Sources: Morey was given the order from the Tillmans to complete this trade

If you really think Cp3 contract is (or would be) more valuable over WBs, you're delusional.

 

Morey, is that you?

 

I too would have preferred Butler for fit purposes, but I think Butler still would have costs picks + Ego & Cap. I'd rather have Ego & Cap than CP3.

I don't like the fit at all, hope they can figure it out. But it costs us less to go with WB. (those picks are top 4 protected btw....not unprotected).

 

I hope Harden will age much better, and I think he will. Westbrook will decline faster than Harden (and possibly Paul).

But my greatest fear is that from the comments he made in the past, Westbrook looks like he will become another of those delusional stars such as Dwight and Melo. They still cling to the grandeur self-image and refuse to yield long past their relevance.

 

Simply untrue, unless your only “analytic” is his three point shooting percentages.

His Plus/Minus stats are otherworldly, only slightly behind Harden. When he is on the floor his team has always much, much better. When he is off the floor his team is wayyyyyyy worse.

 

Good point

 

I like him as a person, not as a player. But yeah, survive of the fittest.

 

I hope Morey had a bit more input than is being referenced here! Because you can’t just put players together and get magic, Morey has the modules in place that give him a vision of how the tandem will work.

I think this is Morey trying to protect as much of his draft future as possible. Tillman probably told him “stop trying to be cute”, the window of opportunity for Harden is 2 to 3 years, sacrifice the future for a chance at greatness now. I’m on board, here is your get out of jail card if the criticism comes at you after having to yield the 5 and 7th pick in the draft.

 

538's fair market value analysis for Westbrook on the next four years:

2020 $69.3m
2021 $60.1m
2022 $46.9m
2023 $43.2m

WAR:

2022 8.5
2021 6.9
2022 5.1
2023 4.4

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/carmelo/russell-westbrook/

 

Til, man of action.

Guess his sons were tired of seeing all CF posters ******** on them

 

Then I prefer an owner group.....at least they talk it through.

 

Call me delusional if you wish, but we aren't talking about in a vacuum here or Russ versus Paul one on one

Westbrook is only a high usage, High ISO, need the ball in his hands kind of player. Even more so than Paul because he is such a bad shooter. The problem is Harden is so much better at all of that then Westbrook is and I really struggle to see how they can fit together. Have you watched Westbrook when he doesn't have the ball in OKC? He stands Way Beyond the three-point line just waiting to get the pass back so he can try to drive.
He puts up stats but doesn't play winning basketball, is on the wrong side of 30 for a player that solely relies on athleticism, has a terrible contract.

This isn't even so much about losing Paul as much as it is about gaining Westbrook. Subtraction by addition

 

Tired of this, the trade is 100% his responsability. If he has no autonomy he should resign. Good or bad, it's on him.

 

This is reassuring that at the very least harden and Tillman are aligned.

Harden ain’t going nowhere.

He’ll retire a rocket, he gets whatever he wants here plus all the money.

And tbh I’m not a Russ fan iv ragged on him a lot.

But he’s better than cp3 at this point.

If harden and Russ can come together (big if, the motivation is their) they can be special.

It’s going to come down to defense for this team.

The offense is going to be dynamic.

Let’s not act like Russ won’t spend a ton of time without harden running with Gordon house and tucker. He’ll have so many shooters to pass to that he’s never had before. He’ll be better in this end minutes Forsure imo.

I also find it hard to believe that Morey doesn’t think this is a good trade long and short term.

One guy is 30 and his contract ends when he’s 34 the other guy is 34 and his contract is just beginning.

 

So Harden went to Tilman and talked.

Harden: Hey Boss, I don't think CP3 can take us to the next level. He's old and he runs his mouth like a baytch.
Tillman: What do you have in mind?
Harden: Russell wants out of OKC.
Tilman: Promise me you play defense next season?
Harden: Yes boss.

and there goes the fireworks.

 

Les Alexander fans can leave town like Les did

 

If that's even somewhere close to the case then I'm glad we were able to get a guy with the talent level of Westbrook and who actually wanted to be here. Time will tell if it can actually work out.

 

Well, i don't know cyberx's identity, but maybe Morey knows him and this is Morey's way of saying, "Not me, him."

Maybe.

 

If the Westbrook experiment fails, Morey can flip him for John Wall to complete the untradable contract trifecta.

 

could be damage control and tillman taking heat off of morey a bit.