OT Wizards 7-3 - Is Westbrook the worst player involved in their trade?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by SharpesTriumph, Nov 8, 2021.

?

Who is the worst player?

  1. Russell Westbrook

    15 vote(s)
    68.2%
  2. Kyle Kuzma

    2 vote(s)
    9.1%
  3. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

    4 vote(s)
    18.2%
  4. Montrezl Harrell

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  1. SharpesTriumph

    SharpesTriumph Well-Known Member

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    The Wizards are on pace for a 57 win season. How did this happen?

    They did trade Russell Westbrook for Kuzma & KCP & Harrell
     
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  2. Cugel

    Cugel The epitome of mediocrity

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    Kuzma is having a great year so far. Solid on the boards too. With that length and shooting, he has a bright future. Leaving LA may well be the best thing for his career.
     
  3. julius

    julius Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

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    Not sure that Kuzma is having a great year. He's averaging the fewest points in his career (per 36), and outside of rebounding (which is a good improvement), his #'s are meh.
     
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  4. mook

    mook The 2018-19 season was the best I've seen

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    If you have a good team, Westbrook is the worst player. If you have a bad team, he's the best player.

    Russ raises floors, but drops ceilings.
     
  5. mook

    mook The 2018-19 season was the best I've seen

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    It's funny, there's an old Reddit meme about how "If you don't love him at his Worstbrook, you don't deserve him at his Bestbrook." From game-to-game or over a season it was pretty true. Russ was a guy you have to go all-in on, because christ he's been both terrific and terrible in (sometimes) the same quarter of play. If you loved him, you just smiled and shrugged at all the bullshit. If you hated him, it was easy to write off his brilliance.

    But in terms of career, the Bestbrook is long since over. It's Worstbrook all the way down from here on out.
     
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  6. Chris Craig

    Chris Craig (Blazersland) I'm Your Huckleberry Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Wizards got a steal
     
  7. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    I said 3 years ago, and continue to say, that Kuzma would never have a season better than his rookie year. In my mind he is by far the most overrated player in the league. I mean, this year his TS% is barely over .500, and that's with nearly half his FGA being 3s. I cannot understand why people think he's a good player.
     
  8. SharpesTriumph

    SharpesTriumph Well-Known Member

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    I agree with this; Westbrook his last year on OKC made sense, they could build the entire team around him, he could put up huge numbers, have some dynamic plays, and the team could win enough games to possibly make the playoffs.

    Now OKC got picks trading him away then got picks trading CP3 away so can't really fault them for getting those assets when they are rebuilding anyways. But the best basketball situation for Russ would be on a team like that where he could be the star, they just barely scraped into the playoffs, and get beat in the first round. As the years went on and he losses more athleticism the team would drift further and further down in the lottery, and ideally once you have enough young draft picks you move on, sort of similar to the Lakers with an old Kobe.

    But Westbrook as a key player on a team in the playoffs won't work anymore, it was obvious when Dame broke that OKC team, it was obvious the next year in Houston when the Lakers smoked them, it was again obvious in the Washington playoffs, and now its being proven further with the Lakers. Its amazing how many analysts cling to the narrative and accomplishments of what Westbrook was 5 years ago. Even at his athletic peak with many faults in his game it was difficult to win in the postseason. Now into his mid 30's that player is long gone and not the same. These Westbrook teams still won't win in the postseason with him playing a large starting role.

    The Lakers went from champs, to a playin team, to now this mess of a team. What a great year to hate the Lakers.
     
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  9. AldoTrapani

    AldoTrapani Well-Known Member

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    Man Westbrook career perception is going down the drain real fast. This dude was looked at as a huge superstar franchise game changer at one time. Crazy turnaround the last 4 years
     
  10. chris_in_pdx

    chris_in_pdx OLD SCHOOL

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    Isn't it refreshing to see the Lakers on the loser end of a lopsided trade
     
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  11. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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    "GREAT"? C'Mon man.
     
  12. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Yeah, let's save such superlatives for Hall of Famers like Melo and Russ.
     
  13. Pinwheel1

    Pinwheel1 Well-Known Member

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    Regardless of who is the best player in that trade, I still don't see how Russ fits.
    28% from 3pt will not help when LBJ is running the show. But yes he will help
    when LBJ is out.
     
  14. Cugel

    Cugel The epitome of mediocrity

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    Are the Wizards winning? Yes
    Is Kuzma contributing? Yes
    Had the league given up on him? Yes
    Is he demonstrating value? Yes

    That's a great year so far.
    Way more valuable then Melo ATM
     
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  15. Fairly-Hard

    Fairly-Hard Former Member Gone New!

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    Still Harrell is by far the worst of the group.
    You can rag on Russ all you want.
     
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  16. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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    I agree your first 3 points. But "GREAT"? Maybe we have different opinions on how to judge how a player is playing. And you lost me at the Kuzma vs Melo..... my man is 50 years old, he BETTER be more valuable than him.
    Haven't looked at stats, but now that you compared them, wonder who IS having a better season. If Kuzma isn't he should be in the G-League.
     
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  17. KSF-ERIC

    KSF-ERIC Well-Known Member

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    They got Dinwiddie in the deal as well. There were multiple teams involved. It was an awful trade for Lakers and most of us said so then. KCP straight up for RW if money was even would’ve been a bad trade for Lakers. I knew Wizards would be this good. Beal is a legit #1 option and they added a solid PG and tons of depth. Wouldn’t be surprised if they contend for #1 seed.
     
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  18. bobf

    bobf Well-Known Member

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    This is sooooooooooooooooooooo true.

    And not just for Westbrook, though it's especially true for him. Some players are good on both crap & championship teams. Others are only good on crap teams.
     
  19. KSF-ERIC

    KSF-ERIC Well-Known Member

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    It’s maybe the best Laker hating team of all time. And it will be so rewarding. Fuck, they’ve already blown 26 & 19 point leads in losses to OKC. Fun fun fun.
     
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  20. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    In engineering terms, Westbrook isn't a scalable solution. He's fine on his own, but he doesn't have skills that scale up with other stars--at best, you have a situation like in the OKC years, where he and Durant essentially took turns. That was fine for Westbrook, as Durant is actually a threat off-ball, but kinda bit for Durant since Westbrook might as well be off using the bathroom when he doesn't have the ball. Not only does Westbrook not have the shooting to threaten defenses away from the ball, he loses interest in the game when he doesn't have the ball.

    That's also a reason why Westbrook is a terrible defender while his fans think he's actually a good one. He's capable, sometimes, of kinda-sorta staying in front of his guy if his guy has the ball and Westbrook cares for whatever reason. But just as Westbrook has no interest in offensive basketball if he doesn't have the ball, Westbrook stops paying attention on defense if his man doesn't have the ball. Kinda hard to have a solid team defense with a player like that.
     

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