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

Wow, he has a looooong way too go before he catches Melo (unlikely).

 

If Melo stops playing and Russ doesn't decline it'll take about 3-4 years.

 

Still not enough complementary shooters in that starting 5.

We have all seen how cold PJ and RoCo can get.

And CP3 is not catalytic enough when Harden doubled/out. He will not give you 30 if Harden is out or not hitting.

And everyone forgets or ignores how integral the improved pace has been to success of team.

 

Harden definitely wanted Westbrook. But tilman himself said he pushed it.
Harden definitely loved playing with Ariza and a few others but Tilman was definitely looking at his bank account at that time.
Tilman and his "executive decisions" are going to be the death of us.

 

That lineup with ariza was a championship caliber team as clearly evident. Everyone witnessed it on full display. You replace Ariza with RoCo and how anyone can say not enough complementary shooters is just false. That 17-18 team was the best team the rockets were going to see in this era and is good enough to win a title in non historic GS team years. That team had every box checked. People who think this team is anywhere near that team are fooling themselves. This team hasn't even proved they were better than last year, let alone a 65 win team.

 

Agreed.

 

I agree that 65 win team was championship caliber.

But it was built to take down GSW.

If Luc was healthy, even with CP3 going down, Rockets win it all. Add Luc off the bench and Rivers, I would rethink that 5.

Clint is abysmal vs. small ball line ups.

But I also believe you are wrong about this team.

This team is also championship caliber and MUCH better than 2019 team. Not just starting 5 but especially the depth.

2019 CP3 was simply a shadow of 2018 CP3.

 

Just in case you were not aware, Tilman forced the WB trade, not Harden

https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/20...tta-tells-final-hours-of-paul-westbrook-deal/

Translation, Morey and company begged Tilman not to do this disaster trade by showing all kinds of metrics, how we were wasting all the picks for a worse product, but dumbass Tillman, went all "Shut up and Listen"

I can't wait to read Morey's Memoir once he is out of the league.

 

Clint is abysmal vs GS lineups which is no longer around. Very important detail to remember. Plenty of evidence he's effective outside of that including against many of the top so called bigs in the league. Which we have seen time and time again dominate in his own accord. Especially playing with cp3/harden. two masterful pgs together that get the most out of him.

This team has done nothing to prove it's better than the 19' team. It's nothing but a hopeful assumption. none of their numbers have even reached its level. Yeah this teams depth is better which goes to show how much last years team is just better despite that. It's damn shame they went cheap and didn't care for depth. 1 year too late. then they decided to dismantle a true championship caliber team

 

Russ in pretty good company.

 

"I need to ask Harden and Co. for permission on how to run my business"

 

100% accurate, I believe Morey wants out......

DD

 

Same here. All that time trying to get the pieces to build a championship and getting his second General in Chris Paul gone to waste with Tillman.

Losing Ariza and Luc hurt us badly. Notice how Chris Paul is flourishing with big wings that help defend.
Too bad we were too cheap to resign Ariza.

 

CP3 was also out of shape and still not 100% after his hammy injury.

He was so slow his last season in Houston. His production was subpar even when he returned from injury.

His pride was on the line after trade to OKC, he rededicated himself physically even changing to vegan lifestyle.

 

Not really. He was still a rocket when he made it known he was already preppin for this season. Training diet and all. But yeah the idiot tilman decided to make the idiotic move by not listening to people much more qualified than him when it comes to the game of basketball

 

You must not know who we're dealing with as our franchise owner.

 

He turned vegan and revamped his personal training team for us, then we traded him. The changes came first.

 

I dont think we forgot that. I dont think we've seen that.