Clemenza wrote:They definitely catered to Kawhi and his team way too much and all the secret sh*t really didn't start until he joined the team. I think one of his demands for coming here along with the PG trade was that the coach & front office could only reveal his injuries to the media & public until he gave them the say so. Of course nobody bought Russ willingly going to the bench. That didn't sound right at all, but I think it was the best move to make for all parties involved just so nobody comes off as the villain or selfish. I like Russ but it's time to completely move away from the old vets who have to start and demand minutes because of their past accomplishments. It's killing the team's growth and potential.
Kawhi has his bread. PG & Harden are next. After that don't cater to none of them. Move the franchise forward for a change. No more suggestions, no more signing their friends, nothing.
Over the course of the season I was fine with the rotations, as we were very much in a win now mode. We absolutely needed Theis because we traded away a bunch of bigs to get James, which then put Bones out of the rotation. Etc.
At this point though, even if we keep PG and Harden that can't be our main priority any more. We need to put Bones in the line up, we need to take a look at other guys too even if it costs us some games. Let Russ know this is the deal, and he can decide if he wants to pick up his option and live with the consequences. We might re-sign PG and James simply because otherwise we have nothing, but we need to start prioritizing the overall roster going forward because we're not a championship contender any more.
This series left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't think we should budge from whatever the last deal we offered PG (probably around the same contract as Kawhi?) If he leaves he leaves. I'm more preferential to bringing James back, but only at the right contract as well. If they both leave, then we're considering cap space options, other trades, etc. If there's any value to be recovered next year from Kawhi and PG (and James), then we should go ahead and trade them (but that will only happen if they are on reasonable deals.)
It's a shame that 213 is over the hill, but letting go of any championship aspirations actually gives us more flexibility going forward even with all the draft picks and swaps going out. It sucks all those picks are going out, but we can't make decisions solely on trying to minimize that damage, that water is going under the bridge no matter what.
Finally, I listened to the last 213 podcast and man were they brutal to PG
("Paul George is a loser.") But I'm at the point where I almost hope he leaves, even if that means not being able to potentially trade and get something back later.
