Gregg Popovich And LeBron James? Sheesh

[Marc Stein] - I’ve also been advised that the ever-persuasive San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich is bound to try to force his way into the conversation to sell James on the merits of South Texas.

Picture it now. LeBron heads to San Antonio where Pop meets him for dinner. They open up the finest bottle of Pinot Noir and start discussing LeBron playing for the Spurs. Sheesh.

I mean it’s not outrageous. Long shot? Sure. But not outrageous. The Spurs are planning on sitting down with Kawhi and offering him a max deal to lock him up. Reports are saying that Leonard isn’t going to force a trade or anything of the sorts after the rocky year this past season with his injury and whether or not he wanted to be part of the team, etc.

LeBron actually is a great fit with the Spurs. You pair him with Leonard, arguably the best defender in the league. You pair him with a young point guard in Dejounte Murray, who is a longer guard and a strong defender. Plus, he’s already in on playing with LeBron:

Throw in the fact that Manu would likely come back for another year, the Spurs would have to figure out what to do with Tony Parker and Danny Green in order to create enough space. They’d also have to likely execute a trade to dump LaMarcus Aldridge’s salary somewhere. That said, LeBron would be able to play around defenders that can switch – and are great defenders. He’d play around guys that can shoot the ball, keeping the lane open for his drive and kicks. He’d play with guys that are on-ball, so he can play off the ball if he wants to.

The only downside to going to San Antonio would be playing in the West and having to deal with the Warriors early on. That said, the idea of playing in a tax-free state and more importantly for Pop could do wonders for him. LeBron has long talked about how great of a coach Pop is, plus all the wine they can drink together.

LeBron + Kawhi + Pop = sheesh!