Kawhi Leonard may 'sit out' at Toronto? THIS IS WHY I HATE TODAY'S NBA...

Not only that....Raptors seemed to have an issue, their weakness was the Lebrons Cavs.

Well Lebron is gone. East is wide open. You got the one seed last year, and you give up Demar!? 

Leonard, IDK if Id even want him as a Rocket. I can't trust him but before I gave up DeMar I would have asked,"will you sign long term with us?"

SO what could happen...Raptors lose Demar and could lose Leonard too.

Is it championship or bust? I think this makes Philly the front runners now in the east.

Here is a question I've been wondering.
Lets say youre an NBA star, a top 10 talent in the NBA and youre a free agent.
Why would you go west? Why?

Harden, CP3, Lebron, Curry, Durant, Klay, Cousins (If he comes back and is strong, GSW, no one is touching the 5 all star team), Aldridge, Demar, Butler, KAT, Lillard, Westbrook, George, among so many others. (Im going off the top of my head).

East...now what? Ok you got Embiid, Simmons, Kyle Lowry, John Wall, K. Love, Kyrie, Olapido, Ant (guy from Mil please dont make me spell his name, lol), and...I know Im missing a few but Im going off the top of my head.

To me, the west looks stacked. Look at the 8th seed last year, Minnesota.....47-35 (And again they play more western conference teams) they'd been the 6th seed in the east. Imagine what theyd been if they played eastern teams....could they have nudged two more wins? I think so, makes them the 5th seed.


IDK why players aren't going to the east.

Regardless....I dont like this deal for the Raptors. Too big of a risk for my blood. It be like we trade Harden for Lebron, but we only get Lebron for a season.
While Lebron is probably a superior player...one season!? Yea, no ty.

I'm actually rooting for Kawhi to have success in Toronto and perhaps make the finals (unless of course it keeps the Sixers out) so he maybe decides to stay and not go to the Lakers.

I realize the winning teams get all the fans in college.   I brought that one up actually.   That's what happens when smaller teams don't have an equal shot at winning.

Well let's use that logic on the players.   It "isn't fair" to the players...and yet they line up to be drafted.   The majority of them don't bother with a free education in order to try for a job in this alleged "unfair" system.   Why would they do that?

Doesn't sound like it's that unfair to me given the behavior of the players.   They even have the perfect opportunity to use their college scholarships to train for a different high paying field and avoid this alleged servitude.


As I pointed out, occupations all over the world pay people to inconvenience themselves.   Some high paying jobs do that because people actually risk their lives doing the job  (oil rigs, coal miners).   People are always free to quit those high paying jobs for something that appeals to them more.  No one is forcing these players to enter these fields.

The only reason they have those "specific skills" is because they dedicate years to perfecting them....all to chase the "dream" (that's how players term it) of playing for these leagues you claim aren't fair.    I don't think anyone ever spent that much time and effort to work for a bank.

It's a choice at every step of the way and players choose to play for various sports leagues.   They literally spend years to get there.


It's only ludicrous if you term it that way.   You left out the part where you got a free education of your choice just because you are a promising banker.   That would allow you to do much more than work at a gas station if you thought it wasn't fair that you were a "commodity" at your bank branch.

Athletes have much more choice than anyone else because of those "specific skills".   They instead choose to work for a sports league that must maintain a competitive balance that allows small market teams to have a shot at winning.


The Kings actually did have a contender in the early 2000s if you remember.   They may have a championship from that if not for that questionable 2002 playoff thing with the refs.

The Kings would never have put together a contending team if players went where they wanted.   You can forget about the Jazz, Spurs, Timberwolves, OKC, Pacers, Cavs, etc ever winning anything either.   You may as well get rid of the teams in those markets.   The fans would have no reason to watch their team exist just to be fodder for the "important" teams.


Sure....in places like Pittsburgh and Green Bay in the NFL.   Those dynasties never would have happened if the players could go where they wanted.   And as a Celtics fan, you'd better be glad players like Bill Russell didn't have a choice to leave.   Boston was not a pleasant place to be for black players and that rep would have killed any shot at a Celtics dynasty.   And you never would have gotten Bird either...he would have probably gone to the Pacers and spent his career losing there.


As I said, of course anyone wants as much as they can get whether or not it is good for the industry they work for.


I don't think it's crazy at all.   First because the players would have far more options than you claim if the league was thought of as "unfair".   They certainly wouldn't spend years training for it and forgo all other training for other fields in college.   So the players' behavior really defeats your argument.

My fan perspective is my fan perspective.   Players and owners don't care about the fans at all so asking fans to put their needs aside in favor of the players is not logical.    You aren't making the case why fans should put the players desires ahead of their own.   If you aren't trying to do that then we have no reason to quibble over it.    Fans put themselves first just like the players do.

Free agency is certainly not helping the NBA spread the wealth today.   A 73 win team picked up the 2nd best player in the world and can't be beaten.    OKC... The Cavs?  Their one and only hope is the draft.

How about we pretend each team is a separate entity instead of a league?   That would be necessary to make your claim work.

The draft is out obviously.   

Each team sets their own schedule.  I guess they would have to negotiate with other teams.   The Lakers would just skip playing teams like the Cavs, Wizards, and Hawks....no one wants to see that.   Do they play 82 games or 102?   Who knows?

Do the Lakers hire their own refs and make their own rules?   Maybe they don't think it should be against the rules to hand check.   Goaltending wouldn't be called against the Lakers either in their gym.  Perfectly legal.

The Dallas Mavs could change their uniforms as often as they like.   Oh....and Mark Cuban can spend as money as he wants.   I'll bet he would love to just hire half the Celtics roster.

There are pretty good reasons why the league is a single entity and makes these rules that all teams have to abide by.

Agreed.   Lots of sports fans are choosing not to be fans of the NBA and MLB.   MLB is in serious trouble.   Their fan base gets one year older every year.   And it's ludicrous that the NBA isn't more popular.   They've had the most popular athletes on the planet over the past 30 years.

I stopped watching the NBA myself for a few years after that absurd 2006 Finals.   The stink of corruption was too much to take.

I must admit, I stopped watching MLB for a long time. The game just is too slow for this generation. Now dont get me wrong, I enjoy MLB playoffs (Last year for obvious reasons, but truth is I always have) but the season...is too too long.

Im an 80s child. Im sure for those of you who were had dads, and a lot of our dads listen to the game on the radio, watched it, maybe had a beer, a snack, and would watch the game.

Younger generation doesnt do that. They watch football and basketball. Basketball is a lot more fast paced, 89 to 95.
Baseball can end in a 1-0 game. (FUN ONE RUN!)

I admit I still watch NBA but it is growing tiring. Seriously, is anyone not penciling in GSW for another title? Anyone?

I think you are right. I predict even Thunder improving from their previous year record.

Please, I'm a Nets' fan. Let's not talk about NBA corruption.

I could actually see that happening.  With so many ppl dissecting him this week, many have agreed that he wasn't programmed to follow the Robinson-Duncan face of the franchise line in San Antonio.  Duncan was quiet but he wasn't recluse, after timeouts he'd throw his arm over guys shoulders in solidarity.  
Raptors are playing with house money.  DeRozan has done nothing in the playoffs & their youth need better chi in the spring.  Insanity is expecting different results with the same recipe.  As I mentioned somewhere else, he may even dramatically miss his chemistry with Lowry on the Spurs - that stuff isn't in stats to see.  

Best hope is Kawhi plays the season out & realizes Toronto already has one of the better young cores in the entire league.  He won't need to be a mascot if he doesn't wanna be.  VanVleet is already on the trajectory of being the face of the Raps.  See if he like Paul George (also shying from spotlight) realizes the grass isn't always greener, & re-signs.
He'll see within 4 minutes that we also don't all live in igloos or require 16hr flights to NYC.