With two championships in three seasons at Villanova, and being a key contributor to the second, Bridges has a lot of fans at the next level. “The kid at Villanova is, perhaps, among the best two-way players in the Draft,” another Southeast Division executive said. “He guards multiple positions, while having the capacity to drop 22 points, too. Dare I say, think Kawhi Leonard. The knock on Kawhi Leonard when he first came out of school was he couldn’t shoot, and wasn’t that athletic. He didn’t have an explosive jump. Now, he is incredibly long, but this kid has that same type of length, and he’s got some hops.“
Position: F
Born: 06/29/91
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary: $18,868,625
Born: 06/29/91
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary: $18,868,625
Tom Orsborn: As expected, Kawhi Leonard is out for Game 5. Also as expected, Manu Ginobili is all in despite his late-game inury in Game 4: “Quad contusion, one of hundreds all career long,” he said after Sunday’s game. #Spurs
That cheering you hear is the parade cranking up in Lakerdom. Byron Scott, who is close to Magic Johnson, actually announced on ESPN, “I’m going to tell you something right now. LeBron (James) is coming to the Lakers along with Kawhi. We’re back in the Finals!” Reports dovetailing with that one swept the league: Kawhi, a Los Angeles guy who grew up in the Inland Empire, wants to come home. Kawhi, who has one year left on his contract, will force a trade to the Lakers.
With less to offer in trade than other teams, the Lakers need Leonard to force a deal, which he may well try, and for the Spurs to accede, which is less likely…. It’s one of Popovich’s cardinal rules not to help West rivals, much less one with the tradition and resources of the Lakers. Popovich almost never says a bad word about another team but went bonkers in 2008 when Memphis traded Pau Gasol to the post-Shaquille O’Neal Lakers, setting them up for three Finals runs and two titles. “What they did in Memphis is beyond comprehension,” said Popovich then. “… I just wish I had been on a trade committee that oversees NBA trades. I’d like to elect myself to that committee. I would have voted no to the L.A. trade.”
Chris Mannix: “The one thing the Spurs have to decide over the next few weeks is: Are they prepared to make Kawhi Leonard a super-max offer? Because if they make Kawhi a super-max offer — when I talk to other teams, they’d be stunned if Kawhi turned it down. That’s just real money. The oft repeated phrase I hear is, ‘Take the money and demand a trade later.’ You can’t get that money back from another team in a potential trade. So the Spurs have to decide if they want to do that. If they don’t, then they have to put him on the market. In that situation, the situation is irreconcilable. Now, you hear the Lakers, you hear the Knicks, Boston will be in line for this. They absolutely will make an offer of some type for Kawhi Leonard. And they still have more assets than anyone else.”
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