Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's interesting about that series was... the hero was Kawhi Leonard.

Another selfish malcontent who kept an NBA fanbase hostage.

I've never heard him characterized in that manner.

That's how he should be classified.

I'm not quite sure why he isn't more often... he threw his team under the bus for an entire season.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's interesting about that series was... the hero was Kawhi Leonard.

Another selfish malcontent who kept an NBA fanbase hostage.

I've never heard him characterized in that manner.

That's how he should be classified.

I'm not quite sure why he isn't more often... he threw his team under the bus for an entire season.

I agree with your angle on Kawhi. Part of the optics at this point is because Kawhi went silent and his thing was so last year. Meanwhile Butler went all crazy this year in fashion that true or not is pretty much infamous now.

I'm not sure anyone really knows the true issue between Kawhi and the Spurs, except for those directly involved. A lot of he said, she said. I'd take Kawhi any day on my team.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm not sure anyone really knows the true issue between Kawhi and the Spurs, except for those directly involved. A lot of he said, she said. I'd take Kawhi any day on my team.

We can hint at that with Butler here also. We still don't know what the tipping point was that caused him to want out.

If it was simply not believing in Wiggins and Towns, he wasn't wrong.
If it was an issue with the front office, he wasn't wrong.
If it was something personal with Towns' ex, that's messed up.
If it was a contract issue, even though Butler might not be worth a max deal for 5 years, he wasn't wrong.

How he went about it sucks and it has left Towns having to restore his reputation, but he was better off. I can't say the same about this team.

side note: It seems like every team that decided to go for it was rewarded to some extent besides this team.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm not sure anyone really knows the true issue between Kawhi and the Spurs, except for those directly involved. A lot of he said, she said. I'd take Kawhi any day on my team.

It's not about his talent. Obviously, he's a boon to have on any team.

But refusing to work when you're being paid tens of millions to do so... is a bit unseemly for me. Was it injury-related? Maybe. Maybe not.

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm not sure anyone really knows the true issue between Kawhi and the Spurs, except for those directly involved. A lot of he said, she said. I'd take Kawhi any day on my team.

We can hint at that with Butler here also. We still don't know what the tipping point was that caused him to want out.

If it was simply not believing in Wiggins and Towns, he wasn't wrong.
If it was an issue with the front office, he wasn't wrong.
If it was something personal with Towns' ex, that's messed up.
If it was a contract issue, even though Butler might not be worth a max deal for 5 years, he wasn't wrong.

How he went about it sucks and it has left Towns having to restore his reputation, but he was better off. I can't say the same about this team.

side note: It seems like every team that decided to go for it was rewarded to some extent besides this team.

I love watching Kawhi play, one of my favorite in the NBA to watch but if Kawhi was a wolf and did what he did to the spurs to the wolves, I think you would have a similar opinion about Kawhi as you do Butler.

Kawhi quit on the spurs last year, only playing in 9 games, even though medically cleared. Wanted to play in a bigger market for endorsements. Forced his way out. Got traded to a team he didn't want to be on. Made a deal with the Raptors to play in only games he wants to play in to try and convince him to stay. Just to leave in the offseason to a bigger market and not a better basketball situation.

If the Raptors lose yesterday, I have a feeling the Raptors fans would hate Kawhi because they had to baby him just to lose in the 2nd round.

Kawhi is a better player than Jimmy and he didn't bring it to the media but that doesn't mean he isn't as big of an ass.

Kawhi is the one star who gets a massive pass by the media for being a diva

https://www.sbnation.com/2017/11/23/16693304/kawhi-leonard-trade-rumors-history-timeline-spurs-gregg-popovich

I would rather have Jimmy blow everything up than a guy who strings you along all year long and then gets mad when he's called out for it so he doesn't step on the court again when he could have.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm not sure anyone really knows the true issue between Kawhi and the Spurs, except for those directly involved. A lot of he said, she said. I'd take Kawhi any day on my team.

It's not about his talent. Obviously, he's a boon to have on any team.

But refusing to work when you're being paid tens of millions to do so... is a bit unseemly for me. Was it injury-related? Maybe. Maybe not.

Refusing to work if it is injury related isn't unseemly at all. If that is his story why question it? I think it was a major oversight by San Antonio to doubt it and they paid the price for it. I bet if they could do it all over again they just would have played it liked they believed him and their staff and vets would have kept their mouths shut.

khans2k5 wrote:https://www.sbnation.com/2017/11/23/16693304/kawhi-leonard-trade-rumors-history-timeline-spurs-gregg-popovich

I would rather have Jimmy blow everything up than a guy who strings you along all year long and then gets mad when he's called out for it so he doesn't step on the court again when he could have.

SB Nation lol

thedoper wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm not sure anyone really knows the true issue between Kawhi and the Spurs, except for those directly involved. A lot of he said, she said. I'd take Kawhi any day on my team.

It's not about his talent. Obviously, he's a boon to have on any team.

But refusing to work when you're being paid tens of millions to do so... is a bit unseemly for me. Was it injury-related? Maybe. Maybe not.

Refusing to work if it is injury related isn't unseemly at all. If that is his story why question it? I think it was a major oversight by San Antonio to doubt it and they paid the price for it. I bet if they could do it all over again they just would have played it liked they believed him and their staff and vets would have kept their mouths shut.

As noted, maybe he really was injured.

I dunno. Nobody does. But I do know that Leonard advocated for his own doctors. They didn't seem to do their jobs very well. And I do know that he distanced himself from teammates... who had nothing to do with the squabble.

So there's that.