For MVP argument and a way to check out the supporting cast of each team. If you switch both Harden and D'Antoni with Westbrook Donovan, how much better or worse would each team be? Along with the poll, I wonder if Westbrook would still avg a triple-dub on that Rockets team and/or would Harden avg one with the Thunder?
Simple Harden does not average a triple double. Westbrook does average a triple double. Rockets would be vastly improved.
I just think that Harden's style of play is more conducive to winning. He's just a smarter player, and he's more willing to take a backseat or buy in to what the coaching staff is preaching. Harden would've played 2nd fiddle to a scorer like KD and embraced that role...Westbrook always struggled with that. That's the difference between the 2. I truly believe that Harden would rather average 20 and 10 than 30 and 5. Westbrook seems like he would rather average 25 shots. Harden wouldn't need to average a triple double for that OKC roster to win because he'd maximize guys like Adams, Gibson, Oladipo, Kanter, and McDermott.
Harden makes players better. We see it all the time. He makes us Rockets fans think our players are better than they really are. Westbrook would average a triple double as a Rocket, but Rockets would be the 8th seed. Rockets have 0 post players, 0 rebounders, Westbrook throws 0 lobs (making Capela worthless) and is not a great PnR passer. It's all Brute force. Harden would have OKC's current team as a 3 seed. I have no doubt. You have Rebounders/PnR/Defendending players in Taj and Adams. Post players in Taj, Sabonis, Kanter. You know MDA would have McDermott, Sabonis, Grant, Oladipo, and Abrines LAUNCHING!
I think a better question would be if you swapped Curry/Kerr with Harden/MDA would the Warriors/Rockets get better or worse? What about if we swapped Harden/MDA for Pop/Khalwe? Would be be worse or better? These hypothetical situations are always fun though, especially after smoking some good trail hash. Only Moaury knows the answers to this I think.
Westbrick is an idiot to stay in OKC. The same franchise that blew up their finals team to save money. He'll never win anything in OKC now that Durant left. He should've put his ego aside and just joined another title contender instead of signing that extension... or maybe he just doens't care about winning a championship, he wants to chase stats and get paid.
All he did by signing that extension is delay his free agency by 1 year to the summer of 2018 while also increasing his salary by a significant amount, it's not like he's stuck there for the next 4 years. He can still leave them next summer.
Ah ok, Well then Westbrook would feast with Capela then. I would imagine it is much harder to get Adams the ball than Capela.
James would propel OKC to 3rd place but they gonna say OKC were anyway projected to be a top team since they have great bigs like Adams and Kanter, a great wing in Oladipo and a great supporting cast so no MVP
I think the biggest thing about the Harden trade is . . . they underestimated him I think second though is. . .somewhere. . they have to think . . . What if we had traded Westbrook instead of Harden I think if Harden was in OKC locked up .. . Durant would not have bolted they might have won it all last year Rocket River
He'll never win anything wherever he goes, he's too inefficient to win games unless he allows his team to put a collar on his play and contain his craziness. IMHO Westbrick would be dumb to leave OKC, that's his team they order their big men to box out so Westbrick can get the reb that's how much clout he has there. Why will he give that up? He's not like Lebron who is oozing with championship potential and just had a sucky team around him, Westbrick is a product of the system that enables him just like AI, Marbury, Francis etc. all these athletic guys with questionable bball IQ and even more questionable jumpers need to have a system explicitly designed for them to succeed. Remember AI on Nuggets or Francis on Orlando (ok Orlando was horrible but then again rookie Dwight was a monster)? If he's plugged into a championship team like SAS or GSW or even Houston he would have to limit his game because for example in Houston no way would the team win with him taking 40 shots a game, with most of those contested mid range jumpers. Just look at the adjustment KD had to make when he went to GSW, and he is one of the most efficient shooters in the history of the NBA KD doesn't need a lot of shots to be effective. I don't think Westbrick would be happy taking just 12 shots when he gets 25-30 a night on OKC. And I think he'll be the worse for it, Westbrick is like a wild beast if you try to tame him and put order on his madness he will be a shadow of his former self. It's like the office not everyone can be super efficient, disciplined and organized team leaders there will always be some loose cannons who thrive on chaos loose deadlines and spontaneous work activity. If you try to change them by putting them in a highly disciplined and high performing team you might end up sapping their creativity which is what made them shine in the first place.
