Kawhi actually used Kawhine and Dine; thanks team/city | VanVleet still flexing as champ | Lowry playing for USA
Sat down with Kawhi Leonard & Paul George to talk about what it means to come home, Kawhi's free agency meetings, Paul's trade request to OKC, and how Kawhi actually wanted the Spurs to deal for PG a couple years ago. The full interview with new Clippers @Yg_Trece & KL: pic.twitter.com/MOSp5cMjBB
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) July 25, 2019
Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard: “I want to thank the Toronto Raptors fans. I don’t have social media so I can’t put out a paragraph or whatever.”
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 24, 2019
Kawhi thanks the city of Toronto and their fans after a great season! 🇨🇦✊ pic.twitter.com/xRISYJoFh9
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 24, 2019
Sources: Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love is expected to withdraw from Team USA's training camp for World Cup. Toronto Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry remains committed on USA roster and is expected to be recovered from thumb surgery and return midway through camp in L.A.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 24, 2019
Fred VanVleet says Raptors are hungry to repeat as champions, even without Kawhi Leonard | The Star
“We’re hungry. We’re hungry again,” VanVleet said on the basketball court at Humber College’s north campus. “Obviously, it was a great run, we had a good time. We won a ring. But your career doesn’t stop because you win a championship. We’re all hungry and thirsty to get back to the Finals.”
Although Leonard broke the hearts of many fans when it was announced on July 10 that he was leaving for his hometown Clippers after only one season in Toronto, VanVleet said there were no hard feelings among his Raptors teammates.
“You respect the guy and what he wants to do,” said VanVleet. “Would we have liked for him to come back? Of course, he’s one of the best players in the game but we don’t think about it like that.
“Fans and people from the outside put a lot of stock into the players as these superhumans — he’s an unbelievable basketball player, don’t get me wrong — for us, in the locker room, we’re all equals. We respect him as a brother, as a friend, he moves on and we’ve got to do the same.”
Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors joined Bryan & Dave on OverDrive for the first time as an NBA Champion. He touched on how his life has changed, if he ever expected Kawhi to stayin Toronto, and how he felt about Dwane Casey being let go last summer
Fred VanVleet says Raptors have moved on after Kawhi Leonard signed with Clippers – Yahoo!
“You respect the guy, what he wants to do,” VanVleet shared in the video above. “Would we have liked him to be back? Of course! He’s one of the best players in the game. But we don’t think about it like that. I think all of us as players have egos and we’re all prideful and proud. I know what I did to help us win a championship, and I know what the rest of the guys on our team did.
“Fans and people from the outside put a lot of stock into the players as these, you know, above human kind of statuses, and he’s an unbelievable basketball player, don’t get me wrong. But for us in the locker room, we’re all equal. So you respect him as a brother, as a friend. He moved on, and we’ve got to do the same.”
VanVleet went on to discuss the Raptors’ championship, explaining how fast things can change in a highly-competitive NBA.
“I mean, I know where I was in the Philly series and how fast it could change. Kyle’s been here from, you know, when they were booing and chanting to tank, so everybody’s seen both sides of it. So, we win a championship, everybody praises you and pats you on the back, and then Kawhi leaves and it’s right back to ground zero, where we were before.
“So, just stay even keeled, we stay hungry and we’re back to work and trying to look forward to next year.”
Kawhi Leonard sends heartfelt message to Raptors fans – Yahoo!
Leonard also made special mention of the doctors in Toronto who helped deliver his baby boy during the season as well as the restaurant campaign ‘Ka’wine and Dine’ — something he admitted to taking full advantage of.
The 28-year-old played 60 games during the 2018-19 season as a result of a carefully planned load management regimen, allowing him to perform at his very best in the postseason, where he averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals over 24 games. He finished with Finals MVP honors and the Raptors earned their first ever Larry O.B.
Ultimately, the allure of returning home and teaming with a player of Paul George’s caliber — who was an MVP candidate over the first half of last season — proved too much for all that Toronto provided.
It may just be a case of destiny as well, with George referencing the fact that the Indiana Pacers drafted Leonard while he was there and even being nervous about having to compete with him for minutes because he thought they’d be playing the same position.
LA Clippers: Why Kawhi Leonard Really Signed With the Team – Clipperholics
In the case of the Raptors, their squad simply wasn’t built to roll smoothly into the future. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby are very nice young pieces to be certain, but Kawhi Leonard was the difference between that team winning a championship and an early playoff exit. The Raptors were likely aware of Kawhi’s desire to play with more established NBA co-stars and were even approached with a trade by Oklahoma City. They would have been willing to send over Russell Westrbook and Paul George for Pascal Siakam and ancillary pieces/picks, but Masai Ujiri declined. Had they made that move to put Kawhi in the best situation possible, they likely would have seen the superstar re-signing with The Great White North.
The willingness to make a move for Paul George wasn’t the only driving factor in Kawhi Leonard’s decision, though, as we know. Being at home in Southern California and near his family was a big deal for Kawhi. Lou Williams spoke some harsh truths in his appearance on Gilbert Arenas‘ podcast, but they were truths nonetheless. He spoke of his time in Toronto, noting that while the city and its fans are undeniably great, the players in general can’t wait to get back home.
Speaking of various inconveniences that come with playing for a team that not only is in a different country, but that experiences extreme weather conditions during the NBA season. These things may or may not have been quite so significant in Leonard’s own decision-making process, but they surely factored into it. It may not be fair, but sometimes these are the things it can come down to.
Report: Raptors’ Kyle Lowry committed to Team USA – Yahoo!
The 33-year-old Lowry underwent surgery on his injured left thumb earlier this month, but is expected to recover in time to join his USA teammates midway through training camp in Los Angeles.
Those hoping for Lowry to reunite with best friend and former Raptors teammate DeMar DeRozan will be disappointed to learn that the San Antonio Spur is among the big names who have withdrawn from the event. Other notable absences include James Harden, Anthony Davis, Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard and Kevin Love.
Lowry previously suited up for the national team at the 2016 Olympics, averaging 5.0 points, 3.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds in limited minutes en route to a gold medal. A champion on both the international and NBA stage, the five-time all-star will be a valuable presence on a relatively young Team USA squad.
NBA Stars Who Could Still Be Traded Before 2019-20 Season | Bleacher Report
Kawhi Leonard’s exit sent the Toronto Raptors spiraling toward a rebuild. The only question is when they’ll pull the plug on the current core.
Next summer already looms as a potential expiration date. That’s when most of Toronto’s significant money comes off the books, including the $23 million-plus owed each to Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Theoretically, the Raptors could treat the upcoming season as a glorified victory lap and stand pat to maximize their cap space ahead of the 2020 offseason.
But would Toronto actually want to cough up the money to keep the aforementioned trio around in 12 months? If the answer is no—with no realistic shot at contending, it probably should be—don’t the Raptors have to start shopping those players now to ensure they don’t walk away for nothing?
Toronto has postured as if that isn’t the case. The team has “no intention of moving” those three players “at least not before the season,” per TSN’s Josh Lewenberg. If it’s already on the Raptors’ mind, though, it’s probably an avenue they must at least consider exploring.
Lowry could deliver something substantial in return. RPM pegged him as a top-five point guard and top-15 player this past season, and that was while adjusting to life with Leonard (and, maybe more importantly, without DeMar DeRozan). Lowry earns plus marks as a shooter, table-setter and defender. Any win-now team needing a point guard boost would do good to get him.
Gasol and Ibaka aren’t quite as attractive, but each checks boxes for interior defense and frontcourt spacing (Gasol out to the three-point arc, Ibaka to the midrange). They could command a first-rounder from a desperate shopper.
While it seems most likely the Raptors wait until their championship afterglow has faded and they are into next season before moving one of these vets, it wouldn’t be shocking to see one changing addresses for the right compensation.
Things are rolling along quite nicely for basketball in Canada. It’s difficult to find an indicator — youth enrollment, television ratings, high-end talent pipeline — that doesn’t point to a growing strength in the connection between the sport and country. Some areas do lag behind, though. Canada Basketball continues to sputter financially, something the expanded relationship with MLSE should help. The program is hopeful that the momentum of the sport and the Raptors bleeds into the sponsorship side.
There’s also the matter of the men’s national team not experiencing much success at the international level. Canada has not qualified for the Olympics since 2000, and their only World Cup appearance in the time since was a winless one. They squandered a decent opportunity in 2016 after squandering a golden one in 2015 that we no longer talk about. The hope has to be that all of this growth in Canadian basketball talent is building to an eventual international crescendo — you just can’t keep producing the most NBA talent outside of the United States and stay irrelevant for long.
In early August, Canada Basketball will commence training camp ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, which they qualified for by posting the best record in the Americas zone over the course of two years. (That wasn’t enough to land Canada in a favourable group, and they’ll have to deal with Australia, Lithuania and Senegal in China.) Canada Basketball has invited 29 players to camp, and they’ll eventually select 12 from that group to represent them at the World Cup.
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