Knowing what we know now, would you still make the Russ trade?

without a doubt NO. such a shame they only got 2 years out of that great pairing. in which they no longer have to face a great historic GS team now. last years bench was just an absolute joke. it's no wonder they couldn't pull out of the GS series victorious. You had rivers and Shump in spurts play well and that's it. They took CC out of the game. Do the math. How many players were reliable there smh

And looks like people still forget harden didn't want cp3 traded. he wanted to add butler or wb to them. Guess people forgot that fiasco too. Tilman ultimately panicked & forced this move. Look at the rockets now with their hands pretty much tied and the lack of assets to be able to improve significantly

 

If you only look at the contrast between player and pace, i think the Rockets are better off right now with Westbrook vs CP3 - but damn, we've given up a lot for Westbrook and Covington.

Both Harden and CP played a slow ISO heavy pace. I think this made it harder for the Rockets during the playoffs. Intensity, focus, film study, game planning are all at a higher level in the playoffs. And with the Rockets already being predictable on offense and combine that with their slow pace (Ranked #13 in 2018 and #27 in 2019) it was always going to be an uphill battle.And their pace became even slower in the playoffs.

Compare that to this year - they're ranked #4 in pace. Just the change in pace should keep other teams guessing on how they're going to attack. Their offense is still largely predictable, but just the change in pace i think will be a huge benefit.

From the last 3 games in the bubble, I'm seeing Harden play quicker and faster (maybe it's his conditioning too) and less standing around and dribbling out the clock, Russ is gonna Russ and be in attack mode always. I think just gives the team an added dimension on how to attack the defenses.

 

I think Harden and CP3 reached a point where they preferred playing separately. You can see WB get frustrated with Harden over his lack of doing anything without the ball but I think they can work it out.

 

I loved Chris when he was here with us, however we can't just overlook his age and injury history. If he doesn't get injured like he did we at least have 1 championship.

Russ ain't perfect but something had to be switched up. Also Harden and Russ can be tough on each other with no hard feelings. It wasn't like that with Chris and Harden.

 

no.

it was a financial move.

CP3 and Westbrook are comparable contracts but one is more moveable due to age.

We had to trade our third best player to make this team work.

I don't like this team. It was a second round exit at worst before. It's a first round exit at worst now.

Higher ceiling, lower floor.

I wanted to lock down Eric Gordon before trading CP, he fit in better as a scorer. Now we locked him in long term and will have to use a draft pick to dump his contract.

This team could potentially win it all this year, but they will likely lose in the first or second round. After that, it's all about the money.

 

I wouldn’t make the trade based on what we knew then. Westbrook isn’t a major upgrade and isn’t worth all of what we gave up. We coulda used those assets to bring in a SF.

The only positive imo was Harden committing to us for the long-long term afterwards, as opposed to risking him leaving if he’s unhappy.

 

I will always remember the day we traded for russ (and also CP3). I was very excited.

We gave CP3 a shot and came up just short. I think we should give russ the same shot. I appreciate morey making both trades. We have a great shot this year. Just need to hit our open 3s.

 

Too bad CP3 would have not sucked last year with us, he would still be with us.

He was injured for half a season and then mediocre/sucky for the rest. Couldn't beat his man off the dribble and bricked every 3 pointer imaginable in the playoffs.

That said we didn't have to give up a million picks for WB, that makes no sense.

Plus the switch everything and Iso formula clearly was clearly too taxing on CP3 that he suffered on both ends or the floor.

In the end I don't blame Paul, he gave his all, but our stubborn system on offense and defense makes it hard for a lot of players to succeed.

I blame Morey and MDA for their stubbornness of running a gimmick team with gimmicky and not well rounded players.

The only reason we started switching everything and Iso is to counter GSW. I don't know why we play the way we play now, we are barely 6th seed. We also started giving out picks like candy while our roster gets older and less skilled

 

The problem I have with the deal is on the defensive end.... however ultimately the decision was made by ownership..... ownership told the GM to get WB.... so I am not a big fan of playing “what if”.... also Capela would be injured had the Rockets kept him and the Rockets would be likely going no where.

The trade I don’t have any mixed feelings about is the Covington deal.

 

**** no

This trade was a disaster from the get go.

Tilman meddling.

 

When you say the Russ trade, do you mean the swap of CP3 and Westbrook or do you include the draft picks?

If you are comparing the two players, then it's a debatable question. If you include the picks, then the trade was definitely not good. Westbrook is not (CP3 + 2 first rounders + 2 swaps) good.

 

You'd have to build the team differently, and still get better, but CP3 ez$. Remember the rumor of a CP3/Harden/Westbrook team? That would have been weird. And fun.

 

I love Chris Paul. I love his judgment and his cleverness. I love his savvy and his poise. For any fan who constantly screams at the TV because you don't trust your players to make the right play in crunch time, it's a pleasure to sit back and know that you have a floor general who will do exactly the right thing.

Having said that, I need to flag one bias that works in CP's favor: We tend to notice a player's performance when he has the ball or is defending the ball. With the ball, CP is tremendous. Defending the ball, he's also very good. Westbrook, conversely, often makes boneheaded plays with the ball. And his shooting makes me want to cry.

Off the ball, it's a different story. CP makes the right pass and then does nothing. Or his teammate has the ball, and he's watching and chilling. Or there's a man to be boxed out, or a rebound to be gotten, and he's hoping one of his teammates does the job. On the Thunder, this works, because they have so many athletic players to accompany him.

Russ, off the ball, is much more active. He's making the cut or jumping the passing lane or flying in for the rebound. He's making things happen. On defense, he's not smarter than CP in rotations, but he's much quicker. But most of us don't notice these things, unless or until he gets the ball.

CP is a neutron. Russ is an electron.

I miss CP a lot. But do I believe that he and Harden, with this cast, could do more? No. CP duplicates too much of what Harden has, and doesn't supply enough of what our other players lack. And that's a lot of what frustrated Harden, if you read between the lines of his reported gripes about CP.

As for the picks we gave up, yeah, they were probably too much. But I'm not sure they would have produced guys who would make up the difference between CP and Russ, over the length of their contracts.

 

As of now, neither of CP3/WB/Harden are Championship caliber players so it doesn't really matter.

I hate Tillman as an owner but give me Russ over CP3 right now. Harden/Russ > Harden/CP3. If they're in their prime I'll take Chris.

 

Nope.

DD

 

I think Covington and Capela have to be added into the discussion. To me the team was way more versatile with Paul and Capela in the type of ways it could win games. This current lineup can only win when we hit our corner 3's or when Harden has a monster game. Luckily that happens often enough to produce regular season wins. But, we basically built this team to beat GS and now GS isn't even in the playoffs. We'll see what happens tonight but I think the Lakers are exactly the type of team that we will struggle against now.

 

I still thank Chris is a time bomb and will get injured before the second round. It is what it is.

 

What do we know now that we didn't know then? Can you get me a 2021 Sports Almanac?

 

LOL. Harden isn’t a championship caliber player? In what world? Harden can be the best player on a championship team caliber team, or did u miss 2018?

 

I didn't even like the trade at the time, let alone now that CP3 is looking healthy again. The effects of the trade will be felt long-term, with picks and pick swaps going to OKC until 2026. Will Harden and Westbrook still be a dominant duo in 2026? Can we build a cast around them now being well over the cap and no draft assets to trade? I didn't think Westbrook was an upgrade that was worth mortgaging the future. Fortunately, he is playing great now that we have more tailored the roster to him.

But looking back in hindsight is ridiculous. Last summer, most people thought we were stuck with the corpse of CP3 at $40M/year for the next three years. Now y'all want him back. And if he strains his hamstring in the playoffs again y'all will be saying "glad we dodged that bullet". People do this even from game to game, their attitude swinging from one box score to the next. How do people handle being so mentally fickle?