Quote:
Originally Posted by miami_fan
Some of the Westbrook love I am seeing this morning in the media has been fascinating. The leaps from "I wouldn't trade anything for Russ" to "Westbrook is the perfect mate for Harden" are the stuff serious leg injuries are made of.
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Westbrook is a great case where his extension is a bad contract, but he's still a very good player. So as laughable as it was when Simmons had him top 20 in his trade value column, I also think this does help Houston because Paul had already gone over that cliff (and he was showing a lot of signs of it even before they signed him to that big extension), while Westbrook hasn't yet.
I also really don't think it's a bad fit. Harden & CP3 basically traded halfcourt possessions when both were healthy & on the court, and Russ will push transition much more than CP3 did, which was an ongoing source of consternation for D'Antoni & Harden.
Would I have traded 2024/'26/maybe '25 firsts for him? (The 2021 swap shouldn't matter, though good for Presti for getting another extremely long shot lottery ticket thrown in.) No, but I could see Morey saying Tillman Fertitta sucks as an owner, I'll take another shot in an open league these next 2-3 seasons & let somebody else clean up the mess in 5 years.
Btw, re: Tacko, this is my first experience with Exhibit 10 contracts... I guess the Celtics basically have exclusive (NBA) rights to him until the post-training camp cut down date, but then we need to decide if we give him a 2-way deal, the 15th roster spot, or release our exclusive rights to him but still give him a spot on the G-League affiliate (where he would get a 50k bonus for playing, as an incentive to stay with us over going overseas or to a different team unless they offer him a full contract.) So as much as I would prefer he have an official contract over Brad Wanamaker, or a 2-way over Tremont Waters and Max Strus I guess there is no urgency to do it now instead of seeing how training camp & preseason vs realer NBA players goes.