Huge, prestigious market and LeBron is all about marketing leverage( not an insult, he’s a shrewd business man). Comfort - it appears that’s were he lives off season and his kids go to school. Even after his deal, cap space sufficient to potentially acquire another all-star. I’m guessing those are probably the big three.
Better weather ;). A still somewhat inexperienced but player-friendly coach. Promising if still inexperienced young core( though many might end up being traded if they can swing Kawhi Leonard ). Kawhi Leonard is an LA kid who wants back in and can make it happen next year if the Spurs don’t trade him this one. Whatever undefinable mystique might still cling to Magic Johnson and the Lakers’ past prestige.
We’ll see if it works for him. I think he might be better off in the East, but maybe he appreciates the challenges in the West.
I’m not sure LeBron’s choice of team significantly affects his marketability - he’s among the most recognizable people in the world. The rest is possible.
I guess I just feel like unless LA has a bunch of trades lined up to build a great team he’s not improving much from the Cleveland team he’s leaving. You’d think if he left he’d do it to move to a team that would be a clear contender and someone who can beat the Warriors. It doesn’t sound like LA is that team. Good chance he blows his finals made streak.
Go pick any 5 non-Warriors from that list and compare them to a team of Curry/Thompson/Durant/Green/Cousins. I came up with: Wall/Harden/LeBron/“Greek Freak”/Davis, but reasonable people may differ. That’d be one hell of a game, right? Tough 7 game series to pick, though I’d give the All-NBA squad a 60-40 chance. That’s what the rest of the league is looking at competing against in 2018-19.
shrug Apparently Cousins got exactly zero offers. Everyone was gun-shy about his blown achilles and didn’t want to pay a project center who wasn’t going to play for half a season.
I’m not certain he’ll ever fully recover myself, but it really makes excellent sense for everyone involved( excluding 29 other NBA teams of course ). Cousins gets to rehab as long as he needs, a maybe one-time shot at a ring and a chance to play himself into a big contract the following year for any number of teams. GS takes a $5 million flyer on the chance of his return to something approaching his old self and that they can make him work in their system by the time the playoffs roll around - a big risk, but one well worthy the money. If somebody else like LA had offered Boogie a couple million more yesterday he’d probably be signed with them today.
ETA: Hell, maybe he would have signed with LA for the same $5 million. Instead no one offered, so he went out and made this deal himself.
Cousins evidently had a S&T that blew up because he and one of the pieces that Portland had, were represented by the same agent. Which is an interesting conflict of interest question I’d not considered before, and I’m curious how that usually gets resolved.
Anyway, had you offered Boogie at even 10m on a one year deal to most teams that could’ve fit him in under the cap rules, they’d have jumped. No one was eager though to give him a giant multi-year deal [EMPHASIS]at this early stage of the free agent process[/EMPHASIS]. Though it might’ve happened a bit later, tendon injury and reputation as a coach and team-killer and all. Again, 25/13 guy. But Boogie didn’t want to wait, and the NBA leadership cleverly didn’t think of what something like this’d do to the other teams.
But there was interest. I imagine though, that none of the GM’s negotiating for him ever thought that he’d do something like this instead. Now we know.
Wizards pick up Jeff Green and are rumored to be anxiously awaiting the Dwight Howard buyout. They need a center, but fuck, Dwight Howard ain’t Superman anymore, he’s just Clark Kent, and a lazy, unmotivated one at that.
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There’s a hypo trade floating around the Rockets’ message boards about Washington prying Dedmon out of Atlanta, and giving the Rockets Otto Porter. Ryan Anderson and a bunch of draft picks leave Houston, and I forget the rest. Dedmon probably starts for the Wizards, and Porter and his 45% 3pt shooting’d fit so well in the Rockets offense, it’d be silly. Of course, they’d have to want to take on another 7M beyond what they’re paying Ryan Anderson.
Somebody’ll gift the Wizards a center. Just so long as it’s not Capela.
Gotta be honest here, Kawhi is not coming off well here. The Spurs are a near-universally respected and classy organization. Maybe he’s got a legitimate beef, I don’t know, but he’s looking more and more like a whiny bitch every day this goes on.
A whiny bitch that will still have a half dozen teams give the Spurs a king’s ransom for the right to have him pout for them this upcoming season. I look forward to his soccer-player-like miraculous recovery from his injury.
Not a good look at all, but as a fan, what can you do? I’d still be happy if the Rockets gave the Spurs the proverbial ‘poo-poo platter’ and he decided to come here.
I’ve got to think though, that a package of Kuzma, Ingram, and a couple of picks (one of which coming from whomever they fob Ball off onto) gets this done for LA. So why hasn’t it been done already? Add a bought-out Carmelo, and voila! A team with 'Bron, Carmelo, Kawhi, Rondo, and a couple of others in the Bad Attitude All-Stars. (Surprised that Dwight Howard then didn’t make it there too.) It would be a competitive team, and entertaining to watch from a distance.
To SAS: Poertl, Demar, top 20 protected 1 that turns into 2 twos the following year.
As a Spurs fan who lives in Southern Ontario (was a fan before the Raps existed) I feel Demar is overrated but better than an injured player. It gives you someone who can create a shot, but you lose on Defense. Poertl is fine and the pick is meaningless.
To TOR: Kawhi, Green
In a vacuum, good trade and they didn’t give up a lot other than Demar. but there are already rumblings of him not wanting to play here. There has to be repercussions if he refuses to play but I recon there won’t be. He might like TOR if he gave it a chance, it’s really too bad. I was leading the Kawhi for MVP over Westbrook chant…but now…makes me sad.
I’d have been tempted to see what the Raptors could do without LeBron in their conference, were I in their shoes. I’m not a big DeRozen fan, though he has worked to become more efficient, but he’s the best player in franchise history, and vocally loyal to the Raptors and to Canada. Trading him for Leonard, in the hope that he pulls a Paul George and re-signs in Canada instead of going to LA, is a staggering amount of risk - even before you factor in Leonard’s mysterious injury, shitty behavior, and general headcaseness. The upside is there, but the downside is bottomless.
Bolding mine. Haven’t put much thought into it, but if you just asked me who is the best Raptor ever, I’d probably say Vince Carter first. And I might be inclined to say Chris Bosh second. I realize the team went a lot further into the postseason with DeRozan, but didn’t feel he’s quite on their level.
). Cousins gets to rehab as long as he needs, a maybe one-time shot at a ring and a chance to play himself into a big contract the following year for any number of teams. GS takes a $5 million flyer on the chance of his return to something approaching his old self and that they can make him work in their system by the time the playoffs roll around - a big risk, but one well worthy the money. If somebody else like LA had offered Boogie a couple million more yesterday he’d probably be signed with them today.