"Washed up" Chris Paul is the best clutch player in the NBA and will be in All-Star Game this year

I still think we have enough time this season to trade Westbrook. Maybe with Portland just doing terrible they might look to shake things up and reunite Kevin Love and Westbrook in Portland. If they somehow ship us Lilliard then I'm all for it.

 

I don't think I've ever said CP3 was bad, he had a bad series against GSW, it happens, just like Harden has had bad series, that's about the extent I've ever said about his performance.

It's clear now that CP3 is still very good, maybe even an all-star, I do wonder if that OKC team he's really going to thrive with Adam's screens and just having full control of the team pretty much.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, you are right, they ran into one of the best assembled teams ever (and...that team is getting likely a top 7 or so draft pick and probably will trade D-Lo for more help so...yeah...this year of parity is fun but the Warrios have a shot at adding another star to Klay, Curry, and Green, again.)

Honestly where I come from it is I see Russ trying to change, I think some are too quick to write it off. I think @Reeko put it best. I feel CP3 is more consistent, he's more of a sure thing, while Russ gives you a high and low ceiling at the same time.

I've always said Russ is pure chaos, you just sort of unload him on the court and hope it is a good kind of chaos for your team. I do think though that MDA and Harden are doing a good job of trying to contain that wildness but also you have to be careful not to change him too much. A big part of becoming a superstar player is having confidence.

And I know this didn't work out with Dwight, he never just accepted that he wasn't Hakeem and continued to eat up possessions with bad post play...but I think the early returns is Russ is trying to fit in with the team so I'm willing to give him my faith.

 

Jimmy would beat him to a pulp tomorrow

 

If Capela decide that he wanted to get real confident and started taking 5 3s per game only making around 20% NO ONE ON EARTH would applaud him for his confidence. They would kill him for his stupidity in taking shots he shouldn’t.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/l.../stupid-people-are-surprisingly-confident.htm

If by did not end well = didn’t win the title than that is a completely over simplistic and dishonest view of what happened in the playoffs.

It’s almost a basketball wide accepted belief that had he not gotten hurt we win that title. And before you rail on CP3s injury history and why it’s a big concern going forward....

 

Well yes, because Capela is a Center. Meanwhile, when a guard doesn't shoot 3s it affects the spacing of the offense, that's why the Sixers constantly want Simmons to shoot more threes despite him being an even worse 3 point shooter than Russ. Even Rondo, Parker, Kidd shot 3s. It's just not good strategy to tell your guard that he should never shoot 3s.

Capela being a center means that if he could shoot 3s, it'd be a big bonus, but since he can't it is fine for him to never attempt it. No one expects your center to hit outside shots anyway.

Also, I think the next year, when the Warriors beat us without Durant on our home floor, kind of erased that whole narrative. The Rockets didn't win, we can't give them a title they never won, that's the same thing people say about Hakeem, that he wouldn't have won if Jordan played, and it's bad logic then and its bad logic now. We don't know if we wouldn't have seen one of those random Klay games where he never misses a shot and goes off for 30 in a quarter and we don't know how much better the Warriors would have played or if CP3 would have had a bad game or whatever. So sure it looked like we were going to win, but its impossible to know that. But Warriors have a history of playing amazing when their backs are against the wall. So we have no idea if we beat them, it's not like we were up 3-0 and then CP3 got hurt.

And yes, you are downplaying CP3s late season injuries AND downplaying how poorly he played in last year's playoffs.

 

I'll chime in here too. CP3 was one of my favorite players before he was a rocket, I always thought he was underrated, and it always bothered me how he was judged by "rings" when he was a very consistent high level playoff performer. I just love the way he plays, and I love watching him. I still watch OKC games on league pass just to watch him. When he got traded to the rockets I was really excited. Then, once he was here, he gave us the best Rockets team that I've ever seen. We won 65 games, it was incredible to watch. I loved watching every minute of every game of that team play. There is no doubt in my mind that we beat the warriors in that series if he doesn't get injured.

I won't go into the next year too much, if you've read my posts you know how I feel, but I thought he got undue criticism in the playoffs especially. Sure he was worse than the year before, but people were acting like he was washed. We see him now in OKC and that's obviously not true.

Meanwhile Westbrook has been a player that I have disliked since he entered the league, and I have thought he was overrated for his entire career. I still think he held back that OKC team, and that they would have won multiple championships if he was willing to change the way he played. I hated that he won the MVP over Harden, and he was one of my most hated players in the NBA.

So with all this in mind, it's easy to see that I was really mad about the trade. I still think this team would be better this year with CP3 over Westbrook. I don't have trouble rooting for him in games, because I still want the rockets to win over everything. But watching him play is extremely frustrating, and when it comes to game analysis and posting, I do have a hard time being on his side.

 

That was a Larry Davidesque post!

 

I'm not 100% sure what this means but I love Larry David so I am choosing to take it as a compliment

 

hahahahha!

 

He is way better than Rus.

DD

 

WB has been killing it lately. Far less inefficient chucking.

 

Ridiculous sprint down the court after a steal to the corner, corner 3, all net.

Grats.

 

CP3 isn't the reason they won that game. He only scored 1 point in the 2nd half. He wasn't even in the game when his teammates turned the game around.

That's not saying CP3 didn't have a good game, it's just there's no need for this thread.

 

Westbrook is so dumb for that. Tucker was literally wide open. People can blame Harden all they want, but that's unbelievable that he actually stole that away from Tucker.

 

washed up life looks pretty great these days

 

Harden was supposed to take shot. I think WB was leaving the corner to make room for Harden when he got the pass unexpectedly. Harden's playing like trash & it's spilling over to the team

 

I don't think Harden did anything wrong in that play.He's obviously not going to shoot anymore 3pt shots after the terrible shooting night he's had. He ran to the paint but it was well protected. I mean, he could have stopped for a mid-range.... but that would have still put us 1 behind with little time to play. He played a perfect pass to a wide open Tucker, who had a decent chance to tie the game. I don't get why Westbrook would steal that pass from Tucker.

 

No, nice try. Harden's job is to shoot. When he gets indecisive we look bad & guys are out of position. That play was designed for him to shoot, no double team or traps. He lost confidence & decided last second to pass. Don't blame WB for Harden's miscues