Thoughts:
* Pop is just about done coaching in the NBA. Reports surfaced in the past few years that he was considering hanging it up by 2020 or so. Guess when DeRozan's contract expires? 2021. DeRozan's contract runs just about the length of time I'd wager Pop plans to continue coaching.
* So what if Pop is almost done coaching? Well, it's a safe bet that he's not looking forward to retiring in the midst of a rebuild. He clearly wants to go out coaching a competitive Spurs team, even if they're not going to be a true title contender.
* Pop has always presented himself as someone who thinks bigger than the game. He's got five rings, he's about to coach the Olympic team in 2020, his wife recently passed -- I don't think he's super adamant on coaching a title contender. He knows how hard it is to win in the league. I think he's more than content to leave the game coaching a respectable, playoff team.
* The Spurs likely had no interest in the Kyrie and draft pick trade because of Kyrie's injury issues and flight risk after the season that Kawhi posed.
* This Raptors trade, while initially baffling from the Spurs perspective, makes sense: it satisfies the short term goal of remaining competitive in Pop's final years of coaching, while also netting them some things to look forward to in the post-Pop years in draft picks and Poeltl. This explains those reports that the Spurs weren't super keen on trade packages centered around draft picks and young, unproven prospects like Fultz.
* This is an absolute win for Toronto. They won 59 games last year on the strength of a revamped offense and great depth. They upgrade from a lower-tier star in DeRozan to a top 5 (when healthy), 2-time DPOY, and Finals MVP in Kawhi, add a veteran 3-and-D wing in Green, keep their vaunted depth, AND elevate the reported architect behind their offense to head coach -- all at the cost of a productive-yet-expendable bench big and a protected first rounder.
* Even if they end up losing Kawhi... this season was already projected to be the Raptors' last all-in shot with this core. Lowry and Ibaka's contracts expire in 2019 and Valanciunas can opt out next season, but let's assume he opts in because he thinks he won't recoup that money in free agency. That means in 2019, the Raptors would've lost 3/4ths of their core players with DeRozan being the only guy remaining.
* In 2019, they'd likely either have to seek out another star player to pair with a 30-year-old DeRozan or start preparing to trade him in summer 2020 as a 31-year-old making $28 million despite poor defense and no 3-point game.
* If the Raptors were likely already going to be staring down a rebuild following this season, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'd rather do that without DeRozan's contract on the books. This trade allows them to immensely raise their ceiling in the short term while making an eventual rebuild much less messier from a financial standpoint.