WOJ: BREAKING Westbrook to Houston for CP3 & Picks!!!

It's funny reading all the news articles and trying to figure out who won this trade. There are some really strong opinions going both ways. I assume this trade will be judged solely on whether Houston wins a championship with the two or not. But, I would consider a Finals appearance also a success.

This move clearly reeks of desperation. They are trying anything to find that player who is the missing answer that Harden needs to get over the hump while Harden still has his "A" game. This rotating door of players is kind of comical. If this experiment fails after a couple of seasons, then what's next? I would assume that would be Harden on the trade block next. There are only so many band-aids before you just got to bleed out.

 

My buddy who is an account manager said season tickets are flying off the ****ing map right now. I love it. But now I may not get to bum free tickets anymore lol

 

Imagine if CP3 says screw it, takes a huge discount to get bought out and joins Lebron in LA on a vet minimum.

 

What is your problem with fit? This fit argument got obliterated within the first few months of the Harden-Paul duo. "Oh they're both point guards. Oh they're both ball dominant, etc." The fact of the matter is CP3 rarely can get past his man if it isn't a mismatch. Westbrook can get to the hoop at will.

 

The weird thing is... generally the things we look at to bestow the superstar status on to a player are largely ignored for him.

Not a winner, not the best decision maker and most of his stats are inflated by volume not efficiency.

Generally that recipe leads people to say not a superstar.

And for some reason he gets that pass with a lot of people.

 

Considering what he is owed it is pretty hard to imagine.

 

The Courtside Seats and Lower better be sold out, I hate it when people don't show up or fans are not interested in the team, and there is so many empty seats behind the score keepers long table, empty seats behind the both benches of teams. It gives off a bad vibe and reputation that Houston doesn't care about the Rockets, and NBA Free Agents look at that, the fans don't care vibe. It is very embarrassing on ESPN or TNT games you see empty red seats throughout the stadium its a bad look.

Toyota Center will have lots of fans paying a lot for those seats, because of Russell Westbrook high energy and dunking highlights. Fans are going to be loud and energetic because of Russell. Hey maybe Thunder fans are going to be in Houston now, you never know.

 

terrible trade, why trade an efficient player for a chucker..... i don't like WB's game at all, and his game is gonna deteriorate so fast that cp3's contract would look like a huge bargain now, WB's contract is the worst of all man kind....

 

If it is such a disaster as you think we will have the picks still.

Harden has already played with him and wanted to play with him again, your not making sense.

 

How? Didnt you see the new draft rules?
Devoted teams in tanking got the 6-7th pick. And with the pick swaps okc can pick which ones of the others they have to swap with ours.

 

Compared to Westbrook CP3 has been a better defender and less ball dominant. A much better shooter and a worlds apart playmaker. He has also been FAR better playing off ball than Westbrook.

 

Westbrook has also never played with this much shooting and space on the floor.

 

The big question is whether Aaron Brooks will allow Westbrook to take his number down from the rafters.

 

Marquese Chriss wore it this season. Yikes

 

Paul DRTG 109
Brodie DRTG 103
Brodie more blocks more steals waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more rebounds, also those stats per game. more games played.
Brodie is still in his prime and Paul isn't.
CP3 just like Harden had his stats and game elevated through Dantoni's system. Same thing will happen to Russ next year.
Westbrook is 6'3". Chris Paul is 4'11"
Westbrook was 4th in Defensive Win Shares the past 2 years. Paul didn't rank. Westbrook was 7th in Defensive Rating last year. Paul didn't rank.

 

Those later picks are top 20 protected.

The Rockets will not be in the lottery if Harden stays healthy.

i can understand not liking this trade, I don't like the picks as well but you are going way overboard with the doom and gloom.

 

Needed some time to compose my thoughts - I am going to have it in spoilered sections so they do not take up a ton of space on the page. Its probably going to be a long read though.

Harden-CP3 "feud" and the "I know what we need to do" comment

Spoiler

With the recent Goodwill article which was refuted by everyone in the org including CP3 people are now saying because of this trade that it vindicates Goodwill and his sources and everything he said. To me I still think this is complete BS. I do believe Harden and CP3 had a healthy friction that stemmed from their competitive nature but neither was so fed up to request trade ultimatums. Secondly I do not believe for a moment CP3 would have been traded because of his contract primarily and plus it would be hard to get near equal value back. The only two players outside of westbrook I thought would never request a trade are Dame and Steph. This was as out of left field as possible, Goodwill isn't some sort of savant or seer to know this was going to happen.

As for the postgame comment I do believe Harden felt they had done their homework and recruiting to get Butler. I believe Butler did leverage Houston a bit to get Miami in the game as well as no one believe Philly even had a notion to entertain a sign and trade. It has become a players league and Jimmy wanted to be in Miami. I do think he wanted to play with Harden but he did not want to play in Houston.

As McMahon tweeted out even if there was no competitive friction between Harden and Paul this trade would have been made on the belief that Westbrook gives the Rockets a better chance to win during Harden's prime.

The Actual Trade

Spoiler

Unlike a lot of folks here I never was overly critical about Westbrook during his MVP season. I admit I stan for my UCLA guys, but I still believe Harden should have won it and that Westbrook's amazing season was a product of stat inflation that came at the cost of team play. That all said I am perfectly fine with the trade with the exception on the pick protections - I wish they were both top 8 protected instead of top 4 protected, Especially the 2026 one which is so far out and who knows how the Rockets will be then. Outside of that most people felt it would require a FRP to unload CP3's contract. The Rockets took back the same contract - with one extra year, but got a better player than CP3 in return (given age and injury history Westbrook is at this point in their respective careers) which I did not think would be possible. I do think this may raise both the floor and ceiling for the Rockets unlike most people. I figured CP3 would miss another 12-15 games next season and I do not think Westbrook will. Not to mention while Harden has been durable and racked up the minutes he should get more rest by having another star that can carry a team while on the floor. CP3 could not do that more on a consistent basis.

On CP3

Spoiler

Its a shame to see the Point Gawd go. I never really appreciated his game fully when he played for the Hornets or the Clippers because of his attitude towards the refs. He continued that in Houston which was annoying at times, funny at times too but I think it ultimately hurt the team since the refs are people as well. It was amazing to see him play that first season and the way he controlled the pace of the game and eviscerated defenses and got to where ever he wanted. He was playing chess with the other team out there moving players to whatever spots he wanted. The hamstring injury in game 5 will always been one of the biggest 'what ifs' in his career now. This past season though you could tell he really did lose a step and it was really noticeable in the playoffs. He just could not get past anyone in the playoffs. More importantly too he made a lot of silly mistakes in the playoffs that were not like him at all. Some of it could have been the result of the loss of athleticism. The problem is that as he gets older and more minutes are logged on his deteriorating body he is only go further down hill from here. The best CP3 the Rockets would ever see was in season 1. It reminds me a lot of the McGrady acquisition. The 04-05 TMac was downright filthy, but after that injury the following year he was still really freaking good but it was clear his top gear came down a notch. Unfortunately for TMac then and CP3 now for the Rockets to win a championship (KD Warriors or not) they are gonna need the 17-18 CP3 not a really good CP3.

What could be worse is that if CP3 still believes he can be the CP3 of two seasons ago then he may hurt the team's championship chances moreso than anything. The Rockets need a superstar CP3 not borderline all-star CP3 to be a championship contender. I do think the Rockets were still the team to be if they just "ran it back" because of the additional depth of Rivers and growth of House to counter the decline of CP3.

I do feel bad that CP3 is going to a team that wont be competing and hopefully gets flipped somewhere that he will be happy. He deserves a shot but sometimes its just complete bad luck. He had his chances in the early stages of Lob City in LA but did not seal the deal. I think a lot of that is on him. He is still one of the best players I've ever seen play and I will be appreciative of the two seasons he spent in Houston

On Westbrook

Spoiler

Well this is gonna be awkward for a lot of people here. Westbrook definitely does not fit the classical Moreyball mold in terms of his outside shooting but he does do so much and as I mentioned above I do believe he is better than Paul at this stage of their careers.

I was shocked to see Westbrook being ok with a trade. I think this shows a lot in what he is valuing right now in his career. I think he got the individual accolades but I think he really wants to win a ring without KD. He wanted to do it in OKC, but after the PG trade there was no way that was going to happen. I do think Presti and OKC did right by Westbrook by sending him to a team that can contend for a ring. Being back with Harden will allow westbrook to be himself at times without hurting the team. The first time where he wont be the best player on the team since KD left, but i think he is ok with this because it is Harden. Harden and Russ kept that bond since they were kids and since they were teammates. Russ knew Harden was traded and was done kind of dirty by OKC with the 1 hour ultimatum. The two of them have kept close since - much closer than KD and Harden. How it will work is up to MDA. One thing I feel is going to happen with Westbrook is that I do not believe the triple double hunt is going to matter to him anymore. I think at least for his MVP season that it mattered to him to do something historical. I think the last two season was more of a result of him not being able to rein that in completely and extremely poor coaching. MDA may not be a top tier coach, but he is easily the best coach Westbrook will have since joining the NBA. This very well could be the first time he is going to be in an actual offensive system that will maximize his skills. Westbrook found ways to relentlessly attack without spacing - now that he is going to have spacing? He could set a record to drives per game to the basket. I feel that the pairing has way more potential to work than a lot of people are saying.

But if Westbrook stays Westbrook this can go south quick but no one really knows. I will say Harden has yet to play with an all-star since Dwight's first year with Houston. I do think Westbrook will be an all-star again next season. Also I think Harden tried to work with Howard who was someone Morey really wanted because of his metrics. I think Harden worked with Paul and recruited Paul because of Morey's vision. And it worked but it was tough to swallow that the decline was immediate, the hope was probably have the Decline happen in year 3 of the deal not year 1 for Paul. I think this the first time that it was Harden wanting to get a guy he wanted since Westbrook really does fit the classic Moreyball mold. and as cyberx pointed out that this move was done with some apprehension from Morey, but Fertita only said make it happen when Harden said he was on board. This is not to say Harden didn't give it his 100% with Paul or with Howard but I think there is also a different level of motivation when its your guy versus the guy the GM wanted.


And lastly Westbrook plays with an edge, he isn't afraid and wears his emotion on his sleeve. The Rockets need more fiery players like that we haven't really had one since Beverley left the team. I think that attitude will do good for the team and that much more easier to root for.

 

Isn't the the 2026 pick top 20 protected?