Clutchfans had a different take on CP3 then, most of the forum wanted his contract gone and thought he was washed. What have you done for me lately applies here as it always does. If Westbrook plays better than most of Clutchfans will act as if they've always loved him. There really has been only a few people that were consistent with their dislike of Westbrook.
Did they talk about Drummond and Cedi before? Id assume you have to give them a 1st to consider taking on Westbrook contract. Heck they probably do it, Westbrook a fun player to watch, and pairing him up with Love would be fun.
Yeah, sure but they didn't notice him failing against Lillard the year before. Look, it's all relative. WB is too expensive for most franchises. If he took 15 million less, he would be good for the Heat who have tons of shooters. The perfect setting IMO.
Francis drank his way out of the league, and Cat was not a star player, come on now, let's compare apples to apples. BTW - I don't think a lot of people EVER wanted Westbrook, including our very own Clutch. http://rockets.clutchfans.net/11664/houston-rockets-sacrifice-future-russell-westbrook/ DD
We aren't going to get anything worthwhile for WB... in the context of competing immediately except a Blake Griffin like player (who only has this year and player option left).
It was a lot to give up. I only liked the deal because I ASSumed Harden would somewhat adapt his game for his buddy. I said at the very beginning, "my turn, your turn" wouldn't work.
The people who thought Westbrook "turned the corner" based on random January/February games against random opponents who don't gameplan for regular season games overlooked the glaringly obvious fact that Westbrook is a consistently disastrous playoff performer and has been for multiple years now. I am always amazed how this was forgotten by those who rightfully laughed at OKC Westbrook for years.
I watched the playoffs. Russ was clearly injured and clearly tried to rush back. The team is doing the best approach possible -- which is to let him play a bit to show he's not injured, and sell him at what little of a high value he can muster. Right now he's bottom value. You don't trade like that, and that should be obvious.
@DaDakota while your frustration is understandable, what you are advocating for feels more like frustration over sound judgement. I hated the WB trade and though it was idiocy to not just trade for WB but to give up picks on top of it. But here we are. And making another bad trade to cover up for the first one isn't smart either. It's nearly impossible to get the right value in return. While WB stunk it up in the playoffs - he played much worse than he was playing in the regular season before Covid. It tells me a few things about him - he needs to be in his rhythm to play well, and he is capable of playing well in the right circumstances. Right now his value is low because of his playoff performance. As the adage goes - don't buy high and sell low. Best thing to do is see if you can get him to play in a system and help rehabilitate his image again and then trade him mid-season. You have nothing to gain by trading him now. WB is not a negative force in the locker room - he's not a team chemistry killer. He plays with energy and passion - those aren't the guys you worry about...
at this point with our free agency moves, I think Russ' value with us is gonna be a lot higher than his trade value. Having a floor spacing big helps him a lot and it was clear his superstar level play was unlocked pre-covid and pre-injury. Love and blake ... they're going to be marginally good at best. both struggle on defense, and have become space 4's. If we're going to trade for someone else un-ideal, it shouldve been for pg13.
No, I mean before that. After the Rockets lost to Durant-less Warriors, most people wanted CP3 gone and were just happy to be out of his contract at that point in time. We even had the poll on that thread to show for it. Say what you will about OKC Westbrook, he led teams to the playoffs in the West, he was no scrub worthless trash player.
That's just too far. WB was playing well because he wasn't injured and we tweaked the system to take more advantage of his strengths. Just because WB can't get far in the playoffs leading a team doesn't mean he can't far in the playoffs as the 2nd or 3rd best player. This all comes down to Harden's insistence on playing "your turn, my turn".
Because teams don't game plan as much during the regular season and you are playing crappy teams as well to inflate your stats. Westbrook in the regular season has a motor that most players don't play with, but in the playoffs, when GREAT players step up, he steps back because everyone locks in during the playoffs and his OUT HUSTLE them doesn't work. You can't look at Reg season stats, they are worthless, look at the playoffs.....teams refused to guard him because they KNOW he sucks. Why can't message board folks see what the NBA teams see???? They didn't guard him......it was 4 on 5, and we lost......and yes, he ran up and down the court turning it over trying to do his regular season thing.....no excuses, the guy is just not good enough. DD
Yes, most people thought the ludicrous contract would killed us long term. But most people also believed that with his contract he was pretty much untradeable except getting back another equally bad contract. Sure enough, we got Westbrook's terribel contract. The dumb thing was not trading Paul for Westbrook but giving up so much asset to exchange one terrible contract for another terrible contract. And most people also believed that as bad as Paul played, he would still be a better fit with Harden than Westbrook.
Don't know about most, but the smart ones sure do. And we took on ONE EXTRA YEAR of dead money with Westbrook.....which is why Griffin appeals to me, we get that year back. DD
Sure. Nobody was happy with CP3, deservedly so. But that was back when Westbrook wasn't even known as a possibility. It was literally the only contract in the league, save for John Wall, that actually made our situation worse. I didn't even consider it at the time. As for Westbrook's ability to get to the playoffs, yes, if your goal is to win 45 games, yes, Westbrook can get the job done. No doubt about that. Anything more than that, though? Well...
If anything, CP3 is consistent. He just said he loves to hoop with players who feel same, specifically mentioning Harden.