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2018-2019 San Antonio Spurs: Fuck Kawhi Leonard


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16 hours ago, housious said:

We definitely had a good shot. But being up 20 halfway through game one doesn’t mean we win it for sure.

It was actually 25 in the second half, I think. We'd also handled GS pretty well that year during the regular season.

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1 hour ago, C-Man said:

It was actually 25 in the second half, I think. We'd also handled GS pretty well that year during the regular season.

Regular season matchups lie a lot though.  We beat them the first game of the season at their place.  Fun to ruin the unveiling of their new toy but generally not very applicable to playoff basketball.  We also trounced them in March when they rested all of their big 4, so who cares.   They beat us at our place in late March, right before the playoffs, by double digits without KD.  We played everyone.  Obviously we'll never know how we would have fared, but I'd feel more confident in our case if we could have mustered one win in the series.  Just one.  Hell, we were up 23 when Kawhi went out with less than 23 minutes and couldn't protect that lead.  Always fun to play "what if", but somehow I think that lead was pyrite.

 

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It was speculated only injuries would topple the Warriors, yep and that's how it played out. Toronto dealt a playoff choker and now they're one game away from a championship spear headed by Kawhi. I threw up in my mouth a little bit. Fuck everything.

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23 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

The only poetic justice at this point would be if Kawhi breaks his ankle in the 3rd quarter up 20 and the Dubs come back to win the series

I kind of hope he just starts crying, quits, and never plays again. Fuck Kawhi.

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16 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Yeah Durant literally just did for his team what Kawhi refused to for an entire year. 

The thing is, outside of the city of SA, most people feel like he did what was best for his career. Most people feel like we were trying to rush him back, thus, jeopardizing his career. This is obviously worst case scenario, but this is exactly what most people feel like Kawhi was trying to avoid. A situation like this.

 

 I don’t believe he was hurt. I think he was hurt at one point and eventually felt like we weren’t going to be contenders, so he just said “I’m just going to sit this one out.” But national perception is 100% on Kawhi’s side, and they’re on his side today more than ever before.

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6 minutes ago, youdunnf'dup said:

The thing is, outside of the city of SA, most people feel like he did what was best for his career. Most people feel like we were trying to rush him back, thus, jeopardizing his career. This is obviously worst case scenario, but this is exactly what most people feel like Kawhi was trying to avoid. A situation like this.

 

 I don’t believe he was hurt. I think he was hurt at one point and eventually felt like we weren’t going to be contenders, so he just said “I’m just going to sit this one out.” But national perception is 100% on Kawhi’s side, and they’re on his side today more than ever before.

Let's not act like Kawhi was guaranteed to tear an Achilles or ACL that season. Just because it happened to KD doesn't mean that's what happens every time a player rushes back. In an alternate universe Durant tweaks his calf again and is out for the series but healthy in 2 months.

Kawhi played 10 games and looked decent. Doctors kept clearing him. He never came out and made any statement to clear the air. He didn't support his teammates. He didn't advocate for himself. He turned it into a shit circus and left San Antonio in the dark wondering what the fuck was going on. If our medical staff was that incompetent then you come out and say it. If you don't like what Tony Parker says then you come out and say something about it. You don't hide behind your uncle like a little primadonna beauty queen and then come back the next season playing the best basketball in the world. 

The whole thing was frustrating, annoying, confusing - I'm never forgetting that or giving him a pass for it just because a different player got injured. That doesn't change anything that happened that season. Kawhi didn't try and play through anything at any point unless you spot him those 9 or 10 games in the middle of the year, when it looked like he was on his way to being fine. Kawhi didn't tear his Achilles. 

Not saying it wasn't the best decision for the rest of his career - maybe it was. Doesn't mean I can't think the whole thing was bullshit and be upset about it as a Spurs fan.

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3 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Kawhi didn't try and play through anything at any point unless you spot him those 9 or 10 games in the middle of the year, when it looked like he was on his way to being fine. Kawhi didn't tear his Achilles

Right.  As far as I've gathered Kawhi never had an singular major  injury (once his ankle healed) that caused him to miss the season. 

And as recent as a few weeks ago he was playing through an small thigh injury.

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12 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Let's not act like Kawhi was guaranteed to tear an Achilles or ACL that season. Just because it happened to KD doesn't mean that's what happens every time a player rushes back. In an alternate universe Durant tweaks his calf again and is out for the series but healthy in 2 months.

Kawhi played 10 games and looked decent. Doctors kept clearing him. He never came out and made any statement to clear the air. He didn't support his teammates. He didn't advocate for himself. He turned it into a shit circus and left San Antonio in the dark wondering what the fuck was going on. If our medical staff was that incompetent then you come out and say it. If you don't like what Tony Parker says then you come out and say something about it. You don't hide behind your uncle like a little primadonna beauty queen and then come back the next season playing the best basketball in the world. 

The whole thing was frustrating, annoying, confusing - I'm never forgetting that or giving him a pass for it just because a different player got injured. That doesn't change anything that happened that season. Kawhi didn't try and play through anything at any point unless you spot him those 9 or 10 games in the middle of the year, when it looked like he was on his way to being fine. Kawhi didn't tear his Achilles. 

Not saying it wasn't the best decision for the rest of his career - maybe it was. Doesn't mean I can't think the whole thing was bullshit and be upset about it as a Spurs fan.

Just to be clear, I completely agree with what you’re saying. I just know that everyone who isn’t associated with the spurs (players, coaches, fans, etc.) is clearly siding with Kawhi now. If you were ever on the fence about this situation, you aren’t anymore. In everyone’s eyes, Kawhi did the right thing.

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5 minutes ago, youdunnf'dup said:

Just to be clear, I completely agree with what you’re saying. I just know that everyone who isn’t associated with the spurs (players, coaches, fans, etc.) is clearly siding with Kawhi now. Like, if you were ever on the fence about this situation, you aren’t anymore. In everyone’s eyes, Kawhi did the right thing.

I agree with this.  Public perception was already swinging to his side and with KD's injury, it simply re-inforces a silly comparison of two completely different situations and dynamics.  If/when Raptors win a title, the Spurs will be begrudgingly looked at as the bad guys and his trade will be seen as the moment the dynasty ended.

 

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So the perception is he choked away a title for y’all? You talking 2013 before he won the 2014 title for y’all?

I’m just trying to follow the timeline here. I know the “he quit on his team” sentiment is worth some hatred.

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2 hours ago, Drew said:

So the perception is he choked away a title for y’all? You talking 2013 before he won the 2014 title for y’all?

I’m just trying to follow the timeline here. I know the “he quit on his team” sentiment is worth some hatred.

Quitting on his team is worth all the hatred.  Nobody in the history of the NBA has sat out an entire year with a bogus injury. 

 

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5 hours ago, Drew said:

So the perception is he choked away a title for y’all? You talking 2013 before he won the 2014 title for y’all?

I’m just trying to follow the timeline here. I know the “he quit on his team” sentiment is worth some hatred.

You mean the 2014 title he won with 3 other hall of famers in the lineup? Yeah, have a cookie Kawhi. Thanks. He put up 12 ppg in the conference Finals that year. He didn't win that title for us any more than 6-7 other players did that season. Freaking Patty Mills was an assassin in that Finals series. Parker led us in scoring - Duncan put up 15/10 per game and Manu put up 14/3/4 in less than 30 mpg in the Finals. That was 2 full years before he turned into an MVP caliber player - and then in 2016 Durant smoked him in the WCF. 

The only years Kawhi would have "won a title for us" were 2017 and 2018 - and we lost him both times to injury. 

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1 hour ago, ztejas said:

You mean the 2014 title he won with 3 other hall of famers in the lineup? Yeah, have a cookie Kawhi. Thanks. He put up 12 ppg in the conference Finals that year. He didn't win that title for us any more than 6-7 other players did that season. Freaking Patty Mills was an assassin in that Finals series. Parker led us in scoring - Duncan put up 15/10 per game and Manu put up 14/3/4 in less than 30 mpg in the Finals. That was 2 full years before he turned into an MVP caliber player - and then in 2016 Durant smoked him in the WCF. 

The only years Kawhi would have "won a title for us" were 2017 and 2018 - and we lost him both times to injury. 

The revisionist history about the 2014 team is probably more annoying than the sudden Kawhi perception shift re: the injury. The playing fields are so uneven it doesn't even make sense. If Kawhi wins a title that shouldn't mean shit about his injury. He's playing at less than 100% right now, and has been on restrictions the entire regular season because that thigh ain't getting better, like the Spurs' doctors originally said. If 5 years from now he plays 75+ games a season and never reaggravates it and becomes the next Lebron, then you can call the Spurs' staff full of shit, but that isn't likely to happen since he only played 60 games this year.

 

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I totally get a player wanting to get second opinions on injuries or feeling like they aren't ready. I was fine with him going to do his own rehab in New York. But, when the report came out that when Spurs staff went to meet with him, he hid from them and wouldn't talk to them, that's when I started to hate him. Sit down with Pop and the staff and talk it out. Express your concerns and feelings, don't act like a little bitch and ignore the people that are paying you and wanting you to come back. Hell, Pop begged Kawhi and his team to let him just rule him out for the season so they would stop fielding questions and let the team focus on who was playing, not who might come back at some point; but they didn't even tell him that, so they strung the organization along hoping his rehab was progressing and he could come back.

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16 minutes ago, hornfan785 said:

I totally get a player wanting to get second opinions on injuries or feeling like they aren't ready. I was fine with him going to do his own rehab in New York. But, when the report came out that when Spurs staff went to meet with him, he hid from them and wouldn't talk to them, that's when I started to hate him. Sit down with Pop and the staff and talk it out. Express your concerns and feelings, don't act like a little bitch and ignore the people that are paying you and wanting you to come back. Hell, Pop begged Kawhi and his team to let him just rule him out for the season so they would stop fielding questions and let the team focus on who was playing, not who might come back at some point; but they didn't even tell him that, so they strung the organization along hoping his rehab was progressing and he could come back.

That's about as well put as I've read.  At least be honest with quite possibly the most honest coach in the league.  Even lamarcus had the balls to tell pop face to face he wanted a trade.  I'm guessing kawhis people didn't want pop selling him on staying.  Did kawhi even have a meeting with pop last summer?  

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15 hours ago, hornfan785 said:

I totally get a player wanting to get second opinions on injuries or feeling like they aren't ready. I was fine with him going to do his own rehab in New York. But, when the report came out that when Spurs staff went to meet with him, he hid from them and wouldn't talk to them, that's when I started to hate him. Sit down with Pop and the staff and talk it out. Express your concerns and feelings, don't act like a little bitch and ignore the people that are paying you and wanting you to come back. Hell, Pop begged Kawhi and his team to let him just rule him out for the season so they would stop fielding questions and let the team focus on who was playing, not who might come back at some point; but they didn't even tell him that, so they strung the organization along hoping his rehab was progressing and he could come back.

I didn't think a player could transform himself from my total favorite to my most loathed...much less that he could do so as quickly as he did. But I guess this bum has always shown rare talent.
 

 

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The thing I can't square though...the  way he acted with respect to his injury is so out of character for him before or since.  He was a quiet grinder who seemed all about the game.  His team mates seem to love him.  His opponents respect him.  The whole dog and pony show from him, or by proxy through his people, seemed unnecessary and counter productive for him from a financial and reputation basis.  The way he handled the situation still does not make sense to me.  I guess the only situation I can see him doing what he did making sense for him was that if the Spurs told him they were not going to give him the 5 year deal and then his people were just in his ear about that and every other perceived slight that he said fuck it, I want out.  Hard to imagine the Spurs taking that deal off the table though as he'd still be in his prime at the end of it.

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15 minutes ago, Hozz said:

The thing I can't square though...the  way he acted with respect to his injury is so out of character for him before or since.  He was a quiet grinder who seemed all about the game.  His team mates seem to love him.  His opponents respect him.  The whole dog and pony show from him, or by proxy through his people, seemed unnecessary and counter productive for him from a financial and reputation basis.  The way he handled the situation still does not make sense to me.  I guess the only situation I can see him doing what he did making sense for him was that if the Spurs told him they were not going to give him the 5 year deal and then his people were just in his ear about that and every other perceived slight that he said fuck it, I want out.  Hard to imagine the Spurs taking that deal off the table though as he'd still be in his prime at the end of it.

It's out of character because of what we as fans built up in our mind about his character, and what we wanted him to be based on Robinson and Duncan's personality.  He was going to be the next torchbearer, the silent assassin like Tim, etc.

Who knows what his real character is because he never showed us, he never talks.  All we really know is that he is a gym rat and is insanely skilled and physically gifted.

My guess is that he lacks confidence and because he lost his Dad early that had a big impact on him - so he leans really heavily on his uncle, and comes from a world that taught him not to trust anyone and that most people were not looking out for him or his interests.  So he reaches for stuff he can control and ignores the rest.  That comes off as aloof but its what he knows.  He didn't know jack about San Antonio or have the benefit of our history as fans to know how well we treat our players - so when his uncle (who probably does have other motives) got into his ear about how "The Spurs are screwing you, they're out to destroy your body and rush you back, they don't give a fuck about you," he went with the voice he knew and trusted.  I have nothing to back all that up, just gut, and Occam's razor.

I flip back and forth on him.  Respect his skills and thankful for his contribution here.  Mostly disappointment for what could have been.  And a healthy dose of "fuck you" for quitting on his team, abandoning his teammates when he could have supported them, and mostly for tanking his trade value and burning the place down on his way out.  He was really steered wrong on that choice - but he's about to win it all, so maybe he was crazy like a fox.  Still, fuck him.

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