Reviewing The Westbrook Trade

[shopson67]

Russ is a pretty old dog... hard to hold out hope that he will learn new tricks.

Only middle-aged on the Lakers, lol.

 

[shopson67]

This is his fourth team in four years.... that basically just screams that he isn't going to adjust to anything.

Sounds kinda like Chris Paul...

 

[shopson67]

I think it is a massive gamble. Westbrook has never shown any signs he is willing to change who he is. Rockets are probably the closest he came to fitting in, but got derailed by covid and we never got to see it.

Rockets also dumped Capela so they could add a center that would not clog the lane, giving westbrook room. James and Davis can step out, but is that best for them? Lakers depleted their support on a massive gamble, it will be a fun year seeing if it pans out.

I'm not too worried. They've talked this out prior to the trade to the point where AD was willing to play more center. Plus, I imagine Russ and Lebron will be staggered so at least one of them is on the floor at all times, since the Lakers suffered greatly when Lebron rested last season.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Only middle-aged on the Lakers, lol.

What a bizarre offseason for LA. They need shooting, so they trade for one of the most ball dependent players in the NBA, who isn't a good outside shooter.
Westbrook is good at beating you off the dribble, but they sign a lane clogging center in Howard.
By trading away some of the better young defenders, they go out and sign Melo, who believes defense is optional.

Will be fun to watch, but this team looks like a ticking time bomb of aging stars with huge egos and if it goes sideways in the least -- The blowup could be epic.

 

[trojanfan12]

What a bizarre offseason for LA. They need shooting, so they trade for one of the most ball dependent players in the NBA, who isn't a good outside shooter.
Westbrook is good at beating you off the dribble, but they sign a lane clogging center in Howard.
By trading away some of the better young defenders, they go out and sign Melo, who believes defense is optional.

Will be fun to watch, but this team looks like a ticking time bomb of aging stars with huge egos and if it goes sideways in the least -- The blowup could be epic.

As long as Westbrook sticks with what they all apparently agreed to, it should work well, especially in the regular season.

The only thing I'm concerned about as far as Westbrook is if it's the playoffs and they're in an elimination game that is close late in the game. We've seen Westbrook resort to hero ball in those situations and it typically doesn't end well. That's where Lebron would need to "pull rank" on him and take the ball.

 

[Strutz1896]

I'm not sure if these superteams are good for the game.

So now everybody wants to see a Nets-Lakers finals.

 

[trojanfan12]

I'm not sure if these superteams are good for the game.

So now everybody wants to see a Nets-Lakers finals.

The NBA has always had superteams. There gave been superteams since at least the 50's. The only difference is that now we've seen them form in cities that could never get them before.

 

[Shanemansj13]

What a bizarre offseason for LA. They need shooting, so they trade for one of the most ball dependent players in the NBA, who isn't a good outside shooter.
Westbrook is good at beating you off the dribble, but they sign a lane clogging center in Howard.
By trading away some of the better young defenders, they go out and sign Melo, who believes defense is optional.

Will be fun to watch, but this team looks like a ticking time bomb of aging stars with huge egos and if it goes sideways in the least -- The blowup could be epic.

They still went out and got some veteran shooters though to surround the Big 3 and Lebron's 3 ball has been better the last couple years. The thing is when you have this dangerous of big 2 alongside Lebron fit doesn't matter as much. We saw it in Miami, Wade and Lebron were not a great fit. I get that is a different circumstance but they should be fine in the regular season and even early in the playoffs. I think the fit will work itself out with an offensive strategy, they needed Howard after last season. Will this defense hold up, they have AD and Lebron and decent aging veterans that can defend but a lot of these guys just don't play good defense. All I will say is RW has to be moving without the ball like Wade did in Miami to get a championship out of this, going to be tough bc there are some very solid defensive teams at the top of the West and East.

 

[Shanemansj13]

I'm not sure if these superteams are good for the game.

So now everybody wants to see a Nets-Lakers finals.

Look at the 50's-60's Celtics. Then in the 70's you had many superteams - Lakers, Celtics again. In every era/decade there are superteams throughout history. That 50's-60's C's team had like 7 HOFr's on their team in an 8 team league. There was no way a team was beating them. It's just different how they are formed after Malone-Payton to the Lakers that started it then KG demanded out of Minny, Allen joins them...and now it's a trend in FA, even though RW was a trade. They do everything they can with the high salaries. But lets be honest....it's been like this for a long, long time.

 

[Wamu]

Look at the 50's-60's Celtics. Then in the 70's you had many superteams - Lakers, Celtics again. In every era/decade there are superteams throughout history. That 50's-60's C's team had like 7 HOFr's on their team in an 8 team league. There was no way a team was beating them. It's just different how they are formed after Malone-Payton to the Lakers that started it then KG demanded out of Minny, Allen joins them...and now it's a trend in FA, even though RW was a trade. They do everything they can with the high salaries. But lets be honest....it's been like this for a long, long time.

Pretty sure most, if not all, of those Celtics players from the 50's and 60's were drafted and not traded for.

 

[trojanfan12]

They still went out and got some veteran shooters though to surround the Big 3 and Lebron's 3 ball has been better the last couple years. The thing is when you have this dangerous of big 2 alongside Lebron fit doesn't matter as much. We saw it in Miami, Wade and Lebron were not a great fit. I get that is a different circumstance but they should be fine in the regular season and even early in the playoffs. I think the fit will work itself out with an offensive strategy, they needed Howard after last season. Will this defense hold up, they have AD and Lebron and decent aging veterans that can defend but a lot of these guys just don't play good defense. All I will say is RW has to be moving without the ball like Wade did in Miami to get a championship out of this, going to be tough bc there are some very solid defensive teams at the top of the West and East.

Yeah, the defense is going to be interesting. Last years defense was supposed to be worse than defense in the bubble, but Vogel was able to hide the weaker defenders. But, this roster looks to be worse defensively than last years. It will be interesting to see if Vogel can figure out a way to overcome it again.

The shooting, etc. looks like it should be improved enough that finishing closer to middle of the road defensively should be good enough.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Pretty sure most, if not all, of those Celtics players from the 50's and 60's were drafted and not traded for.

It's still a superteam but in an 8-team league. Did they even know what trades were back then? lol

 

[DJ]

Wtf are you talking about. He expressed the same concerns that just about everyone has expressed. Can Westbrook play most of the time as a 3rd option? It's not "wishing bad luck on the Lakers". It's raising a legit question/concern.

Except, RW probably won't be the #3 option. My guess is James will be until the 4th quarter.

The reason I am convinced is because LeBron will be 37 and has to realize it makes the most sense for him to play longer.

 

[DJ]

Having thicker skin will keep you from having such emotional responses.



.

He's a whiney little bitch.

 

[DJ]

Sounds kinda like Chris Paul...

LOL.

And he and the Suns made it to the Finals.

 

[DJ]

Yeah, the defense is going to be interesting. Last years defense was supposed to be worse than defense in the bubble, but Vogel was able to hide the weaker defenders. But, this roster looks to be worse defensively than last years. It will be interesting to see if Vogel can figure out a way to overcome it again.

The shooting, etc. looks like it should be improved enough that finishing closer to middle of the road defensively should be good enough.

Yeah, after AD and James were both hurt? Our offense was horrible.....I think Rob was focused on getting better offensively as insurance even if we fall back a little defensively, We still have some good defenders so getting stops shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Wamu]

It's still a superteam but in an 8-team league. Did they even know what trades were back then? lol

How were the Celtics a super team by today's standards when most, if not all, of the HOF players they had were drafted and not traded for?

Did they know what trade were back then? Kind of a silly question. Red Auerbach traded HOFers Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan for the rights to draft Russell.

 

[DJ]

How were the Celtics a super team by today's standards when most, if not all, of the HOF players they had were drafted and not traded for?

Did they know what trade were back then? Kind of a silly question. Red Auerbach traded HOFers Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan for the rights to draft Russell.

Good luck with Dennis.....

 

[shopson67]

How were the Celtics a super team by today's standards when most, if not all, of the HOF players they had were drafted and not traded for?

Did they know what trade were back then? Kind of a silly question. Red Auerbach traded HOFers Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan for the rights to draft Russell.

I don't think super team necessarily carries the requirement of chasing free agents, just an overload of talent. Free agency wasn't even an option for a good chunk of NBA history.

 

[Wamu]

Good luck with Dennis.....