monsterpile wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:TheGrey08 wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:To be fair... you just pointed to multiple examples... mostly from a different era. This is not our older brother's NBA. It's changing beneath our feet.
And Kawhi Leonard did leave SAS. And then Toronto. And he's literally being universally praised while the two solidly run franchises he left are left to rebuild on the fly. Paul George just re-upped in OKC a year ago... only to demand a trade THREE years before his contract expires. It's the 2nd time he's demanded out from a "forgotten market" team in 2+ years... and he's also almost universally praised for it... instead Russell Westbrook is taking the heat for some easy-to-dispense narrative.
Toronto, SAS and OKC are capable of treading water or even better. Each has a history of solid management. But everything they do will be to rebuild to get back to the point where they were with Leonard... and HOPE that the star taking them there won't bolt on a whim.
[Note: I guess I'll be rooting heavily for the likes of Denver, Portland and Utah... with an understanding that when/if Jokic, Lillard and Mitchell ditch them unceremoniously, it's all for the best for the league.]
The thing about them going to the Clippers though? They are both from LA and are going home. I doubt George would have left for just any destination and I think Kawhi would still be in Toronto if he didn't have the chance to go home AND pair with another star.
I don't care if Paul George's mom was the head coach on another team... it's shady to sign a 4-year deal with a bunch of platitudes to want to play there... only to demand a trade 12 months later.
And it's not like OKC was holding his career back. George had the best season of his career in OKC last season. They were a 50+ win team if he didn't hurt his shoulder.
Abe I thought of you last night watching the Wolves summer league game. Cassidy Hubbard was going through showing all the stuff the whole event had to offer. There was a kid playing the latest NBA video game on one of the many consoles set up. She asked him if he liked the summer league and he said it was awesome. She asked how he liked playing the game and who he was playing with. He said the Celtics because Kyrie Irving was his favorite player. She asked him how he felt about him going to the Nets and he said it was awesome. Ok that wasn't word for word but you get the point. I saw a headline that Dame Lillian said he isn't a "team up" type of guy. We will see. I do think there has always been certain fans that were more about their favorite player. That does seemed to be fostered now more and...quite frankly for me I'm less likely to go all in on that because of the player movement AND if a guy does something dumb we are gonna know about it.
The more we learn about Lillard... the more legit he seems. That's taking it all at face-value, of course. But even then, he's more of a second-tier star... not that there's anything wrong with that.
Maybe he has enough clout to buck the trend. But I think Giannis is really the test case here. The momentum to get him out of Milwaukee will be intense this season. If that guy does NOT win a title and sticks it out in Milwaukee, I'll be happy. And it could set an example for others and quell this era of player empowerment/entitlement.
