We had to go for it. .500 team after Blake left, we just needed star power and got it. Injuries and bubbles popped our chance.
CeeDotA
Between the two earthquakes, and then this late night Woj Bomb, what a day. Especially with Kawhi blue-balling the Lakers and the Raptors a year after PG did the same thing to the Lakers, what a day. Knowing that KL did it five years prior made it all the more funnier when Shohei did it to the Blue Jays.
Coming off that entertaining but very low-ceilinged 18-19 team, to pick up these two in successive transactions was just insane. I mean, at that point, other than extending the Lob City guys, what major FA had ever chosen LAC? Cuttino Mobley? Made me so excited for the 19-20 season. Was going great until Glenn had to Glenn his way against Denver.
ApolyonKhan
People keep saying we had to go for it. But we didn’t have to. Now teams know where to put the limit, and it may be all thanks to us
xluqx
We literally had a blueprint how to build a team around Kawhi in 2019 Raptors but failed to follow that.
No reliable point guard, no solid center that could stretch the floor, ass mentality throughout the regular season. One solid year was stomped by covid and then later by the massive choke vs Denver in the bubble. Just hearing the interview with PG and Lou you can see why that team failed. Not wanting to do their job and win because bubble was boring for them.
Doc was trash, wasted time with him.
PG13 was a mistake, yes, he gave us these 20-35 points but he wants to win by least effort possible, Multiple important games with 3-17 shooting or worse. Dude just ain’t it. You can say that he carried us to WCF but it’s laughable, he showed up for 1,5 series and all is forgiven? Kawhi destoryed Dallas in the series prior and carried us to make it 2-2 vs Utah. I assume there were multiple other players Kawhi wanted to play with before PG, and we know why.
Injuries fucked us, but there was also many wrong decisions being made in the lineup construction and mentality of players/coaches.
Dr_Hilarious
Happy we went for it, and I was extremely stoked at the time. Getting 5 years of every year potentially ending up winning it all is fun, and Iād rather watch the team compete in playoffs than watch draft picks develop in the regular season. Itās just a shame it didnāt pan out and the team didnāt reach its ultimate goal.
I think the results-based opinions some people have on this trade now are kind of silly. Thereās a lot of luck involved with winning the championship, and this trade put us in the best position we couldāve been in to win the championship. If some unlucky breaks over the past few years were to be reversed, this would be touted as the greatest era in clippers history.
IndividualHelpful820
How many of posts like this we need?
JaHoog
It was an interesting era. Something always felt a little off though. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the vibes never felt right with those two together. Idk.
It’s forever fuck Joe Ingles.
RVAIsTheGreatest
Mixed feelings, a lot of the reasons why having already been addressed—-don’t have much to add, but I can say I am relieved it is over. I’m grateful we can finally move on, because shit has been toxic for a few years.
im_scytale
It was worth a shot, shai wouldnāt have come close to being a MVP candidate if just kawhi came. The FO failed terribly with the roster in the 2020 season, people talk about it being a choke but in retrospect it was a complete roster building failure, shamet, trezz, lou Williams and Pat all being in your playoff rotation was a recipe for disaster.
Iāve always wondered what would have happened roster/coaching wise if they had beaten the nuggets in the bubble, maybe the FO looks at the season as a success and doesnāt make big roster changes or firing doc. They would have gotten destroyed by the lakers in 2020, getting embarrassed by Denver was kind of a blessing in disguise.
I think the clippers had good enough rosters to win every single year after the bubble, especially in 2021 and 2024. It sucks it never happened, and sucks they tied their future to PG, caved to his demands and that kawhi was injured so much. It was fun tho, flat out bad luck. People are going to make fun of the clippers but id rather root for a team that shoots for the stars and comes up short than a team that tanks or is never in contention.
I still think the clippers are going to be a pretty good team, and harden/kawhi are super likable great clippers. I pray we see one more healthy kawhi run, I genuinely believe heās good enough to take this team on a deep run, and it takes a some good luck but I donāt think itās completely unreasonable to say if the luck turns and the clippers get a 2021 suns run injury wise anything can happen.
Last thing, obviously the thunder are in a much better position to contend for the next 10 years but until they actually do something close to winning a title I donāt want to hear about how they won the trade, the goal of an NBA team isnāt to have a ton of assets, itās to actually win a title, until they do that i donāt want to hear about them.
ElGrandeQues0
Same as I did 5 years ago. Should have pitched Kawhi on signing one of the available free agents and kept Shai. Dude was always gonna be a star.
TheAvantGardeners
If only Jimmy linked up with Kawhi before he signed with Miami, weād still have Kawhi and Shai even if Jimmy becomes injury prone like PG
uziair
Fuck Joe Ingles
cal405
The season before we signed Kawhi or George, I was at a late season home game. One of the season ticket sales guys asked me who was my favorite player and I said SGA. Letting him go was an obvious mistake, even before he led a team of role players to a formidable fight against the Warriors in the playoffs later that year.
Hopefully the front office learned from their mistake and won’t mortgage our future. Youth and development are the keys to sustained victory.
n00-1ne
Massive failure. Kawhi has destroyed 5 years of the Cliopers and counting. From demanding PG (and therefore the loss of SGA and all those picks) before he would sign, to āload managementā to barely showing up to promote the teamā¦. I wouldnāt be surprised if the Clippers wouldnāt offer PG more money/years than him to save his ego. .
es84
That was the right move, and it made sense then and still makes sense today. The gamble unfortunately did not work because Kawhi could not stay healthy in the regular season nor the playoffs. The two stars on the team were never at 100% for too long.
16 Comments
Kawhi wasn’t and isn’t worth it.
We had to go for it. .500 team after Blake left, we just needed star power and got it. Injuries and bubbles popped our chance.
Between the two earthquakes, and then this late night Woj Bomb, what a day. Especially with Kawhi blue-balling the Lakers and the Raptors a year after PG did the same thing to the Lakers, what a day. Knowing that KL did it five years prior made it all the more funnier when Shohei did it to the Blue Jays.
Coming off that entertaining but very low-ceilinged 18-19 team, to pick up these two in successive transactions was just insane. I mean, at that point, other than extending the Lob City guys, what major FA had ever chosen LAC? Cuttino Mobley? Made me so excited for the 19-20 season. Was going great until Glenn had to Glenn his way against Denver.
People keep saying we had to go for it. But we didn’t have to. Now teams know where to put the limit, and it may be all thanks to us
We literally had a blueprint how to build a team around Kawhi in 2019 Raptors but failed to follow that.
No reliable point guard, no solid center that could stretch the floor, ass mentality throughout the regular season. One solid year was stomped by covid and then later by the massive choke vs Denver in the bubble. Just hearing the interview with PG and Lou you can see why that team failed. Not wanting to do their job and win because bubble was boring for them.
Doc was trash, wasted time with him.
PG13 was a mistake, yes, he gave us these 20-35 points but he wants to win by least effort possible, Multiple important games with 3-17 shooting or worse. Dude just ain’t it. You can say that he carried us to WCF but it’s laughable, he showed up for 1,5 series and all is forgiven? Kawhi destoryed Dallas in the series prior and carried us to make it 2-2 vs Utah. I assume there were multiple other players Kawhi wanted to play with before PG, and we know why.
Lou, Montrezl, Morris, Wall, Westbrook – mistakes.
Injuries fucked us, but there was also many wrong decisions being made in the lineup construction and mentality of players/coaches.
Happy we went for it, and I was extremely stoked at the time. Getting 5 years of every year potentially ending up winning it all is fun, and Iād rather watch the team compete in playoffs than watch draft picks develop in the regular season. Itās just a shame it didnāt pan out and the team didnāt reach its ultimate goal.
I think the results-based opinions some people have on this trade now are kind of silly. Thereās a lot of luck involved with winning the championship, and this trade put us in the best position we couldāve been in to win the championship. If some unlucky breaks over the past few years were to be reversed, this would be touted as the greatest era in clippers history.
How many of posts like this we need?
It was an interesting era. Something always felt a little off though. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the vibes never felt right with those two together. Idk.
It’s forever fuck Joe Ingles.
Mixed feelings, a lot of the reasons why having already been addressed—-don’t have much to add, but I can say I am relieved it is over. I’m grateful we can finally move on, because shit has been toxic for a few years.
It was worth a shot, shai wouldnāt have come close to being a MVP candidate if just kawhi came. The FO failed terribly with the roster in the 2020 season, people talk about it being a choke but in retrospect it was a complete roster building failure, shamet, trezz, lou Williams and Pat all being in your playoff rotation was a recipe for disaster.
Iāve always wondered what would have happened roster/coaching wise if they had beaten the nuggets in the bubble, maybe the FO looks at the season as a success and doesnāt make big roster changes or firing doc. They would have gotten destroyed by the lakers in 2020, getting embarrassed by Denver was kind of a blessing in disguise.
I think the clippers had good enough rosters to win every single year after the bubble, especially in 2021 and 2024. It sucks it never happened, and sucks they tied their future to PG, caved to his demands and that kawhi was injured so much. It was fun tho, flat out bad luck. People are going to make fun of the clippers but id rather root for a team that shoots for the stars and comes up short than a team that tanks or is never in contention.
I still think the clippers are going to be a pretty good team, and harden/kawhi are super likable great clippers. I pray we see one more healthy kawhi run, I genuinely believe heās good enough to take this team on a deep run, and it takes a some good luck but I donāt think itās completely unreasonable to say if the luck turns and the clippers get a 2021 suns run injury wise anything can happen.
Last thing, obviously the thunder are in a much better position to contend for the next 10 years but until they actually do something close to winning a title I donāt want to hear about how they won the trade, the goal of an NBA team isnāt to have a ton of assets, itās to actually win a title, until they do that i donāt want to hear about them.
Same as I did 5 years ago. Should have pitched Kawhi on signing one of the available free agents and kept Shai. Dude was always gonna be a star.
If only Jimmy linked up with Kawhi before he signed with Miami, weād still have Kawhi and Shai even if Jimmy becomes injury prone like PG
Fuck Joe Ingles
The season before we signed Kawhi or George, I was at a late season home game. One of the season ticket sales guys asked me who was my favorite player and I said SGA. Letting him go was an obvious mistake, even before he led a team of role players to a formidable fight against the Warriors in the playoffs later that year.
Hopefully the front office learned from their mistake and won’t mortgage our future. Youth and development are the keys to sustained victory.
Massive failure. Kawhi has destroyed 5 years of the Cliopers and counting. From demanding PG (and therefore the loss of SGA and all those picks) before he would sign, to āload managementā to barely showing up to promote the teamā¦. I wouldnāt be surprised if the Clippers wouldnāt offer PG more money/years than him to save his ego.
.
That was the right move, and it made sense then and still makes sense today. The gamble unfortunately did not work because Kawhi could not stay healthy in the regular season nor the playoffs. The two stars on the team were never at 100% for too long.