Off-Topic Forum

Another Jazz fan here. I'm excited to upgrade Rubio for Conley, but I have to admit that I'm worried about the big contract. Bogdanobic has me really excited. Losing Favors hurts just because I always liked him, but it was inevitable at some point. Now with Kawhi and George going to the Clips instead of the Lakers, I feel like Utah has a chance to be on equal footing with the top teams in the West.

I hold no grudge towards Kawhi wanting to leave and join the Clippers. He will always be a Raptors legend, and lead us to highs that the franchise has never seen. I hoped he would take a short-term deal to attempt a repeat, but ultimately am glad he didn't choose the Lakers. Winning with the roster the Clippers have is still far from a given, but I will always pull for Kawhi. He could have played half-assed basketball to play out the season, but gave us the best basketball of his career.

Masai and management gave him a great team to play for, and gave him the comfort in the regular season to take time off and ensure his long-term health, so in spite of Leonard's departure, the franchise has shown they are still a great one for players to play for. I'm relieved that they didn't go through with the rumoured trade with OKC as I don't want to see Pascal Siakam in any jersey other than a Raptors jersey next year. Even if it meant keeping Kawhi, I wasn't into bringing in Russel Westbrook. Apparently there was no certainty it would have kept Kawhi in town anyway.

Well said DanO. No one knows what went through Kawhi's mind in making his decision, but one has to think his ideal answer was that, in order to play at home, it needed to be for a team that he thought could win it all - and with the trades the Clippers made, Kaehi must feel he is getting that.

Toronto did all they could to be what they could for Kawhi and as for Raptor fans - I canèt see them hating on Kawhi for all he did for the franchise, even if it was in a single season.

I hope you're right.  Albert Pujols left St. Louis a few weeks after winning his 2nd World Series here, and the fan base largely turned on him.  Most are over it now, but I know some still hate him passionately.  The obvious difference being that it was the Cardinals 11th Championship, but the Raptors 1st.

I tend to think people would have turned on him pretty quickly had he gone to the Lakers. As things played out, he largely hurt the Lakers. I think fans will be largely forgiving in this case. Afterall, he brought them a championship. What a crazy start to free agency. That is a ton of picks the Clippers gave up for George and I really wonder what is next for OKC. Can they find a trade partner for Westbrook and Adams as they go fully into rebuild mode? 

Will the Lakers be able to assemble any kind of supporting cast? Is the starting lineup Rondo / Lebron / Kuzma / Davis / Cousins? Or is Green in there somewhere? I think in a year the Lakers will have a decent roster to pair with their stars but I wouldn't be surprised to see this team struggle to gain cohesion.

I'm really excited to see the West play out.

Yeah, if he had gone to the Lakers, it would have been different.  But the Lakers are so easy to hate, especially with Lebron. 

Westbrook is now a Rocket.