Oh man, can you imagine a lob city redux in Detroit if OK trades Paul to the Pistons? I'm sure Blake is thrilled.
Be afwaid.....be vewy afwaid..... https://ripcityproject.com/2019/07/12/portland-trail-blazers-afraid-westbrook-trade/ The Portland Trail Blazers should be afraid after Westbrook trade Following Russell Westbrook’s trade to the Rockets, the Portland Trail Blazers should be worried about the long term implications of this busy offseason. The breaking news of the Oklahoma City Thunder trading franchise legend Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets is just the latest installment of a historically frantic offseason. It’s also the most recent and most glaring warning flag the Portland Trail Blazers have witnessed in the past year.......
Love this quote (from the aforementioned article): “I’ve said also in the past that I want to do it here… Haven’t won a championship since ’77, the one and only, and it would just feel so much better to know that I just kept it solid and I did the work. We’ve been through sweeps and had all this stuff… We made it a step further and a step closer to what the ultimate goal is and in the end I know that if it gets done, it’ll feel much better to know that I did it in a solid way. I didn’t have to go and play with the best player just to get it done. For me, this is the way I want to do it and I know that if it don’t happen, I can live with it because I know the route that I chose, I accepted it a long time ago.” ~Damian Lillard
My thoughts: Sam Presti with a lot of draft picks is a very, very dangerous thing. The Thunder suddenly have a future, which sucks for me because I can't stand that team. It's really interesting watching the LA teams and Houston use up all their draft picks on the here-and-now. It seems almost inevitable that at least one of those teams will come to really, really regret it. Maybe two teams. It could be all three if Kwame and Paul continue to have injury issues. Wouldn't it be great if all these beloved media markets are crippled through most of the early 2020's with fading untradeable stars and no picks? I wonder if Houston made the decision based purely on shutting Harden the fuck up. Make him happy and hope they can make this team work. Man, I don't really see this ending well for Houston. These two guys are going to jack shots and dominate the ball like it's summer league. Normally Russ just freezes out the other star on his team in crunch time. What's he going to do when there are 4 minutes left in a close game and they inbound the ball to Harden and the Beard walks it up the court? I see Russ weirdly standing around unguarded toward the top of the key waiting to get the ball, not cutting, not stretching the defense with a three point threat, not doing anything. Just standing there waiting his turn like a commuter waiting for a bus to arrive. Good luck with that, D'Antoni. Russ and Harden have suddenly surpassed Simmons/Embiid as the most awkward paring in the NBA. It's so weird that they both have such little self-awareness that they both actually asked for it.
Oh, I got that. It was worth linking it for the Lillard quote alone. The rest of it was poorly formed opinion lacking in any real substance. Pretty much like the posts on this board.
Hey, we should have had Chris Paul as well (instead of trading down for Martell Webster). Think of THAT lineup.
So, here's a hypothetical question: Assume the Rockets are down by one with 10 seconds to go. Russ needs one more rebound to get his triple double. Harden needs three more points to get his 30. Russ has the ball with an open lane to the basket. Harden is wide open for a midrange jumper. What happens?: A. Russ drives for a layup to win the game. B. Russ drive to the bucket and flips a shot off the backboard hoping to rebound it and still have time to make a winning shot. C. Russ passes the ball to Harden and he takes the mid-range 2-pointer to win the game. D. Harden tackles Westbrook on the way to the hoop, wrestles the ball away from him and bunny hops to the three point line for a shot.
