The Hawks owner talking about the luxury tax concerns of keeping the team together.

[Kblaze8855]

“It’s complicated, of course, because what we’re trying to convince people is we’re building something, but let’s not kid ourselves, our job is to run a good business,” Ressler said. “What we are trying to achieve is literally keeping our best players, as you could imagine, trying to make clear that we’re going to have to spend a lot more than we have this season. We fully expect that. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to keep every single player that we want to keep. Pretty good bet, pretty good assumption we will not. But I do think we have several years that we should be able to build some real stability. If the question is are we scared of the tax, are we scared of going into the tax? I’m scared of paying the tax and not being a good team, yes, that I’m scared of, but if we have to go into the tax to be a great team for a period of time, so be it.”




Hes worth 5 billion(I assume 1.5-2 of that are for owning the team which he bought for 850 million). It’s tough to hear a billionaire talk about money concerns but he is an investment manager so I guess limiting risk is kinda his thing. And he didn’t say they wouldn’t go into the tax just that he wouldn’t want to do it while being bad. That’s reasonable. Don’t like hearing him say they won’t be able to keep everyone though.

[FultzNationRISE]

Small market energy.

[Spain_]

Collins sign and trade?

[warriorfan]

“I’m scared!”. What a bitch. Sell the team then and take your money to more lucrative investments. All the guys who own teams have so much money it’s basically a hobby for them. It is awful when they pull this shit. Warriors dealt with shitty ownership for along time.

[FireDavidKahn]

...That's the rules that everyone has to abide by.

[Norcaliblunt]

Rich mofos not wanting to pay their employees? Naw.

[ShawkFactory]

Certainly disheartening.

The Braves have similar issues. They legitimately have the money to go after the top FAs if they wanted to.

[FultzNationRISE]

Rich mofos not wanting to pay their employees? Naw.

The concern seems to be more about paying the tax to the league than paying the employees.

Which is ironic bc I thought the whole point of the tax was to level the playing field for smaller markets.

[rawimpact]

The concern seems to be more about paying the tax to the league than paying the employees.

Which is ironic bc I thought the whole point of the tax was to level the playing field for smaller markets.

Dumb line of thinking considering small markets MUST overpay to retain/sign good players.

[Clifton]

It's silly to me that salary going to a guy you drafted and salary going to some mercenary you brought in from another team counts the same against the cap (and with respect to the luxury tax).

Brooklyn should be paying out the nose on luxury tax. They just stole 3 other teams' franchise guys because they're in New York City. Meanwhile, teams like Milwaukee, Indiana, Phoenix, and Atlanta, (and, most infamously, Oklahoma City before them), that did it the right way by drafting well and developing their talent, are all going to have to blow up (or at least lose important parts of) their cores.

They're making it so the only way to be good for more than a year or two is to get a top-5 player to come to your city and then get a bunch of Blake Griffins to play for nothing while getting paid by some other team.

[ImKobe]

It was fun while it lasted.

[Kblaze8855]

It's silly to me that salary going to a guy you drafted and salary going to some mercenary you brought in from another team counts the same against the cap (and with respect to the luxury tax).

Brooklyn should be paying out the nose on luxury tax. They just stole 3 other teams' franchise guys because they're in New York City. Meanwhile, teams like Milwaukee, Indiana, Phoenix, and Atlanta, (and, most infamously, Oklahoma City before them), that did it the right way by drafting well and developing their talent, are all going to have to blow up (or at least lose important parts of) their cores.

They're making it so the only way to be good for more than a year or two is to get a top-5 player to come to your city and then get a bunch of Blake Griffins to play for nothing while getting paid by some other team.

You can’t steal a player. They aren’t horses. They play where they choose. And two of the 3 left teams they joined in free agency anyway while the third was on his previous team after forcing his way off the team before that. And that team signed the Heats franchise player (who left them earlier) to team with Minnesota’s franchise player who wanted out. That’s the problem with your line of thinking. There are no victims to protect. Just better and worse criminals.

[insight]

You can’t steal a player. They aren’t horses. They play where they choose. And two of the 3 left teams they joined in free agency anyway while the third was on his previous team after forcing his way off the team before that. And that team signed the Heats franchise player (who left them earlier) to team with Minnesota’s franchise player who wanted out. That’s the problem with your line of thinking. There are no victims to protect. Just better and worse criminals.

I think he has a point. In the NBA you can be the best ran organization and draft the best players but still not be successufly because the larger market teams plunder your resources and players. The players collude with other players to create super teams and dictate who the coach will be, it's more like the AAU circuit than a professional sports league.
The genius of the NFL is the salary cap which equals the playing field so teams have to be the best ran organizations to be successful. There was nothing special about what Brooklyn did, they just have a over zeleous ownder who is willing to make fiscally irresponsible discisions in hopes of winning a championship.

[NugzFan]

The real issue is no max salary.

This is how you get certain teams that are “allowed” to sign superstars who are being paid about the same as other “max players”

And in today’s nba, max players is like anyone in the top 3 tiers

It’s flawed and gives those 4-5 teams a huge advantage.

However they will never change this rule. The players association would vote against it every time.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Seems like both luka and trae will never sniff the finals as long as they stay with hawks/mavs.

Neither team has any stars and nobody is just randomly going to sign there. They want to stay loyal, that's fine. I hope they are cool with porzingis and bogi as their "co stars"

[NugzFan]

Seems like both luka and trae will never sniff the finals as long as they stay with hawks/mavs.

Neither team has any stars and nobody is just randomly going to sign there. They want to stay loyal, that's fine. I hope they are cool with porzingis and bogi as their "co stars"

Something a clippers fan would ironically say

[insight]

Seems like both luka and trae will never sniff the finals as long as they stay with hawks/mavs.

Neither team has any stars and nobody is just randomly going to sign there. They want to stay loyal, that's fine. I hope they are cool with porzingis and bogi as their "co stars"

The Hawks have assembled some of the best young talent in the league. Bogi didn't even start at the begaining of the season he was coming off the bench. Deandre Hunter the 2nd best player on the squad and best defensive player missed the majority of the year along with Cam Reddish. If this two players were healthy, there is a good chance they would have beaten the Bucks but that's all speculation. I do know Cam Reddish dropped 20+ in game 6 coming off a 6 month layoff. An upgrade at back up point guard, and another big big puts them in striking distance.
The Mavericks have changed thier GM and headcoach, and already have a max contract guy in Porzingas. Who knows what they will do moving forward.

[Kblaze8855]

I think he has a point. In the NBA you can be the best ran organization and draft the best players but still not be successufly because the larger market teams plunder your resources and players. The players collude with other players to create super teams and dictate who the coach will be, it's more like the AAU circuit than a professional sports league.
The genius of the NFL is the salary cap which equals the playing field so teams have to be the best ran organizations to be successful. There was nothing special about what Brooklyn did, they just have a over zeleous ownder who is willing to make fiscally irresponsible discisions in hopes of winning a championship.


The best run franchises are always successful. What well run teams arent? If you can’t win with 7-8 years of all time talent you aren’t that well run. It didn’t take the winners you think of in history any longer than that to build winners. Like 8-9 of the all time elites had dynasty talent around them in that time frame.

You simply can’t expect guys to play through 3 contracts on teams that can’t compete even when they ball in a time people are stupid enough to rank them by winning. Hell even throw out winning…..as a young millionaire I wouldn’t want a lottery system to decide where I live for very long anyway.

Could be a perfectly fine city….large market….warm climate. Say Houston. I’ve been in Houston….wouldn’t live there for a decade+ if I could get the same money anywhere. Houston is like 9 midsize cities 40 minutes apart under one umbrella with some of the worst traffic you can imagine.

Why should I….a young millionaire with a great number of billionaires offering me work….have to live there from 19-38 because of where a ball fell? And then people make it a moral thing and question your character and shit….

Ive been all over this country. I wouldn’t choose to play in Houston, Indy, Orlando, DC and all kinds of other markets. I kinda like Tampa. Orlando annoys me. I love Austin to death. Memphis has shit roads in every direction and like one strip of blues places to differentiate it from Little Rock. I wouldn’t wanna play in Memphis. I would play in New Orleans though. I like New Orleans. I’d play there over a number of bigger markets. I wouldnt want to go to the Knicks. I’d rather play in Atlanta. I’d have a strip club open in 3 months.

Why should I be forced to work where I don’t want to?

We are talking about people’s lives and that gets lost in sports. You pay your dues and earn a free agency choice if your lifetime of work makes you a hot target. If a team can’t win with me doing legendary work for 6-8 years I wouldn’t wanna hear about how well run they are when it’s time to live the life I want where I want to raise a family.

[Kblaze8855]

And just for the record….isn’t this a weird conversation for when we just watched Atlanta and Milwaukee battle to play Phoenix in the finals 2 years after the Raptors dethroned Oakland who had annoyed people with 4 straight matchups against Cleveland who came to power because San Antonio knocked off Miami who started a run after losing to Dallas.

Traditional powerhouses and huge markets have been getting owned lately and the Lakers winning one shouldn’t overshadow that.

The player movement era has been the most competitive the non Laker/Celtic/76ers/Bulls/Knicks/cornerstone franchises have ever been and it’s the random AAU nature of it all that causes it.

Zion, Trae, and Luka might all be on the Warriors or whatever in 5 years.

The days of a Mitch Richmond having a shit team for 8 years are over. The nba has the only truly exciting offseason. Every year or two someone forms Voltron….we all freak out…then they lose 75% of the time.

Im starting to appreciate it almost. The old ways were unsustainable in truth. And so far there’s always someone ready to out AAU the last group to win anyway. We don’t know Dallas has a superstar for 15 years now. We know the nba does. And that might turn out better.

If we could go back and get Doctor J his free agency when he signed with the Hawks and a judge threw the contract out we would all have 150 Pistol Pete to Doc highlights to watch.

Both ways likely work out to create great tv. Who watching the 16 finals was not entertained? 17-18 less so when Durant tilted the scales too far…but it’s not like the most lopsided dynasties in history weren’t all pre player movement era.

Im adjusting to it. I’m starting to look for the ways future teams can compete with whatever the current couple super teams are. That’s what the game is about now. Not complaining about AAU ball. Using a version of it to win yourself. When Cleveland and Oakland pulled it off I’m not prepared to say anyone can’t.

I absolutely read both those places in “The little guy can’t compete” topics during the lockout.

Anything really is possible.

[insight]

The best run franchises are always successful. What well run teams arent? If you canÂ’t win with 7-8 years of all time talent you arenÂ’t that well run. It didnÂ’t take the winners you think of in history any longer than that to build winners. Like 8-9 of the all time elites had dynasty talent around them in that time frame.

You simply canÂ’t expect guys to play through 3 contracts on teams that canÂ’t compete even when they ball in a time people are stupid enough to rank them by winning. Hell even throw out winningÂ…..as a young millionaire I wouldnÂ’t want a lottery system to decide where I live for very long anyway.

Could be a perfectly fine cityÂ….large marketÂ….warm climate. Say Houston. IÂ’ve been in HoustonÂ….wouldnÂ’t live there for a decade+ if I could get the same money anywhere. Houston is like 9 midsize cities 40 minutes apart under one umbrella with some of the worst traffic you can imagine.

Why should IÂ….a young millionaire with a great number of billionaires offering me workÂ….have to live there from 19-38 because of where a ball fell? And then people make it a moral thing and question your character and shitÂ….

Ive been all over this country. I wouldnÂ’t choose to play in Houston, Indy, Orlando, DC and all kinds of other markets. I kinda like Tampa. Orlando annoys me. I love Austin to death. Memphis has shit roads in every direction and like one strip of blues places to differentiate it from Little Rock. I wouldnÂ’t wanna play in Memphis. I would play in New Orleans though. I like New Orleans. IÂ’d play there over a number of bigger markets. I wouldnt want to go to the Knicks. IÂ’d rather play in Atlanta. IÂ’d have a strip club open in 3 months.

Why should I be forced to work where I donÂ’t want to?

We are talking about peopleÂ’s lives and that gets lost in sports. You pay your dues and earn a free agency choice if your lifetime of work makes you a hot target. If a team canÂ’t win with me doing legendary work for 6-8 years I wouldnÂ’t wanna hear about how well run they are when itÂ’s time to live the life I want where I want to raise a family.


It depends what your definition of successful is. If the goal is for the organization to win a championship, you could do everything possible to develop and championship calibur team only to have it pouched by a larger market team who agrees to pay an astronomical luxary tax to have multiple max player on the team. If the whole idea of a luxary tax is to incentivize teams to be fiscally responsible and build through the draft it's not working. Players are coluding with other players to build super teams, it's not about what city they prefer to live in, that's secondary. Most NBA stars have mulitiple homes in different cites, this is about how the NBA is all about free agency and not about what organization scouts the best, drafts the best, hires the best coaches and exectives.

[Kblaze8855]

It depends what your definition of successful is. If the goal is for the organization to win a championship, you could do everything possible to develop and championship calibur team only to have it pouched by a larger market team who agrees to pay an astronomical luxary tax to have multiple max player on the team. If the whole idea of a luxary tax is to incentivize teams to be fiscally responsible and build through the draft it's not working. Players are coluding with other players to build super teams, it's not about what city they prefer to live in, that's secondary. Most NBA stars have mulitiple homes in different cites, this is about how the NBA is all about free agency and not about what organization scouts the best, drafts the best, hires the best coaches and exectives.


Thats all the exact same thing. You think you get 70 million in cap space a good group of supporting players by being stupid? How many dozens of times have the Knicks struck out thinking it was as easy as you say?

Players can choose where they want to play….if the team isn’t properly managed they can’t do it there.

And considering how few of these people leave in true free agency it’s mostly about assets….which is drafting and being clever.

It isn’t nearly as simple as guys picking a city on the map.

[insight]

Thats all the exact same thing. You think you get 70 million in cap space a good group of supporting players by being stupid? How many dozens of times have the Knicks struck out thinking it was as easy as you say?

Players can choose where they want to play….if the team isn’t properly managed they can’t do it there.

And considering how few of these people leave in true free agency it’s mostly about assets….which is drafting and being clever.

It isn’t nearly as simple as guys picking a city on the map.

There was nothing special about Miami, Cleveland or LA. The key component was Lebron James and his ability to recruit other players. The majority of the players on the Lakers are represented by LeClutch, do you think that's a coincidence?

[Kblaze8855]

How do you think the Heat went from a capped out nba champion to having like 10 million in contracts when like 5 star free agents were on the market? Do you think they stumbled over an empty roster? They moved Shaq for Marion for Jermaine O’Neal who I said at the time would put them in position to sign 3 max players when his massive deal expired(my one prophet moment on ish). Riley had that setup years in advance.

And did you not notice AD was traded for two high lottery picks one of which is now an all star? If they drafted Bender and Fultz do you think the situation unfolds the same?

AD may still end up in LA but fact is….they had assets.

The Cavs tanked to get Lebron to begin with. And they traded Mo Williams to get Kyrie. Kyrie wasn’t the Cavs pick. It was the Clippers who traded a pick for Mo then won the lottery.

The Cavs won in 2016 off basketball decisions that worked out. Lebron wouldn’t even have come back had they not had Kyrie. And he wouldn’t have been a Cavalier to begin with if they didn’t trade Andre Miller and tank in 03.

None of it falls from the sky. Even the Nets. KD liked what they built….which is why he isn’t a Knick despite his manager/life coach being a massive Knicks fan.

Thinking it just falls into your lap without the big picture machinations behind the scenes is exactly how you become the Knicks celebrating a round one win like a title.

[iamgine]

Some cities just have inherent advantage over others. Some more than others. Good management can mitigate some of that, but only if the other team has bad management.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Something a clippers fan would ironically say

Kawhi: 2 finals mvp, 5 west finals appearances

Jokic: 0 finals appearances, 1 single west finals win

Long way to go before fat boy catches up.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

It depends what your definition of successful is. If the goal is for the organization to win a championship, you could do everything possible to develop and championship calibur team only to have it pouched by a larger market team who agrees to pay an astronomical luxary tax to have multiple max player on the team. If the whole idea of a luxary tax is to incentivize teams to be fiscally responsible and build through the draft it's not working. Players are coluding with other players to build super teams, it's not about what city they prefer to live in, that's secondary. Most NBA stars have mulitiple homes in different cites, this is about how the NBA is all about free agency and not about what organization scouts the best, drafts the best, hires the best coaches and exectives.

But if you scouted better lottery picks then reddish and okong, it sure as hell gives you a better chance.

They seem to have had so many lottery picks and never hit, besides trae.

Mark Cuban has pretty much been a disgrace since Dirk won him a title, not sure if he got content or what

[insight]

But if you scouted better lottery picks then reddish and okong, it sure as hell gives you a better chance.

They seem to have had so many lottery picks and never hit, besides trae.

Mark Cuban has pretty much been a disgrace since Dirk won him a title, not sure if he got content or what

I,m not sure what you are talking about Travis has hit on more lottery picks than anybody. This was only year 3 of thier full rebuild.
Cam Reddish has tremendous upside, Okungwu was a great pick up too, you didn't see him guarding Giannis 1 on 1?
The Hawks have hit on so many players they won't be able to keep them all. They are drafting players who compliment Trae strengths and weakness and fit the system. \I can't think of another team that has drafted better in a 3 year period.

No, I think Mark Cuban is trying to build a winner. They traded for Prozingas, and traded up for Luka so they have some decent pieces. It's hard to compete when players are trying to scheme to put together super teams.

[insight]

How do you think the Heat went from a capped out nba champion to having like 10 million in contracts when like 5 star free agents were on the market? Do you think they stumbled over an empty roster? They moved Shaq for Marion for Jermaine O’Neal who I said at the time would put them in position to sign 3 max players when his massive deal expired(my one prophet moment on ish). Riley had that setup years in advance.

And did you not notice AD was traded for two high lottery picks one of which is now an all star? If they drafted Bender and Fultz do you think the situation unfolds the same?

AD may still end up in LA but fact is….they had assets.

The Cavs tanked to get Lebron to begin with. And they traded Mo Williams to get Kyrie. Kyrie wasn’t the Cavs pick. It was the Clippers who traded a pick for Mo then won the lottery.

The Cavs won in 2016 off basketball decisions that worked out. Lebron wouldn’t even have come back had they not had Kyrie. And he wouldn’t have been a Cavalier to begin with if they didn’t trade Andre Miller and tank in 03.

None of it falls from the sky. Even the Nets. KD liked what they built….which is why he isn’t a Knick despite his manager/life coach being a massive Knicks fan.

Thinking it just falls into your lap without the big picture machinations behind the scenes is exactly how you become the Knicks celebrating a round one win like a title.

I,m not saying that you don't have to make any smart decisions to be a succussful NBA team, I,m saying the margin of error is much greater for the large market teams and it creates a distinct advantage.
Dumping salary is the easy part. Wade, Bosh agreed to take less money to play with Lebron which is the hard part. Lebron went back to Cleveland because it was his home town, that is the only reason he went back.
OKC drafted 3 HOF players, none are still with the team because they all moved to a larger markets. Last year people expected Ginnas to leave, this year it's Dame and Mitchell.
I personally don't like it, buy hey I am proably in the minority.

[chocolatethunder]

Hes worth 5 billion(I assume 1.5-2 of that are for owning the team which he bought for 850 million). It’s tough to hear a billionaire talk about money concerns but he is an investment manager so I guess limiting risk is kinda his thing. And he didn’t say they wouldn’t go into the tax just that he wouldn’t want to do it while being bad. That’s reasonable. Don’t like hearing him say they won’t be able to keep everyone though.
He’s a billionaire because he understands money concerns.

They probably won’t be able to bring everyone back because of player like Collins (who I actually love) aren’t worth (to the team) the contracts that they will be seeking and more than likely offered. Collins is a nice player who disappears for stretches and had a below average playoffs. He turned down 90mil and wants a max. As much as I like him, they may be able to spend that max money better somewhere else.

Normally these kind of statements bother me but they don’t have a championship caliber roster yet, so why would they bring everyone back. He specifically said he was willing to pay the tax if they did. I don’t really see the issue here. Id much rather have an owner that pursued the right team to keep together than one who overpaid the wrong one.

[Kblaze8855]

I,m not saying that you don't have to make any smart decisions to be a succussful NBA team, I,m saying the margin of error is much greater for the large market teams and it creates a distinct advantage.
Dumping salary is the easy part. Wade, Bosh agreed to take less money to play with Lebron which is the hard part. Lebron went back to Cleveland because it was his home town, that is the only reason he went back.
OKC drafted 3 HOF players, none are still with the team because they all moved to a larger markets. Last year people expected Ginnas to leave, this year it's Dame and Mitchell.
I personally don't like it, buy hey I am proably in the minority.


So much of these discussions get twisted to fit whatever narratives are needed. OKC offered Harden 26 million less than Houston and gave that money to Ibaka. They traded Westbrook to start a rebuild and got Paul for him. Durant left for Oakland. It wasn’t market size. It was them being the best team. He wouldn’t join some shitty Warriors squad. I’m sure you know all that but we still arrive at bad examples like that because people won’t see the truth….they see what they want.

There’s always management issues in there. You mention Giannis….. you know why bogdanovich was giving the Bucks 25 at the end of the Hawks series and not playing for them? The bucks violated league rules signing him. Signing voided and they lost a draft pick too. So Giannis loses a guy who can win you a playoff game or two over straight up mismanagement…..and the team lost a draft pick that may have helped him later. Then we watch him go Shaq in the finals desperately needing another scorer.

Watch…if he leaves it’s gonna be “Small markets can’t get a break” while people here are literally claiming it’s no longer about management and so on. Management straight ****ed up a lot of these situations but in this very topic we have people saying it no longer matters….

There are no well run bad teams unless the injury bug strikes. If your team sucks long term….someone working there is making it suck. It doesn’t take good management more than 7-8 years to get what it can get out of a star. You mention Dame like he’s not been there 9 years. Are superstars in big markets happy after 9 years of teams like he’s had? Ok but not special teams? How happy was Harden in Houston even though he had a younger Chris Paul than is currently leading a possible title team? Dame never even had that. Harden happy in his giant market?


Can’t throw out how these teams are actually run. But people are so ready to do it. We still hear about KG being stuck in Minny as if they didn’t trade away rookie Ray Allen then lose 5 years of first round picks trying an illegal under the table deal for Joe Smith….

[Clifton]

You make good points Kblaze.

I don't think it's a bad thing that big-market teams have an advantage. (For example, Shaq, Kobe, and Lebron all went to the Lakers for no reason whatsoever other than they were the Lakers; and Jerry West traded them Pau Gasol for the same reason.) It's just the way things are. Harvard would have to mess things up really bad for several generations to be overtaken by, like, Boston University. They have too much of a head-start in terms of pedigree. But everyone has their place. And of course, it is Milwaukee and Phoenix in the finals.

I'm in favor of free agency, obviously.

But a contract is a contract. It's not good that the upper 1% of players get to de facto void their contracts whenever they feel like it. I understand that they can do it, and will do it. But our judgments of what is good need not submit in the face of what people do in fact. What Harden did in Houston was bad for Harden, bad for Houston, bad for fans, bad for NBA and everyone else involved with it. That it gives other players (even in other sports, like Aaron Rodgers) permission to do the same is worse still. Pro sports will probably survive this of course. But a pro team sports league depends on local fanbases, it depends on the integrity of contracts, it depends on on-court and off-court relationships.

[Kblaze8855]

We have no idea what is good for Houston till it plays out. Melo forced his way from Denver. They got a massive package with picks that ended up mattering to this day. Jamal Murray is a draft pick from the Knicks. Melo could still be in Denver today likely having had middling to bad teams for the last 10 years. They got Jamal, the pick that ended up being traded for Iggy, and like 3 solid players(one of them Gallinari who is still going strong). If a player has decided he wants to leave the absolute best thing he can do is tell the team in advance. Quietly playing out your contract then bailing for nothing absolutely hurts the team more than getting to field offers.

The player wastes more of his career, the team gets nothing when he bails, and the franchise is set back.

People are so emotional about these things they don’t realize that someone telling you they want out with a couple years left is as close as you get to hitting the jackpot. It doesn’t break up great teams usually.

It breaks up the Pelicans….the Nuggets…may break up the Blazers….broke up the Rockets who had peaked. Broke up OKC. 4 of those teams got crazy rebuilding packages putting them years ahead of a player waiting out his deal and walking.

Where is the real world harm from losing a star on a go nowhere team? Fans having to watch them win 24 games instead of 42 before being rewarded with a better future?

If I ran the Wolves I’d quietly throw a party if KAT told me he wanted out. I’m gonna absolutely rape and plunder one of these teams for all their expiring deals, draft picks, and good prospects. I have a few years with no pressure to make it work…hire a good young coach to build the culture I like. The Pistons can have him. I’ll take the top pick….I’ll take your next pick….I’ll take your second round picks and draft me a couple euro projects. Pair Cade with Edwards….hire the hot young coach….win 26 games….draft top 5 again.

**** paying KAT 200 million to lose. I’ll pay kids 26 million and get a better draft pick.

You gotta sign guys like that because it looks like you aren’t trying to win to your fans if you dont. But he asks out? Oh we play the victim. Fans on our side. **** that coward. It’s time for a new era. I’ve got 6-8 years of to make the youth thing work before they might leave. If I don’t build a squad in that time guess what?

I suck.

But getting the chance would be a gift. KAT will get me fired. Having a chance to rebuild with assets from trading him might make my career.

[NugzFan]

Kawhi: 2 finals mvp, 5 west finals appearances

Jokic: 0 finals appearances, 1 single west finals win

Long way to go before fat boy catches up.


Oh so you’re a kawhi fan. Not a clippers fan. Didn’t know that.

[Norcaliblunt]

The concern seems to be more about paying the tax to the league than paying the employees.

Which is ironic bc I thought the whole point of the tax was to level the playing field for smaller markets.

Rich mofos not wanting to pay their taxes? Naw.

[8Ball]

Kawhi: 2 finals mvp, 5 west finals appearances

Jokic: 0 finals appearances, 1 single west finals win

Long way to go before fat boy catches up.


Jokic will be higher than kawhi all time.