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Old 04-21-2018, 12:21 PM   #21
Underdog
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"One in the hand is worth two in the bush"... We already know Kawhi's upside -- he's a perennial MVP candidate when healthy. At best, one of these draft picks could end up as good as him, but most of these guys probably won't even come close. There are no clear-cut superstars in this draft -- you're pretty much rolling the dice on how high these players will peak.

That said, is Kawhi healthy? Is his attitude something that could be remedied by a change of scenery? Is he still capable of being a perennial MVP candidate? If the answers are yes, then you trade for him without hesitation. He's already what you hope your draft pick can become. Dude is 6 years older than Dennis, but it's not like their peaks can't overlap...Unfortunately, you can't answer any of these questions without watching him play, which means you'd have to part ways with that pick before you could find out what you currently have in Kawhi... And I wouldn't even bother trading for him unless he's going to sign an extension, since getting him as a one-year rental does absolutely nothing for our rebuild... So we're choosing between:

1) A perennial MVP candidate on a max deal who could get right back to kicking ass and taking names just as soon as he's healthy, but "getting healthy" might be a perpetual state for Leonard, which raises the potential for him to be another Chandler Parsons -- plus his attitude might actually suck, and he is a bit older than DSJ... If it works, we're only one or two pieces away from being a contender again (with good odds of making the playoffs next year)... If we whiff, it probably sets the rebuild back another 5-10 years.

2) A blank slate on a rookie deal whose upside could lie anywhere between LeBron James and Bernard James, but they're basically the same age as DSJ, and extremely low risk financially... If it works, two major pieces of our core are set for the next 5-10 years... If we whiff, it only sets the rebuild back a year or two, but we'll have to endure more tanking.

I dunno, looks like you're choosing between high risk/high reward and low risk/unknown reward... Maybe my opinion changes if the lottery balls conspire against us, or if news comes out that Kawhi is the healthiest he's been in years, but right now I'd probably pass on Leonard and trust the front office to rebuild this squad through the draft... We're already one foot in with Dennis, probably best to continue the process since betting wrong on Kawhi is going to hurt us a lot more than betting wrong on a draft pick -- not to mention there's always a chance that whoever we draft could end up being better than the current iteration of Leonard.
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Last edited by Underdog; 04-21-2018 at 12:23 PM.
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