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Kawhi traded to Toronto

They may have also said something like "anyone can be traded, but we don't think you will be" and that could be interpreted as "you will not be traded".

Like if I tell my kids we might go to Chuck E. Cheese they will interpret that as we are going to Chuck E Cheese... even though its still being evaluated.

Demar did deserve better.
 
campaignist said:
this should put to bed the idea that players owe any loyalty to a franchise beyond being professional. DeDe did everything he could to help Toronto, and they rolled the dice after telling him he wouldn’t be traded. I half apologize to Gordo Heartburn for heading to Boston. Loyalty goes both ways.

This makes the Jazz look even better. Lots of people wanted the Jazz to trade or not re-sign Favors and Exum, but they showed yet again that they take care of their people.
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Favors was taken care of for a couple of reasons. Stat wise, is he worth 18 Mil a year? Probably not. What makes him worth that, in addition to what he does on the court is that he took the 12Mil deal early on instead of fighting for the most he could get. Then he worked his butt off, even with injuries. Then he sacrificed on court individual production for the good of the team. He still adds a lot to the team with what he can do, but I think he's also a good person to have in the locker room and behind the scenes. Part of his pay this year was due to loyalty. It's hard to put a price on it. I think players also get paid for their loyalty in local endorsements and in other ways. It's not all salary.

GH did the opposite it seems. He tried to get as much cash as he could, and because of that the team allowed him to find it on the open market as a RFA. He took offense to them allowing him to find as much as the market would allow for him, and matching it. GH, then pretended to be something he was not and although he worked on his game, it was all for him and his own touches after that. He put on a mask, and did his job while waiting to leave. Even his closest teammates did not seem to know the extent to which he wanted out. Sure he got paid from Boston, as he wanted.

It's a tale of two approaches, and after it's all said and done I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I'd rather have a real and honest teammate in Favs here with us now. It's nice to take a break from the fake. I'm very, very appreciative of what the FO has set up with this team. Last year was a joy to see. I love the comraderie, and cohesiveness. I'm a little bummed we didn't keep the Swede, but I guess we can't have it all.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
Like if I tell my kids we might go to Chuck E. Cheese they will interpret that as we are going to Chuck E Cheese... even though its still being evaluated.
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My mum, as amazing as she is, would say "maybe" when she meant "no" because she wanted us to stop bothering her. My dad would answer "maybe" when he meant yes, because of the small chance that some unforeseen thing would happen and he could not deliver on his promise. I love both my parents very much, but I can't say that I didn't appreciate my dad's approach more.
 
MVP said:
You know nothing about Raptors. Casey sucked - he was 0-10 vs Cavs in his last 10 playoff games vs them, he was absolute disaster as the playoff coach and needed to be sacked. DeRozan while loyal and hard worker was not the player to take team on his back during playoffs. If Leonard is healthy and will play with 100% effort - Raptors are winning the East, he is an All Star and may be in MVP discussion. Winning cures everything. Raptors will be in position to offer 50 mil more on his next contract than if he would go to any other team. Not sure Lakers with ageing Lebron will be such an attractive option.
I would give it a year and see how this unfolds, in anyway you gotta give it to Masai, dude has huge balls to pull trade like that.
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Fair enough. I'll admit I know very little about the Raptors. I just saw DeMarre Carroll's tweet about when he thinks Raptors he thinks DeRozan (Carroll said he deserves a statue.) Seems kinda sad to give up on the face of your franchise when he just barely signed long term with the team after being an unrestricted free agent. But I guess that kind of thinking is outdated by now.

My initial take on the trade was that Toronto messed up, but after seeing a few different opinions I'm not so sure I was right. It's a bold move for Toronto (after several years of disappointment in the playoffs) I guess that should be applauded.

I'm not super familiar with the Toronto market either, but I'm pretty sure being in LA would make it easy for Kawhi to find a way to make up that $50 million. ESPN the Magazine did a feature on Kevin Durant and all the negotiations he's closer to because he lives in the Bay Area.
 
JFFR said:
I'm not super familiar with the Toronto market either, but I'm pretty sure being in LA would make it easy for Kawhi to find a way to make up that $50 million. ESPN the Magazine did a feature on Kevin Durant and all the negotiations he's closer to because he lives in the Bay Area.
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No question he can make it up in endorsements and other deals in CA. But at the end of the day you want to win and play in Finals. Reaching finals from the East is much easier vs doing it in the West ( GSW is here for another 2 years at least). He would be the best Toronto player ever - a legend, perennial All star for years to come so that could be a selling feature as well.
On the other hand we do not know Kawhi that much. Maybe he is already happy with what he accomplished and just wants to play based on geography and does not care about winning or money anymore. We will see.
 
campaignist said:
this should put to bed the idea that players owe any loyalty to a franchise beyond being professional. DeDe did everything he could to help Toronto, and they rolled the dice after telling him he wouldn’t be traded. I half apologize to Gordo Heartburn for heading to Boston. Loyalty goes both ways.
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On the other hand, the trade only happened because of Kawhi being a malcontent. SA would have been loyal and then Toronto would have too.
 
Archie Moses said:
Jakob Poeltl will be a 15-17 ppg and 10-12 rpg guy with the Spurs.
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MVP said:
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Dude is only 22 and played limited minutes with a deep lineup. It will be interesting to see what Pop does to develop him. He may not put these numbers up right away, but by he's the time 25, I wouldn't be surprised. He's underrated imo.
 
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I still can't help but think this is an odd trade for the Spurs. Usually they are so ruthless. I believe they could have gotten more from other teams...

I think this is the Spurs way of getting back at Kawhi.

Why?

Kawhi's 'people' or 'camp' have thrown the 'Spurs family' under the bus the last couple of months. Tony Parker one of their greats and will get his number retired was basically shown to be the 'villain' in the story. Pop didn't fare much better and so did Buford for not kowtowing to Kawhi's every demands.

This to me is the Spurs way of getting back at him and letting him (and everyone in the League) knows that you simply don't mess with the Spurs and if you do - this is the consequence.
 
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