DeMar DeRozan is a Spur! Yes!

(Originally posted on Wednesday, 18 July 2018)

This trade is a miracle for the San Antonio Spurs! Basically they got DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first round pick (that may turn into 2 second round picks) for Danny Green! That's right! I don't count Kawhi Leonard at all, because EVERYBODY knew that he would not play for the San Antonio Spurs any more games. It's like trading a player that you don't even have!

DeMar DeRozan is not a superstar, but he IS a legitimate star that in the last 5 years led his team (together with Kyle Lowry) to 264 wins. On average it's 52.8 wins per season! For five years! More importantly they played in 51 playoff games! That's a LOT. Two first round exits, two Conference Semifinals and one Conference Finals – definitely not bad. For comparison the Washington Wizards in the same time had 233 wins (44.6 wins per season) and they played in 40 playoff games. One missed playoffs, one first round exit and three Conference Semifinals – definitely worse than the Toronto Raptors' playoff achievements. The only team in the same Conference with a better combined record were the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James.

Probably we will never learn all the details about this trade, but I believe that Gregg Popovich gave his own Front Office a kind of ultimatum – “If you trade Kawhi Leonard to the Western Conference and/or you get too small a package for him then I will retire as a coach immediately.” Anyway I am proud of them all that they played it this way – the hard way.

The Toronto Raptors made a bold move, but now they have the whole league behind them. Kawhi Leonard has absolutely no reason to ignore his new team and if he does then I predict a ground-breaking suspension without pay and a label of a true villain for the rest of his career. He is already a villain to many people, but I see him more as a victim of his own submission to his uncle's wishes. Either way it's a very sad case.