He was hyped, and dominant. I’m just hoping for another enjoyable 50+ win season before Patrick Tilman sinks us for the next 20 years.
Not sure both alpha dogs that we have can coexist. If Westbrook could shoot, yes. For all I know Russ has been working all offseason with a shooting coach and is still 2 out of every 3-pt shot. Just easier for Westbro to continue relying on his athleticism. Be top facilitator for say, Knicks, Hornets....even Clips. ____________________________ Submarine named Houston Rockets had an explosion in the middle of the ocean & is taking in water fast & can’t surface. Captain Morey escaped with his scuba tank through an escape hatch. Crew member Austin Rivers had his own scuba tank and has it on and ready to leave. The 9 remaining crew members are up to their chins in water. Breathing the last of the trapped air. Waiting on trade deadline to trade Westbrook becomes very risky. Many players with non guaranteed contracts may be guaranteed by then, teams with only small $5M contracts can’t send us 8 players for one guy. We narrow our trade partners even more. No picks to beg someone to take a $40M contract off our hands. By that time we may be completely under water and have to scuttle the sub. Out of desperation send Covington, Tucker, EGo to other teams for total rebuild. Don’t like that image......how about an airplane losing an engine & altitude if falling; headed towards a mountain. Captain Morey bailed out. LOL.....at some altitude it’s too low to expect the parachute to open in time.
Knicks only want mercurial Russell Westbrook on the cheap If Russell Westbrook is on the discount rack, Knicks president Leon Rose is all in, according to NBA sources. With Chris Paul’s trade situation up in the air, Rose still has some interest in seeing if he can pry Westbrook from Houston, if he’s on sale, but it would seem like a long shot. Reports state the explosive point guard wants out. The Knicks feel they have a lot of leverage and aren’t trying to give up any key future pawns, according to sources. Their potential interest could stem from using it as a scare tactic with OKC in any Paul talks. The Knicks have cap space to inherit the three years and $130 million left Westbrook’s contract. It would be more palatable cap-wise if a deal includes Julius Randle and Dennis Smith Jr., plus sweetened by one of Dallas’ two future first-rounders.
WB for cap space and Dallas 2021 1st Deal. Rockets the turn around and get S&T’s or players under contract traded into our 42 mill TPE. FVV? Ibaka? Wood? DD? Hayward? Love? T.Harris? Hield? Etc etc. That would be our best route.
We need to get extraordinarily lucky to acquire some young talented role players who can give us some depth without reaching the apron. Moving WB after that, will be palatable. Harden should be the last one to be traded as a last resort. Addendum: Stone must try to send out EG for a low second round pick to a team that can use him for a playoff push, so we can get some cap relief. I believe there might be a slim chance of that in this relatively weak draft.
I put CHA higher than DET on this list. Blake is not as good as 3rd overall pick. And everyone thinking that Pistons sending Wood back is silly. Pistons need to keep ONE of their bigs. It is better for Rockets to trade Russ to Hornets or Knicks so they can absorb his contact and send back FRP/low salary young players. Rockets can use lottery picks to parlay for better players to complement Harden.
RJ, Ntilikina, Portis, swap 8th with Magic 15th, SRP ORL: RJ Barrett, Bobby Portis + swap their 15th pick overall for Knicks 8th pick overall NYK: Russ Westbrook, Danuel House + Magic 15th pick overall HOU: Aaron Gordon, Mo Bamba, Frank Ntilikina + Knicks 2020 SRP *Sign Christian Wood, Serge Ibaka or Derrick Favors with the 14.7M extra cap space. *Draft 6'5 sniper Isaiah Joe or 6'9 Mamadu Diakite (3-D forward) with Knicks 2nd round pick. *Still have MLE and/or EGo for use at trade deadline. 6'5 Harden/6'4 Ntilikina (22)/6'3 McLemore 6'3 EGo/MLE - 6'8 Josh Jackson (23) 6'7 RoCo/6'5 Nwaba 6'8 AG (25)/6'5 Tucker 14M FA/7'0 Bamba (22) EDIT: Changed the picks coming back to be more realistic. Knicks get Russ, retain their core and most of their FRP necessary for rebuild. If Stone is badass then he will get Knicks to give us their 2021 FRP (much better draft).
I feel moving Harden was only if he was unhappy about Westbro being moved. I think James has come to terms with it. Harden is not dumb....he knows Center setting screens plus Westbro poor shooting equals no success. Harden also knows being a spot up shooter watching Westbro missing shot after shot is a losing proposition as well. At least Ben Simmons sets a pick for Harden and then can roll to basket for lobs.....Capela-like.
