Raptors

[rataylor22]

I do...

The difference is LeBron & Anthony Davis in LA. Anyone on a LeBron team is seen as second fiddle to him. In 20 years time, if he wins 2 in LA the line will be - yeah, he won 4, but 2 were because he played with LeBron.

Whereas if he won one more in Tor... it would most likely be. He's the only reason that team ever won one. He put that team over the top and on his back.

I mean... Dwayne Wade - only won a Championship with Shaq & LeBron.... so how great is Wade as an individual player? Winning with LeBron will have a similar - lesser - but similar effect to Leonard's legacy.

LBJ is in the GOAT conversation. He's going to shadow anyone he wins with.

That’s a very raptors-coloured viewpoint. First, he’d probably have zero legacy in the US because nobody cares about the raptors. Second, all the Bulls championships are Jordan and Pippen. The Showtime Lakers are the Showtime Lakers. Wade’s first championship is for sure him more than Shaq.

Bringing a title back home for the first time in 10 years, to the Marquee franchise of the NBA? Doing it multiple times? That’s a much bigger global legacy than winning a couple times in Canada.

[Chuk]

Kawhi is a Clipper.

[rataylor22]

Man the NBA is fun. I wish the NHL had a real commissioner

[rataylor22]

Gary Bettman is an unevolved frog while Adam Silver is an evolution of man, if you’re comparing their ability to run a sports league. The question isn’t will the NFL, the question is when. Meanwhile the NHL is wondering how much lower than 5th will it fall.

[ericdaoust]

I hope this serves as a good lesson not to take everything you read in the media seriously. How many times were the Clippers ruled out as destinations for Leonard? Wasn't it down to the Lakers or Raptors?

Meanwhile, every NHL RFA has been offer-sheeted multiple times by now...

[havanablast21]

Wonder how much the CP24 Hellicopter chase hoopla impacted the decision of this guy who obviously values his family's privacy.

He delivered and he's going home. Can't really fault him. Hopefully Raptor fans aren't as ridiculous as Island fans when Kawai returns to Toronto.

Oh well... back to being a 1 winter sports fan! (1 1/2 if I count Football)

[The Comish]

Glad the drama is done. Sad to see Leonard leave, but the man helped deliver a championship. Curious to see what the Raps will do now.

[niconasr]

Man the NBA is fun. I wish the NHL had a real commissioner

I'm not sure I would say this was fun (at least to me). I've got no problem with Leonard returning home or much of the free agency moves that happened. What annoys me is the players tampering with each other so transparently. I've got no doubt players talk to each other when it comes to finding the best home for their next contract but recruiting players through the media or trying to force trades to team-up elsewhere, that's next level stuff and a bit too much for it to be 'fun'. Especially for small market teams.

[saucelife90]

Ya, I'm not sure what's fun about only 4 teams having a real shot of winning the championship... why waste everyone else's time.

If stacking a couple teams is the route they want to go, just drop the league to 10 teams and stack all 10 rosters.

[rataylor22]

The butt hurt and woe is me lol.

Given it’s the fastest rising sport in the world, you’re both in the minority

[4T2]

Gary Bettman is an unevolved frog while Adam Silver is an evolution of man, if you’re comparing their ability to run a sports league. The question isn’t will the NFL, the question is when. Meanwhile the NHL is wondering how much lower than 5th will it fall.

If you hate the NHL so much, why do you spend so much of your time watching/analyzing it?

[niconasr]

If you hate the NHL so much, why do you spend so much of your time watching/analyzing it?

Not trying to defend rataylor's attitude but having a terrible commish shouldn't keep us from enjoying the NHL.

[2014olympicgold]

The biggest issue in the NBA is the players ability to demand a trade out of the city they just signed in (Paul George). I'm sad as a Raptor fan, but whatever, he "owed" us nothing. If I was an OKC fan...omg. How a player in the league, not even on my team, can pretty much change the direction of my franchise because he wants to play with one of my players...and not come to my team to do it...oh my I'd be livid.

Team meetings for "courting" NBA players means very little. All these guys really care about is playing with another player.
-Kawhi and George.
-Durant and Irving were so in to playing together, other NBA players knew it before the season began apparently
-AD and Lebron
-Derozan and Lowry
-Klay and Curry
-I'm sure there's more that I can't think of.

[bondon]

Man the NBA is fun. I wish the NHL had a real commissioner

Genuine question here as I don't have any knowledge about the job of a commissioner let alone how to measure how good one might be doing in that role...what makes Adam Silver so much better of a commissioner?

Just speaking from my viewpoint in terms of parity, I think the NHL is a lot better in that respect than the NBA is, but I'm assuming that's not the measure that I should be using to assess their performance.

[als_revenge]

Genuine question here as I don't have any knowledge about the job of a commissioner let alone how to measure how good one might be doing in that role...what makes Adam Silver so much better of a commissioner?

Just speaking from my viewpoint in terms of parity, I think the NHL is a lot better in that respect than the NBA is, but I'm assuming that's not the measure that I should be using to assess their performance.

It's really simple. This is a hockey forum. So of course he rags all over it while supporting another sport. It's for attention.