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Message: [QUOTE="jncuse, post: 3510926, member: 1969"] At the end of the day the argument is around whether Kawhi was successful in his forced moves last year, which was my comment that triggered this discussion. He was not. I can certainly concede that I am bitter with the way he left, but at the same time I am very thankful for how professional he was while in Toronto and that he led them to a title. Kawhi had the right to choose where he wanted to play (wanting to go home is reasonable and can't be criticized), and he has the right to demand for players (that can be criticized, which I am doing) But in summary: #1) I can respect his choice to play for the Clippers, but if I was a Clip fan I would be upset at what he made us to do before he came. If he had stayed, I should have been upset as a Raptor fan for forcing that trade (but would not have been due to blind loyalty). But my main criticism is the timing of his demands which would hurt whomever he signed with. He screwed over whomever he would sign with (whether the Clips or Raps) with his games around the Paul George Trade. Sam Presti would have had neither team over the barrel if he had signed with someone first then allowed his team to negotiate or look at other options. [B]Kawhi has lack of trust --[/B] sometimes that helps you, sometimes it doesn't. And it hurt him this year in the end. He should have signed with somebody and be patient. Both the Clippers and Raptors would have made subsequent win now moves -- both teams are well managed and they would have done better than giving up 5 (or 7 picks) + assets for George. #2) [ATTACH type="full" alt="1600294251905.png"]188073[/ATTACH] I think it's very fair to say this assessment by Kawhi was wrong. You could argue the surrounding team of the Raptors was as good as the Clippers this year -- fairly easy argument to make when that team goes 53-19. Plus they would have still had five future first rounders to play around with. IF, it was primarily about winning, he made a bad call. If he wanted to go home as his primary factor, he made the right call. #3) In terms of Superteams the 3 biggest in recent memory are the Heat and the Warriors... and possibly the recent Lakers. These teams all had to have assets or cap space to do what they did. The Clippers don't have the capabilities to do what those teams did. I disagree with your assessment that the Clippers will just be able to make moves to get better. All of those teams had planned circumstances to become superteams that the Clippers do not. a) The Heat basically had no contracts as they entered the historic free agent class of 2010. It was a planned attempt at a Superteam -- they got rid of everything so they could fit in three max FA's (or about 98% of Max) b) The Warriors were extremely lucky that the Salary Cap went up by about 50% in the summer of 2016 after the large new TV deal kicked in. SInce they had Steph Curry, Klay, and Green on such reasonable deals (that Steph Curry 4yr/48 million deal helped them so much), they had the ability to sign Kevin Durant. But that would have never happened if there had not been that one time large increase in the Cap. c) The Lakers had to give up a pretty big haul to get Anthony Davis. The Clippers have a fraction of that available to deal. The circumstances are just not there for the Clips to re-load or get better. They still have a very reasonable shot next year, but it will be running back most of that same team. [/QUOTE]

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