On Westbrook v. Paul, Let Us Consider That Daryl Knows When To Cut Bait On An Aging Player

Morey has always been pretty quick to fix his mistakes ….

 

Ariza really hasn't lost much. He's just decided to cash in before he does lose his chance to secure his finances due to age and diminishing skill that comes with age.

The teams he's played with since leaving us have all been lottery bound squads:

Phoenix Suns
Washington Wizards
Sacramento Kings

He could help transform the Kings into a playoff team but that will have more to do with how their young up and coming stars develop this season.

All-in-all, we could REALLY use a Trevor Ariza type player on THIS team if we had the chance to sign or trade for one. That's one we shouldn't have let go, ala Robert Covington. So this kinda goes both ways.

 

The only example you gave that I disagree with is Ariza.

He would be very useful on this team.

 

we don’t talk about melo.

 

I'd feel a little better about this concept if trading CP3 had been Morey's idea.

 

Bobby Jackson, Jason Terry and NeNe all say hi.

 

Morey had nothing to with trading CP3. 100% sure he would have rather kept CP3 than trade for high volume, low efficiency, mid range chucker like Westbrick who is anti everything Morey. Prettu sure MDA also didn't want WB

Westbrook is here because of:

1. Harden
2. Tilman

End of.

 

Morey makes plenty of mistakes. Exhibit A: Carmelo Anthony. It's true that he seems to be good at correcting his mistakes pretty quickly. But people are bending over backward to rationalize this Westbrook trade.

 

rationalization...

denial is more than just a river in Egypt...

 

Contrary to popular belief and supposed insider info , I think this was just as much Morey's doing as it was Harden / Tilman.

It was clear for all to see that CP3 was no longer capable of pulling the cart , he's simply a very good role player at this point in his career and that considering his contract , it was all but impossible to improve the team enough to compete with the top handful of teams in the West.


Swapping that high quality role player and his anchor of a contract for a bona fide MVP candidate is a freaking no brainer.

 

CP3 will certainly have a further decline and look his age if he’s on a team where he’s the main dude.

But if he ends up say, at the Lakers, he’ll probably look like he’s in his prime.

I just hope Westbrook dunks on him hard enough, forcing an early retirement. Then we can say we won the trade lol

 

Everyone has been complaining about CP3's age and contract. Westbrook is 3.5 years younger, but given that his game is largely based on athleticism it may not age as well and his contract may be as much of an anchor since it is 1 year Longer, and that last year is a whopping 47 million. Also given that Westbrook is not efficient, not a good shooter, is incredibly high usage- and we already have an incredibly high usage player that is mote efficient in every way- this actually way a brainer.

 

You make a good point on the contract ….


Sure , that last year may be rough but the window went from slammed shut to wide open with this trade and that's the bottom line.

This team was not going to win a championship with CP3 on the roster without another big time acquisition.

 

Potentially. The Rockets were clearly the second best team in CP's first year, just bareky behind GS. Last year, we finished the year on a great pace. I can understand saying the championship window was closing, but I think saying it was slammed shut is a bit premature.

In the same way, we don't really know how this pairing will work. The optimistic people here have to admit that there are legitimate questions about fit, shooting, usage, defense etc... While the more pessimistic people about this trade (which I definitely am) also have to admit that it has a chance of opening up entirely new dimensions of our offense with drives and fast breaks and increased tempo from the full court.

It may have have opened our championship window, or it may blow up in our faces. Here's hoping it's the former

 

Who/What is he going to trade Westbrook for?

 

Initial reactions around the league seemed to be of people who were impressed by this trade from the Rockets perspective. There's a reason why this was the initial reaction. Then people step back and try to punch holes in the team and rationalize that this move is doomed or whatever. There's a reason for the doom and gloom.

But the real answers are usually somewhere in-between.

I think the Rockets were smart to cut ties with CP3. Things weren't fun last year like they were the year prior. CP was a big part of why that was the case. Bringing in Westbrook will have an impact and that impact is almost guaranteed to lead to fun regular season basketball and a run at a championship. Keeping PJ, EGo and Cap is huge.

Problem is that lots of teams out West got good. They all have question marks like us though.
1. Clippers roster is stacked: Bev, Kawhi, Paul George, JaMychal Green, Wilson Chandler, Harkless, Harrell, Lou Williams, Zubac... they look great, but they don't have a real point guard on that team. Who runs that offense? How many games will Kawhi sit out and nurse his fragility?
2. Lakers roster: LeBron, The Brow, Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell Pope, Danny Green, Cousins, Kuzma, Troy Daniels... nice team, but who is playing point? Your injury plagued PF from last year Lebron? You can't deny that health is a huge issue here.
3. Jazz: Conley, a healthy Exum?, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdonavic, Rudy Gobert, Jeff Green, Ingles... will they score consistently when they need to?
4. Portland: CJ McCollum, Lillard, Hassan Whiteside, Bazemore .. nice paper team, but where's the depth?

Every team has question marks. Our question marks aren't bigger than theirs.. it's all perspective. Media has plenty of Houston haters within their organizations and we know that. It's real. (Looking at Vincent Goodwill being accepters) And we also have self loathing fans that make everything seem worse than it is. That's definitely real on here.

Regardless of competition in the West (that's what everyone's main concern seems to be), cutting bait with CP3 looks to be a smart thing. Dude was a shell of what he's been in the past. Harden didn't cause that. CP's body did. And for that reason, I'm glad we're out.

 

That was a sad chapter that no one wants to talk about. We tried to do the fat midget a solid by bringing his buddy and it went pear shaped fast like Paul’s body composition

 

BIG STEP lost, and I didn't see any extra sauce in the playoffs like I expect vets to bring. If anything he was worn down.