[RUDEBOY-Participant]

NBA Training Camps opened yesterday without much noise..But today Woj dropped another bomb announcing Houston has traded former MVP & 9 Time All Star Russell Westbrook to Washington for John Wall and a first round pick..

Wizards fans should be excited getting the ultra aggressive Westbrook ,pairing him with Bradley Beal.Good deal on Washington behalf unloading Wall who is coming off surgery on his achillies..Wall hasnt played since December of the 2018 season,,,,The Wizards has been underachievers the the past few years..Selecting Deni Avdaji with the 9th pick in the draft..And Rui Hachimura expected improvement.The Wizards has moved into the top 5 in the East with this move….
The deal reunites Wall with former Kentucky alumni and pal DeMarcus Cousins…

[HitsterParticipant]

Houston haven’t got a lot back for Russ really and take on Wall’s big deal. A lot will depend on how well Wall comes back but Beal and Westbrook will be fun to watch.

[armchairgmParticipant]

Had been rumored for weeks surprised it went down so late. Westbrook and/or Wall must have no showed camp and forced their hand.

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

Will anyone in the NBA media so much as acknowledge that Daryl Morey basically ran a ponzi scheme with the Rockets cap and picks, and when the bill came due ran away? His trade for Russell Westbrook is the most damaging trade since the Andrew Bynum one. It is amazing the media still props up his reputation.

Washington probably won’t be all that good. At some point they will actually have to get a stop, and couldn’t do it the past couple years. They will be an incredibly annoying team to play, because they are just going to race you to 125 or 130. It is a situation where they will allow good teams easier shots and opportunities than the other way around, but Washington has a pair of guys who score on difficult chances at a better rate than most. They will probably catch a few good teams napping along the way, and Westbrook will probably have a similar resurgence that Paul had last year. Still, over 72, I don’t see how they finish ahead of Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Miami, Toronto, or Boston. Even Indiana and Philadelphia have higher floors because they acknowledge the defensive end of the court.

[OhCanada-Participant]

You never know though with the Daryl Morey thing. Maybe ownership forced his hand. Either way I agree he definitely failed the Houston Rockets. Every decision they made since Harden emerged seemed like it was setting up a failure.

[Scrooge McDuckParticipant]

What. Calling him a ponzi scheme went wayyyyy over my head. Harden is a terrible leader, it was always going to end this way.

[sniperParticipant]

Sounds like a big splash, but I don’t think it really changes much for either team.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wall isn’t even an average NBA starter anymore. He’s always been highly dependent on his athleticism, he’s 30 and hasn’t played in two full years. But as long as you’ve got a healthy Harden you’re a playoff team with a puncher’s chance in any given series. That’s exactly what Houston was last year.
Westbrook and Beal will be exciting to watch, and maybe the Wiz leapfrog the Magic in their division and take the 7th or 8th seed, but ultimately I imagine Beal won’t be happy, for the exact same reasons Durant and Harden became unhappy playing with Russ.

[OhCanada-Participant]

I’m so confused.

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

This is really just an exchange of two of the worst contracts in the league. Houston gets a heavily protected first round pick that likely won’t convey until well into the future. Both Westbrook and wall wanted out and neither team could get the type of value they were seeking in return, so they traded them for each other.
Washington seems to benefit more in the short-term but that is to be determined. Westbrook is a better player than wall and isn’t coming off 2 successive career-threatening injuries. But he’s also 32 and plays a style of game that is almost singularly reliant on athleticism. How well will his style of game mesh with Beal, who has the ability to become a free agent next year? We will see.
It’s going to be tough for Houston to expect wall to be the player he was pre-injuries. This likely isn’t going to make harden happy and it’s not going to help them save money. You could take this as a sign that they are looking to blow things up and go for a full rebuild, but they seem committed to keeping harden and remaining competitive for now.

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