He’s incredibly athletic and plays his ass off. He’s competitive and tough. In the open court he’s as good as they come. I would also never guard him at the three point line and his confidence in things he doesn’t do well is as high as what he does do well. He thinks he’s limitless. He’s not a leader and refuses to adjust his game for the good of the team.
The year is 2045 and Westbrook is playing a charity game with other retired NBA players. Westbrook has calmed over the years and in a stark contrast is the least competitive player on the floor. As the game goes by he laughs and has funny with him former teammates and opponents. It culminates in two plays were he and Lillard contest for tasing alley oops. The crowd goes crazy and the players hug. As the players finish signing autographs after the game Westbrook walking across the gym to leave looks back and sees Lillard with a smirk creep across his face slowly gives Westbrook the wave. Westbrook freezes for a moment before his sprints over absolutely crushes Lillard. Unfortunately no one else witnessed the wave and there is no evidence of it. Westbrook is arrested and committed to a mental asylum after he can’t stop claiming people are waving at him wherever he goes. Ten years pass by and Westbrook’s release date creeps up. It’s been years since he’s mentioned any waving. One day a mystery visitors arrives in a dark hood any site across from Westbrook. The hood creeps back to reveal Dame Lillard. They stare intently at one another for a long moment and dame begins to raise his hand. Westbrook who has been training for this moment all his life blasts through the glass and reaches out to grab Lillards hand. The glass comes crashing to the ground and as the dust settles we see dame waving at Westbrook who’s come up just short again of what he wanted.
Westbrook could be a great "Robin" if he wanted to be. But he does not appear to want to. He is still extremely immature for a 10+ year vet. Maybe he will accept the role at the end of his career, but these numbers make it difficult for the Rockets. (41, 44, 47 million per season for the next 3 years) And it's not like other vets will take a minimum contract just to play with him (or Harden) like they do with LeBron.
Let's examine the components of your post individually: 1. You're crazy! True. Don't piss me off. 2. They would trade any player on that team for a guy like Russ.....good or bad. Judging by past Knicks behavior, this also is likely to be true. I'd say that the "crazy" tag applies to that franchise as well. Westbrook is an amazing athlete who, because of his crap shooting and his over-attention to his stats vs. team success, is a shitty player to build a team around. In my humble opinion, of course.
This part of that article, "He has to be the main guy. He can't shoot. He needs the ball. He's not an off-ball player. Hard to play with two max guys who need the ball." With the obvious exception of "he can't shoot" it describes our conundrum. In order to be his most effective CJ has to be the main guy. He needs the ball and is not an off-ball player. Lastly we are also having a hard time playing and getting enough pieces to win with two very close to max guys who need the ball. I do think that first sentence of having to be the main guy is talking about Russ needing to be the main guy from a basketball standpoint to be most effective and from a psychological standpoint to be effective. I don't think CJ has the psychological element but the basketball part is undeniable.
The funny thing to me is that they tried it with CP3 and it didn't work, so they thought Russ would work? That's just moronic. Harden needs the ball. The reason why Harden/Russ worked in OKC is that Harden was coming off the bench.
I love that in 3 years of Harden's prime, Morey traded Patrick Beverley, Montrez Harrell, Lou Williams, and a 2018 pick for Paul, and then turns around and moves a 2021 pick swap, 2024 pick, 2025 swap, 2026 pick for westbrook. Got rid of Capela. Imagine Beverley, Harden, SF, Harrell, Capela. Defense surrounding Harden? Nah, let's play nobody over 6'6"
We talk about Neil wasting Dame's prime, but Morey has pissed away Harden's prime in much worse fashion.
I'm sure there's plenty that would praise him for "going for it", but he just never seemed super strategic about any of it. It's always reminded me of a fantasy football owner who will look to name nothing but big names, never worrying about if they are past their prime, or often injury riddled, and never looks to add under the radar guys. THen at the end of the year, they point to their amazing names on their roster and call it dumb luck they weren't any better than 5-7.
