David Thorpe: The Clippers enter the 2019-20 season with huge expectations. It’s fair to say that if Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are healthy once the playoffs start, the Clippers are real contenders. Lowering the risk of injury is as high a priority as any single goal they can set. Meanwhile, the Clippers’ lack of perimeter depth in their roster ranks almost as high–they are short on long, athletic wings off the bench. Their coach, Doc Rivers, can address both issues when he first talks to his team just before camp opens in late September. Imagine a team dinner, with all the staff and players, as Rivers starts to speak: “Men, I need you to write down on the calendar in front of you, in pencil, the most important dates of your year, through the middle of April. Your wife’s birthday, your anniversary, the day your children were born, significant dates for your parents, a due date for a baby perhaps. Whatever matters to you and your family. “
Kawhi Leonard Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: F
Born: 06/29/91
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary:
Born: 06/29/91
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary:
SLAM: So who’s the better team: Clippers or Lakers? Scottie Pippen: I would probably say the Clippers just because of where they were last year and the players that they have. They already have the confidence and feel like last year they dominated the Lakers. Now, you give them the Finals MVP [Kawhi Leonard] and one of the top defenders in the game in Paul George. That sends their confidence up through the roof. With the Lakers, I don’t think a guy going into his 17th season can really carry a team the way he needs to carry [it].
Marc Stein: More from Gasol soon from @NYTSports but here he is on Kawhi Leonard: “You can’t blame the guy for wanting to go home. If you tell me I can go (to) Barcelona and make an absurd amount of money and play in the NBA … I understand completely and respect it and wish him the best.”
Jabari Young: I’m told Jeremy Castleberry, close friend to Kawhi Leonard, will be an assistant coach on #Clippers staff… @TheAthleticNBA #NBA
Steve Ballmer was golfing with a longtime colleague and friend late last month when the conversation turned to what had happened a few days earlier. On a stage inside a standing-room-only recreation center in South Los Angeles, the Clippers owner burst out of his director’s chair, grabbed a microphone, and introduced superstar forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George with whoops and hollers that quickly went viral across social media. “It was kind of like our old sales meetings,” Jeff Raikes said Ballmer told him. “I knew what he was referring to.”
During the team’s July 1 free agency meeting with Leonard, Ballmer’s willingness to compete aggressively left a strong impression, according to a person who was there. “I think everybody was shocked when he pulled off the Kawhi-PG deal, but it’s a good statement of how he thinks about it,” Taylor said. “You’re not going to win anything, be it Microsoft or be it basketball, without the best people in the best roles.”
