EwingsGlass wrote:More likely Miami to play with Butler.

Coaching him and Butler would be a task beyond most mortals. Thats a lot of ego and personality with those two. Might as well throw in Rondo, Kevin Love, and Kyrie flat out make it a psychological thriller!

Change the name form “The Heat” to “The Couch”. Instead of team its a “Group”. Rondo is the “Savant”, Leonard is the lone wolf on the spectrum, Love is the manic depressive, Kyrie is the sensitive one, and Jimmy is the pyro. Hire Metta World Peace as assistant.

Btw, I’m poking fun but actually ok with guys like Love that are promoting their issues. its part of life for many and the stigma is often over done.

Kawahi leaving? They will throw a max deal at him and keep trying is most likely. This is the standard expectation. He has leverage but the team has fewer options than others. I can’t say his talent would be a negative here but we still have to solve he guard issues and center if we are to contend. That he comes as a free agent is compelling. PG13 unless a salary dump would be a different story.
That Clippers fail does rest in part on both their shoulders.
Seems also the team around them is a big issue. starphuching has its drawbacks. Nets by contrast have a stronger support. Joe freaking Harris is not quite at Klay Thompson level but what a luxury to have him AND three HOF’s on the roster. Kyrie is not quite there but a few more years at this level and a chip would lock that up. His is a top tier PG of his generation like him or not.

martin wrote:Miami in a weird spot cap wise:

Butler, Bam, Herro, Precious Achiuwa, KZ Okpala on cap for 36, 28, 4, 2.7, 1.7 = ~73M

Nunn and Duncan Robinson will have 190% cap holds = 1.6 * 2 * 1.9 = 6M

Total cap: $79M + roster spots.

Salary cap will be $112M next year.

So maybe they have $30M in cap space. Plus Dragic, Ariza, Iggy, Oladipo, Dedmond.

I think the word is Dipo expected to be at full strength and drs were baffled he even played this year and his last procedure was botched. If his prognosis is good I expect they sign him to a resonable deal with games played incentives.

I'm not interested in players that can't play back to back games and needs rest every 5th game. I don't think he can handle 6 different media outlets and 10 bloggers questioning his status everyday

But, if Kawhi Leonard is interested in playing in NY for the Knicks, I have two thoughts. 1) I am certain he is aware what it means to play for Thibs. 2) The Knicks would be lucky to have him.

I still think he ends up in Miami with Butler. The cap considerations are close enough that I think they can make it work. The lack of state income tax is half the difference from CA to Florida.

TripleThreat wrote:

SkyWalker wrote:If clippers lose to Mavs, is there a decent chance Kawai considers opting out and signing with Knicks?

GSW has made a standing offer for Leonard. There are other rumors out but those are just rumors. If someone like Macri says it, it's a dart thrown in the dark. If I say it, then that's that. There were some phantom rumors released about Paul George but there's still some bizarre deep **** between Steph Curry's brother and PG13. George is kind a rough locker room fit for a lot of teams. If the GSW can get Leonard, odds on they will be the favorites to sign PJ Tucker at a bargain rate.

The Lakers just don't have the fit/pieces to make it work. OKC has entered the mix because they'd like to chase Talen Horton Tucker in exchange for some picks but there is just not much of a viable pathway. Kerr likes Alex Caruso a ton but I don't how the money would work.

A lot hedges on what happens with the TWolves pick.

Zero chance Leonard ends up on the Knicks. Paul George is, however, another story.

Ballmer is pretty pissed off here. Promises were made by the league and then Joe Tsai bought the Nets and NBA China is just worth too much money to the league administration compared to old verbal agreements. While I don't think Tilman Fertitta is good for any professional sport, there's internal pressure to railroad him. The complexion of league ownership has shifted. Gail Miller used to keep things civil but now it's just open Game Of Thrones at this point.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the 76ers, if Leonard had to go somewhere on a one year deal, that would be the best spot from a purely basketball standpoint to be honest. But if Morey is there the the league and Silver is committed to ****ing them over.

It's the NBA brought to you by the CCP!

You guys might want to start talking about Paul George. He won't come cheap. And lots of guys actually don't want to play with him.

I don't want PGeorge. Every team he plays for has been a big loser. So that's probably what he is himself