy who looks better in the box score than on the floor, and I think teams are savvy enough to see that.