Author Topic: Celtics, 76ers Decided Against Leonard Trade Due To belief he'd sign in LA  (Read 2381 times)

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Offline CelticsElite

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https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27037033/how-clippers-make-their-anti-pitch-kawhi-leonard

he decisions from the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers not to pursue a trade for Kawhi Leonard during the 2018 offseason appear to be at least somewhat misguided with the advantage of hindsight as he led the Toronto Raptors to a ring. The Celtics and 76ers each presumably had enough available assets to give the San Antonio Spurs a better package than the Raptors while leaving enough talent to surround Leonard to compete for a title.

Sources with both the Celtics and 76ers tell ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz that the informed believe that Leonard had every intention of signing in Los Angeles in 2019 was the determining factor in not trading for him.

The Celtics were believed to also be saving their assets for an Anthony Davis trade that ultimately never materialized for them following the expected departure of Kyrie Irving.

The Spurs, meanwhile, wouldn't discuss a trade with the 76ers that didn't include either Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons.

Offline mmmmm

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This is not news.

All this was known a year ago.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt?  Incompetent?  Which is worse?  Does it matter?  It sucks.

Offline SparzWizard

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Should've traded for Kawhi even if he was a one-year rental. He brought Toronto a championship.

The Raptors gave up a pick, Poltl, and Derozan just for him (and Danny Green).


#JTJB (Just Trade Jaylen Brown)
#JFJM (Just Fire Joe Mazzulla)

Offline Erik

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Should've traded for Kawhi even if he was a one-year rental. He brought Toronto a championship.

The Raptors gave up a pick, Poltl, and Derozan just for him (and Danny Green).

^ results oriented thinking.

Offline ChillyWilly

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Should've traded for Kawhi even if he was a one-year rental. He brought Toronto a championship.

The Raptors gave up a pick, Poltl, and Derozan just for him (and Danny Green).

^ results oriented thinking.

Easy to do result oriented thinking when you know the results.

I should have bought Bitcoin at $200.
ok fine

Offline Walker Wiggle

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Should've traded for Kawhi even if he was a one-year rental. He brought Toronto a championship.

The Raptors gave up a pick, Poltl, and Derozan just for him (and Danny Green).

You mean the guy who'd quit on the best franchise in the NBA, had some sort of secretive quad injury whose severity no one could assess, and seemed determined to play in Los Angeles in a year's time?

It's not complicated: Toronto took a major gamble and it paid off. Along the way, many things had to go right, including one of the most amazing rim bounces in conference finals history, and their finals opponent suffering devastating injuries to two of its top three players, to name just two of them.

You can acknowledge both that 1) Toronto gambled and won, and 2) other teams that didn't make the same gamble aren't stupid just because they didn't.

Offline wiley

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This was pretty obvious imo.  Let’s see if Toronto can pull off keeping him.  Either way it was worth it for them. 

Online Roy H.

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Should have traded Kyrie for Kawhi.

Then traded for AD at the deadline.


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Offline Moranis

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Should have traded Kyrie for Kawhi.

Then traded for AD at the deadline.
Apparently it was Brown and Smart for Leonard and the C's wanted no part in that because they didn't want to include Brown. 
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Offline NKY fan

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Should have traded Kyrie for Kawhi.

Then traded for AD at the deadline.
Apparently it was Brown and Smart for Leonard and the C's wanted no part in that because they didn't want to include Brown.
I wonder if spurs would have taken Kyrie + Hayward (prototype popovich player) + a pic for kawhi + green + gasols bad contract ?
We could have won the title plus having 2 max spots on the payroll this summer lol

Offline gpap

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If this is suppose to vindicate Ainge in any way, it's not going to work.

Offline TheSundanceKid

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Should have traded Kyrie for Kawhi.

Then traded for AD at the deadline.
Apparently it was Brown and Smart for Leonard and the C's wanted no part in that because they didn't want to include Brown.
Also I'm not sure if that's beats the Raptors package. Would depend completely on their objective. DeRozan was a much more compete now guy than Brown.

Offline jambr380

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Great post Walker Wiggle - my thoughts exactly.

I also agree with Roy. At the time we were sure Kyrie was re-signing in Boston and AD had yet to request a trade. I can’t believe a rule as obscure as the Rose Rule was able to alter our franchise so greatly.

Offline Bobshot

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It's all hindsight, but it does show that you can never be sure of what these rentals are going to do after they play a year for a team.  And  we still don't know what Leonard will do, though it looks like he's leaning towards staying with Toronto . Is he motivated by loyalty..or the Championship? Probably both.

I take issue with the statement Ainge didn't trade for AD because of Irving leaving. You can't assume anything about Irving until free agency starts and he signs somewhere else. Before then it's just speculation.

If Ainge had traded for Davis, Irving would have probably been back on a multi year deal. And also Horford. These guys want to win, and AD here would have whetted their appetites. The chances of Irving or Horford re-signing dropped considerably AFTER the Celtics dropped out of the Davis sweepstakes. And the feeling was mutual, as clearly Ainge decided to go in a younger direction. And now there are other free agent options opening up as well.

 

Offline timpiker

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Should've traded for Kawhi even if he was a one-year rental. He brought Toronto a championship.

The Raptors gave up a pick, Poltl, and Derozan just for him (and Danny Green).

You mean the guy who'd quit on the best franchise in the NBA, had some sort of secretive quad injury whose severity no one could assess, and seemed determined to play in Los Angeles in a year's time?

It's not complicated: Toronto took a major gamble and it paid off. Along the way, many things had to go right, including one of the most amazing rim bounces in conference finals history, and their finals opponent suffering devastating injuries to two of its top three players, to name just two of them.

You can acknowledge both that 1) Toronto gambled and won, and 2) other teams that didn't make the same gamble aren't stupid just because they didn't.

This.  It's amazing to me the number of people willing to give up a lot for a 1 yr rental player who publicly wants to play for another team.