NBA rumors and hearsay

[bosoxlover12]

Plus as I said before, I doubt we're going to trade for Russ anyways. We're far more likely to deal for Blake

 

[elcheato]

I said win win for me.

 

[elcheato]

#FutureBostonLaker

 

[Pugz]

i still think hes la or boston bound, and if he hits free agency its likely he goes to la.

i dont think winning is as important as people may think. he wants to be the guy.

 

[buzzy]

Well he can literally be the guyest of guys in Oklahoma. He'll never be a top 5 Laker, but if he re-signs he'll instantly be the best/most important player in Thunder history.

 

[BwareDWare94]

Minnesota should not, under any circumstances, package Wiggins and Lavine for Westbrook, even if he agrees to resign. Two under 25 players with ridiculous ceilings has too much potential to move.

 

[bosoxlover12]

i still think hes la or boston bound, and if he hits free agency its likely he goes to la.

i dont think winning is as important as people may think. he wants to be the guy.

oh, he definitely would not sign with us as a UFA. Our only shot for him is by trading for him while he's under contract, and then trying to sign him
 
And I disagree with the 2nd part. Yeah he wants to be The Guy, but he's incredibly competitive. He's the closest competitor we've had since Prime Kobe. He absolutely wants to win. I really don't see him signing in LA without confirmation from another player like Blake that he's following Russ there.

 

[elcheato]

Minnesota should not, under any circumstances, package Wiggins and Lavine for Westbrook, even if he agrees to resign. Two under 25 players with ridiculous ceilings has too much potential to move.

and neither has potential to be a top 5 player in the league :kobe:

 

[BNC]

and neither has potential to be a top 5 player in the league :kobe:

And Westbrook is 27 with a game that is going to age terribly

 

[elcheato]

And Westbrook is 27 with a game that is going to age terribly

and that is not something that is worth worrying about when he is 27

 

[jonathanlambert33]

The Wolves making a push for Westbrook would be stupid. They're on a good path and they don't need to diverge from it, that's how you fuck things up. Not to mention historically, when KAT hits his peak, Russell will be like 35 years old. So what's the point?

 

[BNC]

and that is not something that is worth worrying about when he is 27

It is when the future of you franchise is 20 years old

 

[BNC]

Rushing to contend is how you end up with the disaster that is the Pelicans roster or the first LeBron era Cavs, it's misguided and doesn't end well

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Rushing to contend is how you end up with the disaster that is the Pelicans roster or the first LeBron era Cavs, it's misguided and doesn't end well

I don't think the Pelicans were trying to contend, but I do agree.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Rushing to contend is how you end up with the disaster that is the Pelicans roster or the first LeBron era Cavs, it's misguided and doesn't end well

Rushing to contend? Lebron dragged a talentless team to the playoffs for five years, in which when he left (alongside 12ppg Shaq and Delonte West and that's basically it) the team dropped from 61 wins to 19. It's not Cleveland's fault that Lebron was so freaking talented that they couldn't get additional talent.
 
Jordan's Bulls had the 11th, 9th, 5th, and 10th picks in the 3 drafts after Jordan's rookie year. Durant's Thunder/Sonics had the 4th and 3rd picks in 2 drafts after KD's rookie year.
 
Cleveland had the 10th and 25th picks in the 4 drafts after Lebron's rookie year. Lebron got no help from a shitty franchise that didn't put any talent around him.

 

[Paulius]

Simply put, these are teams I think Russ would be possibly interested in a trade, based on solely the location or the talent (not mutually exclusive):
 
Boston
Golden State
Miami
Cleveland
LA Clippers
LA Lakers
Minnesota
New York
Dallas
Houston
San Antonio
Chicago
Brooklyn
 
 
I would eliminate Brooklyn, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Golden State from that list from having essentially no trading assets. Chicago, Cleveland, and the Clippers go in to the next group of having almost no trade assets, and the assets they have wouldn't make sense for a trade (Butler, Kyrie, CP3).
 
That leaves New York, Minnesota, LA Lakers, Miami, and Boston as venues. I really don't see Westbrook wanting to play in Minnesota, even though they have the most to trade potentially. The Knicks have one asset in Porzingis, and I've heard they really don't want to move him at all. I would do it if I were them, but I can fully understand not wanting to trade Kristaps. Outside of that they have nothing. The Lakers have assets, but their team sucks. Why would Westbrook want to play where the third best player might just be Jordan Clarkson or Julius Randle. Miami has a really good asset in Winslow... but almost nothing else.
 
 
From these five teams, this is what I would value for the deals to be:
 
Minnesota: F Wiggins, G Dunn, G LaVine, C Aldrich
Miami: G Dragic, F Winslow, G Richardson, 2017 MIA 1st
Los Angeles: G Russell, F Randle, F Ingram, G Calderon
New York: G Rose, F Porzingis (Knicks would also receive back Singler and Morrow)
Boston: G Bradley, G Smart, F Brown, G Hunter, G Young, 2017 BKN 1st, 2018 BKN 1st
 
From the deals alone, I'd rank it MIN, LA, NY, BOS, MIA, with maybe BOS and NY switched. But again, none of these deals get even offered without an extension or the assurance of signing in Free Agency. So of these teams, do you really think Westbrook would sign long term in Minnesota? I'd think he'd rather re-sign in OKC than do that. LA? Sure its a great market, but so is Miami/Boston/NY and that Lakers team would still be trash. I don't see it. 
 
You cannot undersell the value of the 2017 1st rounder. For the past few years, that pick has been the highest valued asset the Celtics have had (over the 2016 1st) because the #9 pick next year could have gone #3 in this year. I would also personally think that Jackson/Giles/Tatum is on the same tier, if not higher, than Simmons and Ingram. Y'all mock Marcus Smart a ton, despite being a star defender in his second year of play, but he might be the fifth best asset received by OKC in that deal. Brooklyn isn't getting better any time soon, and Boston has two more years of their picks to trade away for talent.

Golden state second? Lol its not Russ to go ahead and follow KD like that to the greatest team ever and take sucha shortcut. Russ is definetly not interested in gs, he does his thing

And another thing, IT playing the 2 if russ gets to boston? You think thats a good idea?

 

[bosoxlover12]

Golden state second? Lol its not Russ to go ahead and follow KD like that to the greatest team ever and take sucha shortcut. Russ is definetly not interested in gs, he does his thing

And another thing, IT playing the 2 if russ gets to boston? You think thats a good idea?

It wasn't in order -- just a list of team names
 
And Isaiah would be used the same way we use him now defensively with Bradley.
Play Cleveland? Isaiah on Shumpert and Russ on Kyrie. Play Houston? Isaiah on Beverley and Russ on Harden.
 
And Isaiah can surely play off-ball on offense, with some on-ball duties

 

[Paulius]

Either way, whatever happens, i think hes going to the knicks next summer regardless. They got rose for the last year, then that pg position is wide open. Knicks if healthy, could do some damage

 

[elcheato]

It wasn't in order -- just a list of team names
 
And Isaiah would be used the same way we use him now defensively with Bradley.
Play Cleveland? Isaiah on Shumpert and Russ on Kyrie. Play Houston? Isaiah on Beverley and Russ on Harden.
 
And Isaiah can surely play off-ball on offense, with some on-ball duties

If only Shumpert was actually the starter. 

 

[elcheato]

Rushing to contend is how you end up with the disaster that is the Pelicans roster or the first LeBron era Cavs, it's misguided and doesn't end well

I wouldn't call it rushing to contend. The first Cavs era and the current Pelicans roster could only dream of having a Westbrook caliber player next to their young franchise star.