Russell Westbrook and James Harden Will Not Work
The Houston Rockets made a shocking trade a few days ago to acquire superstar point guard Russell Westbrook. After Oklahoma City traded away Paul George to the Clippers, a trade that would move Russell Westbrook was inevitable. Houston became an early suitor but no one believed it would happen but looking at Daryl Morey’s track record, he is known for acquiring star pieces that won’t fit. From Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul, Daryl seems to never find the right star to pair with Harden. One again, Houston couldn’t turn down the idea of letting a superstar player who wanted to be in Houston slip through their fingers so Morey pulled the trigger and shipped off Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook. I must say, both Paul and Russell have terrible contracts with them both set to make $70-$80 million in the next 2 years. However, Chris Paul is on a physical decline while Russell has just averaged a triple double again so there is your “win”, you get a younger, more athletic guard for the same price as an old Chris Paul. I’ve also seen many people say “Russell and James wanted to play together”, Chris Paul also called James and wanted to be in Houston. They lost to Golden State two years in a row and now Chris is in Oklahoma City.
From a basketball view, the trade doesn’t make sense. Russell Westbrook and James Harden both have been top 2 in usage rate for the past few years and now you pair that up? Who is going to take the backseat? Who will take less shots? Who will dribble the ball less? Now that you have both on the same team, it’s hard to imagine one of them playing off the ball or standing in the corner waiting for a shot.
Chris Paul was able to mask the errors behind the pairing of him and Harden because he could hit shots from behind the arc at a decent rate. With Westbrook, you have a terrible 3 point shooter who is a downhill player. If he doesn’t have the ball in his hands, what does he bring to an offense that includes Harden? Russell alone would thrive in a D’Antoni system with him as the primary ball handler and shooters around him. It would kill opponents to see him come down the lane with Gerald Green and Eric Gordon on the wing but, he has James Harden next to him. So I ask, how does this work? How will the Rockets take the usage rate leaders and make it work? Maybe the greatness of Russell will mask the issues but from a basketball point of view, the pairing of these 2 players doesn’t make sense.
