I just don't see Popp doing him or the Lakers any favors. I wouldn't be shocked if he wound up at Philly.

[Edited on July 1, 2018 at 11:30 PM. Reason : I'm just kidding Javelle- plz come back ala DeAndre Jordan ]

7/1/2018 11:29:28 PM

yeah i don't expect Pop to do the Lakers any favors.

7/1/2018 11:43:30 PM

Why would the Spurs trade a top player to a conference rival unless they got a GREAT offer

7/2/2018 12:16:05 AM

Again, I just see it as the Lakers signing Lebron for a 4 year deal (not a short one) and knowing they can wait a year to get Kawhi for basically free (no draft picks/no already proven prospects). Kawhi doesn't really say much of anything, but he's made it pretty clear he's wanted to go to LA, so he'd probably be OK with waiting out another year if he has to. And he's played very little basketball, so we don't really know if he's healthy or not anyway.

7/2/2018 12:28:30 AM

The Spurs could trade Kawhi to a team like Boston in this offseason. What kind of leverage do the Lakers have in that scenario?

7/2/2018 12:52:11 AM

Paul George also made it clear he wanted to play for the Lakers before he forced his trade from Indiana. They refused to trade him there and he ended up not signing with them as a result. You think they're content to play that same exact game again? I don't. That's why I don't think the Lakers have any leverage and will have to offer a great package of players+picks to get Leonard.

If he goes to Philly or Boston and they play well/make a deep playoff run, why would he leave a team full of young really good players to play with an almost 35 year old LeBron? He'd be in a large media market on a team with a clear path to the finals essentially.

7/2/2018 12:54:35 AM

Quote :

"Again, I just see it as the Lakers signing Lebron for a 4 year deal (not a short one)"

how many years left does he have playing at the current level he is at now? probably only a few. you wanna waste one of those?

7/2/2018 1:02:23 AM

It's different because PG-13 wasn't 'hurt' like Kawhi was. I think that's a bigger variable than some people are realizing. If you think he's 100% fine, then yeah, Spurs have leverage. If you think he's not going to be the same Kawhi again, or it might take a while to be able to tell, then if you're the Lakers, you can wait.

And I think Lebron is Lebron, so that's why they went with a long term deal. Even if he only give you one or two great years, it's still going to give you a chance to contend, somewhat.





[Edited on July 2, 2018 at 2:02 AM. Reason : .]

7/2/2018 2:00:50 AM

Kawhi = leverage

Why is that hard to understand

7/2/2018 2:04:09 AM

I mean I HOPE the Lakers give up way too much and Kawhi ends up being worthless so Lebron James never wins another championship again and the move winds bankrupting them even more than Kobe did. I just don't think they will, and I explained why. That's all.

7/2/2018 2:13:03 AM

also, Lakers fans don't know wtf to think. They are scared about what LBJ will do to their perception of Kobe.

[Edited on July 2, 2018 at 2:39 AM. Reason : big city of dreams]

7/2/2018 2:16:51 AM

I hope the Lakers enjoyed their one night of fun before the Warriors shit all over their week.

7/2/2018 8:42:27 PM

Muh dubs

7/2/2018 8:50:42 PM

GSW is so loaded, that bringing a 6'11" cancer into the locker room might not actually hurt them much

7/2/2018 8:52:05 PM

How do they possibly have money to spend?

7/2/2018 8:52:41 PM

1 year, $5.3MM

7/2/2018 8:57:32 PM

^^well intentioned but now broken system benefits GSW. All the exemptions teams get allow them to get “role” players they shouldn’t be able to afford.

Smart move by Cousins, get a ring then go get payed big money the following year since he was gonna struggle to get what he wanted off the injury.

5.3 million is a steal

[Edited on July 2, 2018 at 8:59 PM. Reason : .]

7/2/2018 8:58:52 PM

They can't keep getting away with this.

7/2/2018 9:06:30 PM

getting away with what?

they had the room to sign someone for 1 year/$5.3 million

7/2/2018 9:19:47 PM

Quote :

"well intentioned but now broken system benefits GSW. All the exemptions teams get allow them to get “role” players they shouldn’t be able to afford."

Every single team that's over the cap uses exceptions. Were you complaining when the Cavs made all those consecutive finals while being over the cap and going the exact same thing?

But don't worry, the Lakers signed Boogie's old buddy Rondo...for some reason.

7/2/2018 9:41:24 PM

^^I'm not suggesting that GS did anything wrong. If they wanted to build the best possible team I think Boogie was the right decision.

I'm saying the league is now fundamentally broken because GS is too good. We're now looking at an arms race, albeit a lop-sided one, between GS and LA, and there's absolutely no reason that GS should not walk away with 80+ wins this year.

I'll still watch, but to think that the finals will be anything less than a GS sweep is wishful thinking.

7/2/2018 9:54:17 PM

^^no I wasn't.

But the system is designed to help players keep their teams somewhat in tact, and then be able to add players accordingly. The GSW are operating within an essentially broken system by the way that they were able to use the salary hike that should have been spread out to land KD and then had players willing to take less money. In the NBA it is far easier to keep a team together money wise than build a team, they make it so you have the ability to work within the cap if it means keeping your players and re-signing them vs. bringing in new players. Once the GSW got everyone under contract taking advantage of the cap spike, they now have a far easier time keeping that roster, paying those players a lot, and still being able to afford more players that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to.

Lots of teams try to do it, but they have done it best. I don't care that they are doing it, good for them. I never said they were evil or other teams couldn't do the same. Just that the intent of the system wasn't to allow a roster like Golden State's to be built. We've really never seen anything like it in this current age of the cap structure. It is really suppose to be you can get 3 max players, but then the rest of your roster is total trash or a bunch of 38 year olds chasing rings off of midlevel exemptions and veteran contracts. The salary structure is actually suppose to prevent what GSW are able to do, and they've been able to work around that.

Once the Warriors break apart(if that happens) you won't see any other teams building something similar. It is an anomaly that came about because of a lot of pieces coming together at the right time. Great for them, but it is just funny to watch the rest of the league try and do anything to catch up when it simply isn't even mathematically possible to do it. Plus now they have players willing to take less money just to get a ring that wouldn't take that amount of money other places, and they are willing to pay the tax as well knowing they'll make it back and some for sure with another championship.

[Edited on July 2, 2018 at 10:00 PM. Reason : .]

7/2/2018 10:00:28 PM

Thought Boogie won't be healthy until January. I'm sure the team as currently constructed can't maintain an 80 win pace..

7/2/2018 10:01:20 PM

Quote :

"there's absolutely no reason that GS should not walk away with 80+ wins this year."

So you expect GS to lose less than 2 games?

Also LA isn't currently even a top 5 team in the NBA in terms of talent IMO.

7/2/2018 10:33:58 PM

can't wait for the first Draymond Boogie fight

7/2/2018 10:47:46 PM

7/2/2018 11:06:01 PM

I would pay to watch that if Thon Maker joined in.

7/2/2018 11:12:05 PM

So do the Spurs still have leverage over the Lakers re: Kawhi, or nah?

7/2/2018 11:29:39 PM

Only way the Lakers would have leverage over the Spurs is if they are going to trade Lebron to the Spurs for Kawhi

7/3/2018 12:08:15 AM

Quote :

"So you expect GS to lose less than 2 games?"

I'll revise that to 75+ now that I know Boogie won't be playing til 2019 probably.

7/3/2018 11:12:25 AM

They won't get 70

7/3/2018 12:18:44 PM

Will be interesting to see if Boogie even has a remote impact on this season.

Guy his size, with his game, coming off an Achilles, this definitely feels like a deal where he'll play a few minutes, be average, and get a free ring out of it.

7/3/2018 12:45:08 PM

It’s his chance to rehab, get a ring, and set himself up more nicely for a 2019 contract. Not saying he won’t be good. But he doesn’t really have to be good.

7/3/2018 2:36:51 PM

It was nothing but potential upside for the Warriors AND for him. At worst, he doesn't pan out and they still wind up being a title contender and they're only out $5.3M, and he bounces to make more money they following year. At best, he's able to fit into their system and they absolutely obliterate the competition. Realistically, he will probably sit on the bench until March, and they might not use him as a regular starter throughout the playoffs.

The fact that he got ZERO offers and came to them seems to indicate he was pissed and has an axe to grind. Unlike Dwight Howard (I was kinda warming up to the idea of having him), his problem hasn't ever really been not caring enough. If anything, he cares TOO much and he needs to learn how to not be so mopey and frustrated when things aren't going his way. If he doesn't drink the team-first Kool Aid, no big deal- he simply won't play.

I think it's fucking hilarious and I'm still having trouble accepting the reality he's actually Warrior, 100% healthy or not. This team was a fucking laughing stock for 40 years, and now they're suddenly the Steinbrenner Yankees.

[Edited on July 3, 2018 at 3:59 PM. Reason : .]

7/3/2018 3:57:20 PM

Quote :

"The fact that he got ZERO offers and came to them seems to indicate he was pissed and has an axe to grind teams were concerned about his injury."

7/3/2018 5:28:33 PM

I think it’s slightly misleading to say he had 0 offers. He and NO talked and discussed contracts...but they were apparently far apart and nothing materialized. But I’m not sure it’s totally fair to say nobody wanted him.

7/3/2018 6:10:32 PM

That's we HE says, so I'm only going off of that. He's arguably one of the best centers in the league, and the fact that the Pels signed Julius Randle first, is pretty revealing. Why on earth would he make that claim up anyway?

7/3/2018 6:22:29 PM

to justify signing for such little money?

7/3/2018 6:33:13 PM

Justify it for who exactly? To save face and deflect embarrassment? From what? Plz connect these dots for me, because I don't see it as anything other than him taking the initiative to go get a ring while rehabbing to up his market value.

Nobody is denying an achilles injury is a big deal, either.

7/3/2018 6:45:36 PM

Pels beat writer.

Quote :

"@WillGuillory: Let me clarify: DeMarcus Cousins and the Pelicans never had a formal meeting, so there may not have been an official offer on the table. But numbers were discussed and there was an understanding of what each side was looking for. To say the Pels didn't want Boogie is not true."

It seems accuate to say he didn’t receive an official offer. Just slightly misleading imo. But it’s not like GSW was the only team in the whole NBA willing to take a chance on him.

[Edited on July 3, 2018 at 6:48 PM. Reason : A]

7/3/2018 6:47:23 PM

Teams clearly had the money to pay, they just didn't make him a priority- ergo him feeling insulted/undervalued/whatever- especially the Pels when they signed Randle. Joakim freaking Noah got $73M for four years. Trevor Ariza got $15M for one year.

^ and OF COURSE the Pels will say that. Why on earth wouldn't they? The let him walk for a MLE with the Warriors. Could they have fucked it up any worse?

[Edited on July 3, 2018 at 6:59 PM. Reason : .]

7/3/2018 6:58:13 PM

there is zero reason to bring up Joakim Noah’s deal in the context of free agency in 2018

completely different landscape now than when he signed that deal

7/3/2018 7:03:08 PM

There's plenty of reasons to bring him up, given that he's washed up and got a ridiculous pay day. But whatever man. Boogie is making the whole thing up.

7/3/2018 7:07:02 PM

No, there's no reason to bring him up. Unless he signed this week.

7/3/2018 7:25:26 PM

Teams take risks and offered injured players a lot of money sometimes hoping it will work. Sometimes it pans out, sometimes it doesn't. Kawhi and Boogie are both risks, to varying degrees. I brought up Ariza because he's getting $15 M when he completely shat the bed in game 7 of the WCF finals. Ironically, the Ws probably were hoping they could offer him the MLE.



[Edited on July 3, 2018 at 7:42 PM. Reason : .]

7/3/2018 7:41:47 PM

[quote]Could they have fucked it up any worse?

I’m hardly defending the Pelicans. I didn’t realize my comment that GSW probably wasn’t the only team willing to take a chance on him was such a hot take.

7/3/2018 7:53:51 PM

Not saying you were defending them, but you quoted a Tweet from a Pels beat writer, so that was my response.

And sure, other teams could have made him offers before day 3 of free agency. But they didn't. So he did what he did and here we are. And a bunch of people are mad and saying it's unfair blah blah blah.

Does anyone still think the Lakers will give up a lot for Kawhi? To me, it seems like they 'need' him less today than yesterday, to me.

7/3/2018 7:57:57 PM

They need the young players and assets they have to put around Leonard and James. If they trade those pieces to get him they still won’t beat GSW this year. Best to just sign him next year as a FA and keep those young players on good contracts(assuming they improve) and hope someone leaves GSW so their group can compete in 2019.

7/3/2018 10:41:09 PM

Kawhi to the Raptors? But I thought the Spurs had so much leverage...

[Edited on July 18, 2018 at 11:55 AM. Reason : .]

7/18/2018 11:54:59 AM

they got an All-NBA Second teamer for a player who was going to leave...

7/18/2018 12:02:48 PM