DeMar DeRozan DISRESPECTS Kawhi Leonard - Raptors Legend Speaks Out On TRUE Feelings In 2019

all right folks so we are back to talk more about the Toronto rapis and what we're looking at now is potentially demard Rosen disrespecting a Toronto Raptor's Legend in kawhai Leonard now not sure if many of you guys have heard this clip yet so let's take a look and let's listen to what demard Rosen had to say about kawhai Leonard and the Tron Raptors championship team in 2019 when he spoke to Stephen A Smith on ESPN's first take this past week the cryp night for the Toronto Raptor franchise at that particular moment in time was LeBron James because y'all kept running into LeBron James the year he arrived LeBron James went to LA so my attitude is had Demar D rozan stayed there he' been a champion with the Toronto Raptors how do you feel about that once you hear something like that yeah never you know to discredit those guys I mean they they they want it they deserve it you know I finally had got to a point to where you know I was happy for them but for sure I definitely feel like that you know the only person we couldn't beat was LeBron that was that that's just what it was and I felt off the year we had before we just needed one more piece that kind of pushes over the top and that piece came to be LeBron going to the West you know and I didn't get an opportunity to see what would have happened but the utmost confidence Within Myself I I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would would would have happened now there's a lot to break down here um and you know all respect to dear and everything that he brought to the organization um I don't think anybody's taking away from that by any means but you know I think lots of Tonto rappers fans myself included that you know watch that historic 2019 playoff run would know that that's just not the case right I don't I don't think this team does win you know an NBA championship excuse me an NBA championship with jamard rose in there instead of Kawhi Leonard and there's multiple reasons why this happens but you know the first one first and foremost let's look at it is the Philly Series right there's two powerhouses there in the Eastern Conference that you know could have easily won the NBA Championship that year and that was number one the Philadelphia 76ers and then number two we'll get two in a minute in the Milwaukee Buck but just looking at the Philadelphia 76ers they had a Powerhouse of a team and that series was a dog fight right you're looking at Jimmy Butler there Ben Simmons which was probably the best Ben Simmons especially on the defensive end at that time like I said Jimmy Butler embiid you also still had Tobias Harris you had JJ reick there who was still playing at a high level know the list goes on that roster was very strong and I think you know whoever won that series between Philadelphia and the Raptors you know probably would have won the NBA champ obviously we've seen that with the Raptors but the point I'm trying to make is that that series was intense right that series was a dog fight and without you know the full team of Toronto Raptor players that we had on that roster building that wall against embiid playing that Elite defense that we did against MBI I know marol played a huge role there but you know really took um you know it took a community it took five people to really stop him beat at that time you know and the defense that Kawhi Leonard and the offense that Kawhi Leonard brought throughout that series you know if you take any of that away I think Philly wins that series and then another thing to look at too is the iconic shot right that shot doesn't happen obviously if you take kawii Leonard off the roster and then no offense to Dear Rosen you know we know dear is a closer and you know he loves his mid-range game but you know I don't think demard Rosen is making that shot you know you don't see you know demard Rosen make many three-point shots um you know especially in a clutch situation you know obviously at that time he was more of a mid-range specialist but again clutch situations outside the three not really Jamar D rozan specialty so uh you know I I I just I don't see us winning that series you know if you do put dear on there inste kaai and then I would even take it a step further to say that I think if you put Kawhi Leonard on those tronto Raptors teams from 2018 and 2017 I don't know if we do lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers I don't know if you know we lose to the cabs in 2018 with that team that didn't have Kyrie and didn't have um uh you know a lot of the core guys of Ron CLE went throughout those whole years rich Jefferson or um you know shumer um people like that you know they weren't really playing at a high level or playing at all on that last Cleveland roster was mainly Lebron and uh you know a bunch of young guys that aren't even really on the cabs anymore so you know interest and Thompson obviously wasn't really playing at a high level at that time but again you know if you put kawii Leonard on this Tron rapers team that won the NBA Championship I think they take out the Cleveland Cavaliers in that uh in that 2018 playoff suit I I actually think you look at it Boston took them to game seven I mean the 2019 Toronto rouchers roster was significantly better than the 2018 Boston Celtics roster so no I think if you put Kawhi Leonard there you know you might actually have a back-to- back championship at that time um but you know that's just the Philly series another thing to look at as well is the Milwaukee Buck series and you know I don't think that the Toronto Raptors even make the NBA Finals if we don't have uh kawii Leonard guarding Giannis like he did now I don't know if many people remember that series but we actually went down the Tron Raptors went down 0 and2 to start the series Milwaukee won their first two games at home um so it really did honestly look like the Toronto Raptors you know we're going to struggle against mili bucks and it might not be as you know that easy of a series um but there was a key change made when the series started Pascal cakin was the one guarding Yannis pretty consistently uh and and we all remember that historic moment where kawh Leonard and the reports came out told Nick nurse in the locker room what's changing going forward is that I'm guarding Giannis and really that's when things did change you know when you put kaai on Giannis as the primary uh Defender as well as you know obviously the wall that the Tron Raptors built uh every time he would driving is at that time they were playing under coach bud and their offense was very much you know Giannis attacks the pain everybody else spaces the floor um you know we see when we built that wall there was nothing really at that time that Giannis could do those first two games and the rest of the season you know Giannis was still pretty much prime Yannis you know at that point he was still playing at a prime level um but you know when we built that wall and had Kawai on him as a primary primary Defender he completely got off his game and you know the tronto Raptors won four games in a row so you know if you don't have kawii Leonard there to play that defense on Giannis and you replace him with demard De Rose it just it doesn't happen the tronto Raptors don't Advance uh to the next round and play against the Golden State Warrior so I mean again I respected DeMar rosen love DeMar rosen he's a Tron ratas Legend but I just I don't I had to disagree with them here I don't think the Tron rappers win the NBA championship in 2019 if you do um you know replace kawii Leonard with demard Rosen um you know and it's unfortunate and I understand why DeMar saying things like this obviously he believes into his game but you know if you really look at it the jar j rozan Leed team is just kind of mediocre and it hasn't really changeed from that I mean you look at the Tron Raptor teams when you had jar on the roster they were all relatively mediocre right it was a first it was a first or second round uh Team pretty much the whole time I think once we made the Eastern Conference Finals in there but for the majority of the time you know you're looking at a first second round exit right and that that kind of remained the same um you know even the following years right when he went to Chicago same type of thing first s on exit not really any different right playing Team first second round exit you know you were looking at the same thing year after year after year um where and you're probably going to see that again with Sacramento you know I wouldn't say he's going to you know Advance much further than the first or second round with Sacramento um so you know respect to Dear obviously all respect to him but you know I don't see that necessarily being the case you know the TR Raptors winning um you know an NBA championship with him on the roster um instead of Kawhi Leonard and you know it going back to this topic it always is super unfortunate the way it all kind of happen uh with Kawhi Leonard leaving the way he did because you know not only um did Kawhi Leonard never find that success again that he did fine with the Tonto Raptors uh you know obviously he he's been struggling with injury year after year after year with the Clippers um but the TR Raptors that championship roster completely folded as well after kawhai left because you know the ceiling had already been reached um so it it is unfortunate it would have been nice if Kawhi Leonard did stay around and you know build that roster a little bit more and you know see how far it could go you know you could have been looking at two to three more championships there with that roster know especially in 2020 you know I take the 2019 Raptors over the 2020 Lakers any day of the week um but you know like I said it is it is unfortunate the way it played out but like I said all respect to dear just disagree with him uh on this particular topic