I think you guys are missing the point....Russ while a better player isnt the player for us. in fact i made the argument to my friends we would be just as good with or w/o him. His net play is more negative for us. Now you roll a lineup of Wall Harden House Tucker Wood second unit Wall, Ego,Maclemore, Tuck, Cousins...lot more movemewnt and ability to play in and out
WB led a team in the west to a 6th seed in the playoffs. Beal cant get a team to 8th in the east. I love beals game but hes statistically one of the worst defendsers in the league and not a good playmaker. All he does is score. Westbrook is easily a better player.
broken up because of tilman mentality which is obviously dumb and those that thought it was a good move.
I think if Wall can play this season and that’s a big if his value would be better plus Russ is declining and Rondo abuse Russ that series too smh you just reminded me bro lol
agreed. no team, even ones with idiot gms, were willing to trade young assets and picks for westbrook.. anybody thinking that the rockets could do so needs to step back into reality. russ is going to be 33 yrs old soon with a game that is all athleticism and no iq... those of you arguing about health, russ didnt play a single back to back last season and still ended up injured for the playoffs!! in a year where corona gave a ton of time off. and russ showed up injured before the season started also... the final straw was russ deciding not to show up for training camp - the longer this dragged on, rockets would have had even less leverage. and please stop with the harden will want out now. harden wanted wall as well... why else would he have been playing with wall throughout this offseason? it's still harden's team... he recruited christian wood, he recruited boogie.. and now he's got wall. this is what harden wanted anyhow.
This is how I feel. What did Morey say a couple of years ago? We have to up our risk profile? We weren't going to win a championship with Russ on this team playing major minutes. He is just not a winning basketball player in the playoffs anymore. Wall has had good stats in the playoffs over his career and knows how to play "within" himself when needed. Also, let's not forget he has more talent in his pinky than most NBA players game. Harden seems to play better with complimentary above average 2 way pieces around him. Russ was do or die on offense and a liability most nights on defense (which I have never understood). Wall brings better floor leadership, defense, ball handling but of course this is all if he is healthy. Kelly Iko has already commented how the Rockets are not concerned with Wall's recovery from his previous injuries. He was ready to play in the bubble if I remember right but the Wizards went ahead and shut him down so he has likely been ready for about 6 months now. This is definitely a risk with such a huge contract but Westbrook is always a risk as well, is older, and an underwhelming playoff performer. I do wish we got an extra asset or two for taking on this risk but that is also why Westbrook's value is so low. There are smart GM's in this league now, probably for the first time ever, who know that Westbrook is fool's gold. It remains to be seen what the future holds for a recovered and hungry John Wall and Demarcus Cousins so I like the risks that have been taken but hope they can at least stay healthy. Wall and Cousins will likely not play on back to backs I assume but that will be something to watch. Westbrook wasn't playing on back to backs either if memory serves. At least there are only like 10 back to backs a season now. P.S. Don't underestimate how this helps guys like Eric Gordon who will play much better with a guy like Wall instead of Westbrook. We will see soon enough if Westbrook was part of the reason for his poor season.
So Westbrook threatened to not play and TF blinked instead of calling someone’s bluff when they have 120M on the line? I guess he ain’t so tough.
Not a good look if true. He cant play with anyone. If he cant play with anyone he will never get a title. If he never gets a title he will just be the carmelo of guards.
I know! Morey still constructed the worst trade imaginable. Morey didnt want his guy to go so he built a trash trade. The most un-Morey like trade ever before he skipped town.
I wanted Westbrook to work here, but his floor was REALLY low in the playoffs. Not only the shooting, but he was repeatedly throwing simple passes to the corner shooter out of bounds. It was baffling.
