The early returns on the Raptors’ gamble by trading for Kawhi Leonard have been promising.
No one was quite sure how Leonard would react to playing in Toronto next season after his acrimonious feelings toward the Spurs convinced San Antonio to trade him. Leonard met recently with new Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and seemed to be genuinely excited about Nurse’s plans for him.
“It was fun to listen to his take,” Nurse told the Toronto Star about his 45-minute meeting with Leonard. “He asked me, ‘How are you going to use me? Where are you going to get me the ball? What do you see?’ And I told him, ‘Listen. To me, you can do pretty much everything. You can post. You can drive. You can handle it up the floor. You can play screen and roll. You can come off pindowns.’ I said, ‘Did I miss anything?’ He’s like, ‘No, that’s about it.’ I said, ‘You’ll probably be doing all that stuff.’”
The ultimate goal for the Raptors is to convince Leonard to stay long-term. Leonard can opt out of his contract next summer and become an unrestricted free agent. It’s well-known that he longs to play in Los Angeles and could join forces with LeBron James on the Lakers.
However, the Raptors have nearly a year to change his mind, just like the Thunder did after trading for Paul George. OKC’s roll of the dice paid off, as the Thunder organization made such a positive impression on George that he opted to stay put.
The Raptors are more dangerous team with a healthy Leonard but that, too, is a big unknown. Leonard played just nine games last season due to a nagging quad injury and he could easily miss a large chunk of the season if he re-injures it. The path to the Finals should be easier for Leonard in the Eastern Conference, especially with James out of the picture.
That leads us to our topic of the day: How do you think Toronto will fare next season with Kawhi Leonard? Do you think he’ll stick around or leave for Los Angeles or another destination next summer?
Please take to the comments section to voice your opinion. We look forward to what you have to say.
Atta boy Nurse, capitulate and everything should be fine……..
I see them as 1st or 2nd seed.
Depending on how bostons plays.
If they have kawhi healthy i think they are the champs in the east.
Yeah but is that enough to keep him there? I don’t think getting swept by the Warriors is much of a reason to stay north of the border
I think people put too much stock into players not wanting to play in Canada. The weather in Toronto is basically identical to NYC. Toronto is a massive city and a more desirable place to play than places like, Milwaukee, Portland, Utah, Detroit and Cleveland (post-Lebron). Guys want to go where the money and the talent is. No shortage of either in Toronto. Not to mention your dollar goes way farther since players get paid in USD.
It’s been publicly known that Kawhi has texted other players trying to find another star to play with him after next season, and asking them where they want to play. With Kawhi, anything can happen. Like Kyrie, I think he feels uncomfortable playing under LeBron.
I think Toronto will end up as the 2nd seed behind Boston but end up winning the ECF and advancing to the Finals. I can see Kawhi staying in Toronto because of the fact that it’s a fantastic city, he’ll be the first option, and the Raptors will be competitive. In LA, he’d either be second fiddle to LeBron or be non-competitive with the Clippers
To be fair kawhi would make the clippers competitive just they wouldnt go anywhere in the playoffs
Except it’s in Canada, which is a terrible country.
Based on? Temperature?
Wow… this I gotta hear!!
That’s a fresh take. Are you a caller from the Jim Rome show, sounds like you want to start a border skirmish
Exactly, all the friendly people yuck!
Raptors must cater to kawhi this season if they want him to stick around
Not much can get past you, captain obvious.
you must be a cool guy
Dodgethis, Canada is a terrible country??? Did you take that monicker based on the amount of bullets you have to dodge in your train wreck of a country.
I’m not even a Raptors fan, I’m a Knicks fan as I started watching basketball before the Raptors existed. NBA on NBC from MSG in the 80’s , awesome!
That said my friend, the Great White North is better than the US in almost every single way, other than you pay less for beer!
Kawhi will like it here, and I would give the Raptors a fighting chance of re-signing him. It will be his team, they’ll be very competitive, and Ujiri will not be afraid to make additional changes to appease Claw.
I get brain cancer in Canada and I have to wait 9 months for an appointment
But it doesn’t cost you $100K to have it. I have the choice to travel to the States and pay the money for the surgery, you don’t have the ability to get it done for free.
Also, don’t kid yourself that your healthcare system is like ours. Someone shows up at a hospital in the US with a life threatening injury, they can’t be refused whether they can afford to pay for it or not. It’s only those who can pay that end up doing so, just like through the higher taxes up here.
So, we could do this battle back and forth for hours, or based on everyone else’s comments, we could keep this to basketball, let’s go back to that.
Canadian Bacon, and I’m not talking about the food!!! Great movie, great country, enough said!!!
This feels pretty simple. If he gets in a rhythm with the team, they have some success, and at least some of the young guys make progress, you’d have to think that their season ends with a competitive series in the Finals, or ECF against GSW, Boston, or Philly. It’s tough to imagine him leaving after that, those are the times when you want to reload and take another shot. They’ll have the assets to grab someone else if they want
If he can’t get back to 100%, and the team is just a little off next year… then maybe they bounce in the first or second round and he leaves.
Basically, my guess is things will either go well and he’ll stay, or they won’t and he’ll leave. And things will probably go well
Don’t forget: the deeper they get in the postseason, the further winter will be from his mind when he makes his final decision. From firsthand experience, Toronto in June and July does not stir up memories of bitter cold.
Toronto will do well, but Boston walks away the winner from the east. Too deep.
Leonard leaves and signs with LA, NY or Philly.
Kawhi has only had 2 out of 7 seasons healthy in his career, playing just over 70 games, with an average of 58 games a season, so I wouldn’t bank on him staying healthy. Either way cannot see Toronto competing with Philly or Boston. He will leave next summer & go to the Clippers to be the man.
When the playoffs start next season, Boston will be the 1 seed, Toronto 2, Indiana 3, Washington 4, Milwaukee 5, and Philly 6. Kawhi could be MVP. He has said he doesn’t want to play 2nd fiddle to LeBron.
It sounds like Kyrie is staying in Boston. Maybe he can get Jimmy Butler to join him in the east. Nobody has a clue what Kawhi will do.
I read the article about Kawhi’s 45 minute meeting. It said Kawhi was so excited he got up and used the chalkboard with Nick Nurse.