This isnt an isolated incident either. If you search Wall's history, there are multiple reports of his affiliation to gangs going back to 2015. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/us/w...n-wall-gang-signs-apology-spt-trnd/index.html
There was no lineup used by the Rockets in the playoffs with Westbrook on the court that wasn't worse than ANY lineup used by the Rockets in the playoffs with Westbrook on the bench. In the last 5 years, Westbrook is literally the least efficient shooter in the entire league. On top of being flat out garbage on the court, he wasn't even willing to show up for camp, upset that he didn't get to pad his stats as much playing next to Harden. There was no chance of success with Westbrook still on the team. There's SOME chance now that he's been replaced by a better player (says nothing, literally anyone would be better)
HE DIDNT WANT TO BE HERE!! No reason to let his pouting and feet dragging affect any of the new guys and James who have a job to do. Its not a situation where you could wait for a better deal because there was no better deal to be had. How can Westbrook increase value by holding out and talking down on the team and being a nuisance? He was not going to play for the Rockets ever again - he had his mind made up on that. At least Wall will bring a good attitude and a little hope. Everyone saw what Westbrook could do next to James. Stats dont lie. Splits have been posted all over the place to give you guys a better feel for the move and how even if Wall didnt play a single game for the Rockets you could expect James to continue to do his thing unimpeded and hope that the new guys around him are better shooters than what Morey ever assembled. Gotta have some hope baby, Westbrook was not providing that, quite the opposite actually.
And what would this accomplish? Why would anybody want this? It cannot be stressed enough...The Rockets were better with Russell Westbrook on the bench. That is a statistical fact. You do not want Russell Westbrook playing for your team.
Wall's shooting IS better. But not much better. He is still amongst the worst shooting starting PG in the NBA. John Wall is a ball dominant guard with low 3pt volume that shot 30% from 3 last year and 32% for his career. He is not Steve Nash. He's played point guard his whole life so if you put him in a corner only to watch James Harden do his dance, Wall is going to be horrible and miserable. We KNOW that these athletic ball dominant guard with poor shooting dont work next to Harden. Now we're getting an injury prone athletic ball dominant guard with poor shooting next to Harden. GREAT!
His situational shooting is considerably better than Westbrook's....but everyone's is. Westbrook shoots about as well as you'd expect from Shaq.
And? We all knew this.... Harden knew this.... Why in the world would you want WB shooting over someone like Harden? We saw WB and Harden play well together in OKC..... we know it can be done it just needs Harden to put aside his ego. Harden wouldn't help out CP3..... and Harden wouldn't help out WB. That's your own biases, not a fact. You keep making absolute statements without showing me that math.....
Wall's a poor defender? Must be one of those rare bad defenders whose able to make an NBA All Defensive team.
And neither does Harden..... have you forgotten that fact? WB is a mercenary who got traded to us..... Harden is the franchise player who wants out. You do understand this?
You clearly wouldn't, but Westbrook has a broken brain so good luck trying to have the most selfish player in NBA history decide to stop chucking. Harden did his best to work with Westbrook, and the team made moves to try and make it work, but all they did was hurt the team to try and make Westbrook work and in the end Westbrook was still garbage. Just yeeting him off the team makes the Rockets better.
Some lulz turnovers and bricks? Except that he would probably refuse to play until traded, so not even lulz.
Harden is here. Working out with his team. If he wants a trade then he's doing it the "right way" and not sitting at home pouting. I dont put too much stock into words as much as actions. Maybe James hates Houston and Tilman and CFans for that matter, but his actions say he's clocked in and ready to work and he's going to try and resolve his grievance like an adult.
Not really..... otherwise we would have seen Harden catching and shooting off WB. Harden wouldn't help out CP3.... Harden wouldn't help out his buddy WB.... At some point you just have to see the big picture.
And? Very good chance Rockets will still be better with a $40 mil guard on the bench.... LOL. Zero risk though?
No one..... but we have a history of how non role players react to playing with Harden. We will see how happy John Wall will be at the end of the season waiting in the corner while Harden airs it out. Harden and his buddy WB couldn't work it out on the court..... and yet im supposed to think this is zero risk move swapping out WB with WB 1.5?
This is definitely 0 risk because even in the worst case scenario where Wall doesn't even play a single game, we'll just be where we end up with Russ playing anyway only this time with an extra pick. If Wall flames out, at the end of season Harden leaves and we're stuck with Tillman + Washington. If Westbrook plays, at the end of season Harden leaves and we're stuck with Tillman. Not even considering the possibility that this works, it's 0 risk.
Well you can't really get catch and shoot 3's when no one respects the guy with the ball's ability to shoot. You leave Westbrook completely open and laugh at him if he shoots the ball while sticking close to everyone else. Blaming Harden for Westbrook being complete trash is odd to say the least.
