Disagree, as much as I don’t really like the Westbrook trade at this stage in their careers you can’t deny Westbrook is better than Paul. No one knew OKC was gonna blow it up when the reports came out. I really think if Westbrook didn’t ask to be traded CP3 would still be here. Also considering Westbrook and Hardens friendship it’s not like we just shipped him out to ship him out. Rockets think they got a better player. Even with no locker beef and them liking each other I still think they make that trade.
Surprise surprise, the media is offended for being called out on their bullshit. There is no actual fire, but of course, media trying to ignite something again. I am sure some of our members will eat this up.
I bet Chris will leak a lot of dirty laundry after he gets moved to his new team. Especially if his new team won't be a contender.
Sports media being similar to all media is hardly a controversial claim, and CNN’s behavior is the most well studied of all the major outlets. If you’re up to date on the literature, then nothing I said was particularly controversial. Regardless, I’d edit my comment if I could and it broke the rules, and if it’s actually incendiary enough, someone can delete it.
I think it's possible that both: 1) Harden and Paul had some tension but were fully prepared to work it out together going into next season and 2) Westbrook, Harden's childhood friend and someone he's always wanted to play with again, suddenly and unexpectedly became available and giving up CP3 was the only way to make it work can be true at the same time.
While I’m still skeptical of Westbrook, there is precedent for hope. First and foremost, when he had Durant, the Thunder were making deep playoff runs year in and year out. Russ was a big part of it. Remember how much trouble the Thunder had against the Rockets after Bev took Russ out? The Durant-led Thunder ended up bowing to the Grizz in Round 2. Second, in his first year without Durant, Russ still made the playoffs (yes he stat padded and shouldn’t have won MVP but it’s no easy task to make the playoffs in the west, especially when a team lacks shooters. Moreover, the one year the Thunder were truly disappointing looks to be an outlier in hindsight as we saw first hand what a cancer Melo is. This past season, the Thunder looked like legit contenders before PG’s injury, again, despite lacking consistent shooters. Those facts give me some faith that this upcoming season could be as incredible as 17-18 but hopefully without the freak injury when it matters most. Then again, Russ’s flaws (poor shooting, shot selection, questionable decision making, hero ball, and stat padding) could also lead to a frustrating season not unlike 15-16. Probably just me, but I don’t really see a middle ground. One can only hope for the best...
Sounds reasonable What is a cough potato? I've heard from people who have been in VIP sections with him that he can run very hot and cold.
