I think Lillard killed OKC.Kawhi Leonard is a murderous psychopath amidst all of this.
Killing dynasties and franchises left and right.
I think this was a no-brainer move for the Rockets. They not only get rid of Paul who was old and not getting along with Harden, but they pick up a superstar player in Russ who has history with Harden.
Given the circumstances, I can't see a situation turning out better for them.
They're going to wish they had those picks back when they get bounced in the 1st round instead of 2nd round completing the a 3 year regression
It's not about them paying the tax. Paul George blindsided them with a trade demand and Westbrook didn't want to play for a lottery team so they had to trade him too.
I feel like they made their decision way back when they traded Harden in the first place instead of just giving him a max contract and keeping that young finals team together. They didn't even wait to see if he would have took less than the max, iirc. That was such an exciting team.
Ahh, yes. Loving the Knicks' continued irrelevance.Also, out of that list of players switching teams, none are going to the Knicks. Even better.
Could OKC buy Paul out for $50 million or something stupid? Are they allowed to stretch a buyout over 2 seasons of salary cap. Buying him out, even at a crazy figure might make more sense for them. Lebron can just pay him $20 million to appear in Space Jam 2.
They didn't even need to max harden, which is crazy in hindsight. The difference between hardens circle and the Thunder was something like 4 million. OKC ownership just didn't want to go into the luxury tax paying that.
Are OKC fans gonna trust the process?I don't think this makes
Kawhi did the Thunder a favor.
They were a stupidly expense first round exit team. Ownership wanted to cut salary, but felt public pressure to compete as they had 2 'stars'
Now they can save themselves a ton of money and get a lot of assets to hopefully rebuild to an actual potential championship roster.
There's a limit to the amount of salary you're allowed to stretch and CP3 makes well above it.Could OKC buy Paul out for $50 million or something stupid? Are they allowed to stretch a buyout over 2 seasons of salary cap. Buying him out, even at a crazy figure might make more sense for them. Lebron can just pay him $20 million to appear in Space Jam 2.
🤣
I think this was a no-brainer move for the Rockets. They not only get rid of Paul who was old and not getting along with Harden, but they pick up a superstar player in Russ who has history with Harden.
Given the circumstances, I can't see a situation turning out better for them. Getting out of the Paul contract for a guy who was 34 is a coup.
Wow this is the first former MVP the Rockets have acquired since Charles Barkley. That worked out well...
No-brainer is too early to say. Let's just wait until we see how Harden and Westbrook's games mesh (if they mesh at all). The problem is that you have two iso-heavy guards, with the risk of Westbrook's shooting being worse and his knees having gone through so many surgeries is a legit concern. At least Westbrook can get you more assists, especially when you have a guy like Clint Capela and PJ Tucker that he can feed (better than teammates in OKC save for Paul George). But the scoring is what is concerning.
Westbrook better get used to not averaging triple doubles, and expanding his game further.
This.
Given the situation, given how hard it would be to move Paul, given that Harden and Westbrook are former teammates ... you have to do this deal if its on the table.
You're not getting anyone better back, while still maintaining a window in which you can go for it.
I'm pretty sure they talked to Harden before doing this.
There was no way Houston at this point was getting any kind of better situation than this.
lol I remember Pippen's brief stint in Houston. That was the weirdest thing...Charles played his ass off and sacrificed his touches to make the team better. If it were not for Malone grabbing, with both hands mind you, Barkley on that Stockton 3....I have a feeling we would have been playing Mike in the finals. And I'm not even going to talk about that fucking bum Pippen.
It's hilarious how much Kawhi totally flipped the Western Conference. Goes to Clipperland and engineers a deal to bring George there with him, then that forces OKC to deal Westbrook to team with Harden in Houston, lol.
They're in the exact same situation this season they were before trading Paul. In fact, arguably worse.
Except with this trade they paid a million first round picks for the privilege of slightly remodeling their hamster wheel.
You might as well trade Harden if that was the mindset then because he was gonna want out sooner than later in the existing scenario.
By pulling this off, they get rid of the Paul problem and his aging ass contract for a better player who's younger and a legit MVP type talent.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sharing the basketball and all that ... but there's 100-110 points to go around each night, they can both get theirs especially in a D'Antoni run n' gun offence.
I just.. knew you were wrong but:
The fuck.. when. How did I miss that.
You might as well trade Harden if that was the mindset then because he was gonna want out sooner than later in the existing scenario.
By pulling this off, they get rid of the Paul problem and his aging ass contract for a better player who's younger and a legit MVP type talent.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sharing the basketball and all that ... but there's 100-110 points to go around each night, they can both get theirs especially in a D'Antoni run n' gun offence.