Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

[BornIndy]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Idk, but him and PG on the wings for defense would of been crazy

[Ransom]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

He's developed quite well under the Spurs, George Hill made sense at the time with both PG and Danny. Hindsight is 20/20, I don't really look at it as a Bird/Morway mistake, just the way things bounce.

Anyway, that was three years ago.

[imawhat]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Love George Hill, but still hate the trade. It made way more sense to keep Leonard to guard LeBron, so Paul wouldn't have to.

And I don't buy the too many wings argument. You take the best player available and make room for him. Plus Rush was on his way out and Lance hadn't proven anything.

A Granger/George/Leonard trio would've been real solid. We'd have problems @ point guard, but we still do so nothing was fixed.

[LA_Confidential]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Would the Cavs be better if they kept Danny Green?

[Ace E.Anderson]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Love George Hill, but still hate the trade. It made way more sense to keep Leonard to guard LeBron, so Paul wouldn't have to.

And I don't buy the too many wings argument. You take the best player available and make room for him. Plus Rush was on his way out and Lance hadn't proven anything.

A Granger/George/Leonard trio would've been real solid. We'd have problems @ point guard, but we still do so nothing was fixed.

We weren't worried about guarding Lebron in the playoffs. We had just made the playoffs for the first time in a long time and needed vets at the time.

Ive made this point a few times but Leonard wouldn't be the same player as a Pacer as he is for the Spurs. I feel it would have been a Gerald Wallace like situation. Wallace languished on the bench after being drafted by the Kings. Once he was traded to the Bobcats and got to play in a system that fits him, he did very well. Right now Leonard is the 4th option on a team with really good offensive talent within a system that capitalizing on that talent tremendously. He wouldn't have gotten that here.

Also for all the complaints about the trade, we made the ECF twice since the trade (with a trip to the 2nd round as well) since then--so we've seen our share of success

Im not saying Hill is better than Leonard (though I do feel that Leonard is a tad overrated). But Leonard wouldn't fit here nearly as well as he does in SA

[ECKrueger]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

We weren't worried about guarding Lebron in the playoffs. We had just made the playoffs for the first time in a long time and needed vets at the time.

Ive made this point a few times but Leonard wouldn't be the same player as a Pacer as he is for the Spurs. I feel it would have been a Gerald Wallace like situation. Wallace languished on the bench after being drafted by the Kings. Once he was traded to the Bobcats and got to play in a system that fits him, he did very well. Right now Leonard is the 4th option on a team with really hood offensive talent within a system that capitalizing on that talent tremendously. He wouldn't have gotten that here.

Also for all the complaints about the trade, we made the ECF twice since the trade (with a trip to the 2nd round as well) since then--so we've seen our share of success

Im not saying Hill is better than Leonard (though I do feel that Leonard is a tad overrated). But Leonard wouldn't fit here nearly as well as he does in SA

I tend to agree. We needed a solid veteran PG more than another wing. Position of need vs position of strength. Proven commodity vs fresh to the league rookie. There's the matter of who we would've gotten at the point otherwise.

I would like Leonard for sure, but there's way too many variables to make a guess on what'd be better. Also tend to think he wouldn't play as well here. I'm not even sure I'd trade them for each other today. Unless Lance walks, the. It's an interesting decision.

[imawhat]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

We weren't worried about guarding LeBron in the playoffs....

And that's easily my biggest complaint about the trade. When you don't have the best player (especially with no player in the top 10), a major part of your strategy needs to be on stopping the best player.

How many complaints were there about Paul guarding LeBron? He played poorly all series until he could spend time on Wade. Leonard would've eased pressure defensively for Paul all season. And offensively he plays without play calls. He would've fit in fine here.

All of our young talent has developed here. Kawhi would've been fine. And at the time, we had a shooting guard in a point guard's body starting in Collison. Hill duplicated that (with better defense and clutch play), and here we are three years later with the same problems with passing, ball handling and running the offense.

We could have strongly improved our wing rotation and shored up one of our biggest weaknesses. Instead we marginally improved our point guard play while addressing no weaknesses. And that's why I hated the trade then and why I still do.

[Ace E.Anderson]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Well if you've been watching the last two finals between the Spurs and Heat, Leonard can't really guard Lebron very well anyways.

But also I dont think you build a team specifically to beat the best players. Lebron was still on the Cavs when we made that trade and we already drafted a defensive minded wing in Paul George, so why would we have needed yet another wing? Hindsight is always 20/20, but with our recent success since the trade-- its hard to argue the results.

Lastly its easy to say he would've developed fine, but you just dont know. He started from day one on S, was coached by an all time great, and was mentored by 3 Hall of Famers. He wouldn't have had any of those luxuries here. He wouldnt have started his rookie year, and we dont know if he'd end up starting next yr. Since we are playing the what if game, what if Danny doesn't get hurt, what if Lance would've been our 6th man, etc. We don't know if or how Leonard would've developed or fit in with this group.

The player that he is now is a nice piece on the Spurs, but he's not a world beater. I just dont think adding Leonard and subtracting Hill puts us over the top.

[BenR1990]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

For what it's worth, a couple people I was watching the game with tonight felt Paul George did a better job defending Lebron than Kawhi Leonard has done so far this series. They have no bias towards or against either player or team.

[Cactus Jax]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

The Spurs have the same problem the Pacers have...if George/Leonard guards LeBron, they don't have a good offensive game. The Pacers eventually decided to take PG off LeBron for game 5 and he had a monster game (the fouls helped too). The Spurs are basically sacrificing Leonard to be a 3 point shooter/LeBron defender that may limit him to 25-35 points, it's not worth it in the end. The Spurs have even worse defenders than the Pacers outside of Leonard so it's harder for them to make that sacrifice, Diaw is the only other guy that could even possibly guard him ok. The Spurs have way more offensive weapons though, so Parker and Ginobili and the rest have to step up and they can.

[West90]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Danny, PG, Kawi....... could not have worked, wasn't supposed to work, was why he was traded. You have to draft for other team's needs if it is what looks best for you.

[1984]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Agree with all posters who said we drafter FOR San Antonio; I don't think we would have taken him.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

No crystal ball, but you'd assume collison would be kept around as the starting point guard.

It's obviously a win on talent but it's unfair considering they drafted Leonard FOR the spurs. No telling who they would have picked for themselves. Not likely another SF.

I'd swear I read something a year or more ago where Bird said Leonard would have been the Pacers pick.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

I remember reading that if the Pacers didn't trade for Hill they were planning on drafting Leonard for themselves anyway.

Same hear.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

The real point is Hill isnt better than Leonard and Leonard hasn't reached his zenith yet and Hill has.

Look at the other players who were available after the 15 th pick. Vucevic, Shumpert, Faried, Reggie Jackson, Jimmy Bulter, and Parsons to name a few who were drafted after Leonard. Some at positions the Pacers could use now.

Bird has tunnel vision when he wants something, prime example Peja, ended up being a half year rental. Like with Hill, Bird always wanted Peja too, and both were traded for having expiring contracts. Pacers wouldn't overpay for Peja, smart move, but did overpay for Hill, not smart.

Lets see if Bird overpays to keep his pet Stephenson.