https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LD6KybF_NI
At 4:58 of this video, Stephen A Smith says to Derozan that he thinks even without Kawhi, the Raptors would've won in 2019 if they kept Derozan because the "only reason" they kept missing the Finals in that era was because of Lebron James. Of course, not having Lebron in the East did help the Raptors in moving to the Finals in 2019, but I find this so disrespectful.
I'm a fan of Derozan's game, but he shouldn't have agreed with Stephen A's clear headline baiting here. Both Derozan and Stephen A essentially wrote off an all time postseason performance by Kawhi Leonard.
Not to mention, I hate the narrative that Kawhi won only because KD AND Klay missed the Finals that year. This is factually not true. Yes, KD missed all but half a game in the Finals, but Klay Thompson averaged 38 minutes and 26 ppg in 5 out of 6 Finals games. Kawhi and the Raptors beat a mostly healthy Klay, Steph and Draymond that year. KD was out, sure, but the Warriors went to the Finals essentially without KD anyways. So Kawhi beat the rightful contender.
3 comments
DeRozan is an all time loser.
Stephen is just gassing him up. It doesn’t discredit anything the Raptors did.
If you try to make sense out of nonsense, you’ll blow a fuse.
Kawhi’s performance was exemplary. He willed that team through to victory, and I thought it was awe-inspiring.