Sometimes I wonder if people REALLY listen to or BELIEVE what they are saying!! Every national broadcast I've listen to regarding the Westbrook vs Wall trade, even locally, as stated on No Layups with Raheel and David Nuno, they are all saying the exact same thing.....That both players are All-Stars and Wall is a better shooter, passer, defender, turns the ball over less, however Russ is the Better Player.....WHAT??? PERCEPTION IS A MUTHERF&%#! I agree that Russ is a beast but a beast in a China Shop. That does not make him a better player. If Wall would have played with KD and Harden in OKC, would he have won a MVP after they left? Remember, the media that year was catering to Russ, because KD left and he still had a good supporting cast around him. But since that yr, what has he done? The reason why Russ didn't work out here is because of what we saw in the playoffs. He's LIMITED! And if you are able to block off the lane, he becomes useless in the half court. So, everything fell on Harden's shoulders. This trade is about FIT!! I NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER WANTED WB, CP3 was the better fit, however I do think that Wall, if healthy; who's the better passer, defender and shooter is the better player and fit.
Funny enough, I learned last night that he didn't actually "rupture" his Achilles like KD or Kobe did, instead he had a partial tear caused by bone spurs in his heel. The reason he was out so long was due to complications with infections after surgery. Now I don't know for sure if a partial tear is better than a full rupture, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was.
When a player is with the rockets there value is automatically diminished with the media, and vice versa when they leave. Plus, Wall has been injured the last two years, people don’t know what to expect.
Interesting. I don’t know too much about the medical aspect behind his injury to be honest. Either way though anything to do with the leg or foot or Achilles where you don’t play for two years and you use to be a guard that relies on his athleticism doesn’t sit well with me should be the emphasis, and not “maybe he’ll be a better fit”.
The fact that he's capable of shooting a basketball without embarrassing himself makes him a better fit than Westbrook, it has nothing to do with athleticism.
I don't. The fact that he's been working primarily on his 3 ball over the past year while rehabbing and he was better at it than Westbrook ever dreamed of being BEFORE that suggests he's a better fit. I don't want John Wall the athletic freak, I want John Wall the pure PG that can make passes, play some defense, and hit the open catch and shoot 3. I see no reason to believe that he can't be that. Now maybe it won't happen, but it certainly has a better chance of happening than for Westbrook to ever be able to do that.
Don’t the stats suggest players don’t do well from these type of injuries. We just simply can’t afford a player with a higher injury risk during the final years of Hardens prime
When it comes to athleticism, yes. That's why I'm not talking about Wall's athleticism, and he only had a partial tear so it wouldn't be as severe a reduction in athleticism as guys like KD or Kobe who had full tears. When you come back, you can still shoot and pass, the mental side of the game is still intact....the sides of the game Westbrook never had to begin with. Sticking with a Westbrook who wouldn't even show up would be pissing away the entire season. Going with Wall gives the team a chance to do something, albeit not a great chance.
Scoring is pretty important to many. And rebounding. Westbrook did score 10 pts on healthy John Wall, not this version of Wall.
Wall has been playing pickup for quite a while. All of the people who've seen him say he's still has his speed and explosion. If you really think that he's lost his athleticism then go to youTube and watch him doing a 360 dunk in his workouts from last August. Guys who've lost their athleticism don't do 360s.
I think people often use imprecise language, "rupture" is typically used to talk about a catastrophic and complete tear but sometimes they use that word to mean ANY tear. According to Wall, he had a partial tear which was not as severe as the complete tears suffered by Boogie and KD.
