Around the NBA: Playoff Edition #2

[TheSuzerain]

You're low on Niko's cap hold (it's actually nearly 11 million, the 7 number is his QO) and trading Rondo + Payne for cap room might be doable but might not.

Also, if you do a CP3 opt out after one year, he'd at most only sign a two year deal and that kind of deal impacts his security (does a 32 year old guy with not the greatest injury history want to risk losing that security) long term.

The best case for the Bulls might be Wade opts out, signs a new deal for 2/30 (15 million) to save the Bulls eight, then sign Paul at the 4 year ma.

The timing gets weird because Wade has to decide before Free Agency (I think), but I think what you mentioned here is possible.

Wade could decline his option to save us cap space this year, and we'd reward him with a longer term deal with a lower annual cap hit (would likely be equal length to a hypothetical CP3 contract).

I mean sure Wade would have to decide before then but he could also talk to Paul about it too. Would Wade + Butler just dump Rondo like that?

I've always felt the attachment to Rondo has been overstated.

He's not a Team USA guy.

[R3AL1TY]

Wade restructuring his contract will make things better for the roster in general. It will allow the FO to get both a good starter + a good role player. They will also have room to take in contracts for a trade.

[ATRAIN53]

Holy wow, watching Westbrook trying to beat the Rockets by himself was like watching shades of 85-90 MJ.

It doesn't come off like that since OKC has been good and a playoff team that just lost Durant-

But like they were saying last night as Westbrook was bricking shot after shot in a critical 4th qtr, he was out of gas and had nothing left. That's what MJ looked like after being hacked for 40 min by Lamebeer, Mahorn and James Edwards.

MJ had to learn to adjust his game - FORGET ABOUT HIS INDIVIDUAL STATS - and stop driving to the FT stripe every possession and pass the ball to the open guy for the easy shot as he drew 3 defenders to him.

I dunno how much of a student of the game Westbrook is but I suspect he targeted that Triple Double stat line this year specifically because it was one of those records that everyone said could NOT be broken. He broke it but now he's golfing instead of playing more meaningful basketball.

He's awesome but he has to learn to sacrifice, make his teammates better before he's winning any titles. Someone needs to walk him thru those pre championship Bulls teams and show him what MJ learned. I want to LOVE this guy but I wouldn't want to be on his team until he adjusts his game.

Yep, Westbrook gets caught up in the triple double stat at times. It was apparent to be his individual goal this year when he began going on streaks with it.

With 20 something seconds left in the game last night was a perfect example of him chasing this stat where he could've taken a 3 pt shot to cut the lead down to 3, but he passed it to Jerami Grant (non-3pt shooter) to try to get a triple double since he was 1 assist shy of it.

The problem with this team is not only do they have bums, but to me they practice too heavily relying on Westbrook to do all the things he gets a triple double for. I remember even seeing him line up at the free throw line at times this season to try to get rebounds lol...Who lets their PG do that?

Last night, Westbrook took 34 shots! If a PG has to take that many, that's a sign of a bad team and a player not trusting his teammates. What would make things interesting is if Westbrook can focus on getting more assists to his bigs and to guys cutting rather than mostly fastbreaks and driving and kicking to guys for 3s, it can improve his game. But part of this blame goes to the coaching.

I thought I saw that too in a game and I was sitting there thinking to myself STAT STUFFER

I think he knew when KD left that OKC was not winning the title this year. Instead of trying to beat them, he opted to have a record book type season and wanted the MVP. It's the best he could do for the season, esp insuring Durant didn't win the MVP AND a title....

I also remember thinking he was having FUN last year and esp in that OKC/GSW playoff series. He just looked angry and ticked off this whole series.

He knows their cap/salary situation and this would make me cringe if I was Russ-

https://theringer.com/2017-nba-playoffs-oklahoma-city-thunder-exit-interview-russell-westbrook-ab57d2ed61af

The Thunder acquired Doug McDermott for a reason. He’ll never be a secondary option on a contender, but he could be a knockdown shooter (or at least one more effective than Alex Abrines) if he’s given more open looks and time on court

yeah, if only he was a knock down shooter, we could have used him!

[R3AL1TY]

Holy wow, watching Westbrook trying to beat the Rockets by himself was like watching shades of 85-90 MJ.

It doesn't come off like that since OKC has been good and a playoff team that just lost Durant-

But like they were saying last night as Westbrook was bricking shot after shot in a critical 4th qtr, he was out of gas and had nothing left. That's what MJ looked like after being hacked for 40 min by Lamebeer, Mahorn and James Edwards.

MJ had to learn to adjust his game - FORGET ABOUT HIS INDIVIDUAL STATS - and stop driving to the FT stripe every possession and pass the ball to the open guy for the easy shot as he drew 3 defenders to him.

I dunno how much of a student of the game Westbrook is but I suspect he targeted that Triple Double stat line this year specifically because it was one of those records that everyone said could NOT be broken. He broke it but now he's golfing instead of playing more meaningful basketball.

He's awesome but he has to learn to sacrifice, make his teammates better before he's winning any titles. Someone needs to walk him thru those pre championship Bulls teams and show him what MJ learned. I want to LOVE this guy but I wouldn't want to be on his team until he adjusts his game.

Yep, Westbrook gets caught up in the triple double stat at times. It was apparent to be his individual goal this year when he began going on streaks with it.

With 20 something seconds left in the game last night was a perfect example of him chasing this stat where he could've taken a 3 pt shot to cut the lead down to 3, but he passed it to Jerami Grant (non-3pt shooter) to try to get a triple double since he was 1 assist shy of it.

The problem with this team is not only do they have bums, but to me they practice too heavily relying on Westbrook to do all the things he gets a triple double for. I remember even seeing him line up at the free throw line at times this season to try to get rebounds lol...Who lets their PG do that?

Last night, Westbrook took 34 shots! If a PG has to take that many, that's a sign of a bad team and a player not trusting his teammates. What would make things interesting is if Westbrook can focus on getting more assists to his bigs and to guys cutting rather than mostly fastbreaks and driving and kicking to guys for 3s, it can improve his game. But part of this blame goes to the coaching.

I thought I saw that too in a game and I was sitting there thinking to myself STAT STUFFER

I think he knew when KD left that OKC was not winning the title this year. Instead of trying to beat them, he opted to have a record book type season and wanted the MVP. It's the best he could do for the season, esp insuring Durant didn't win the MVP AND a title....

I also remember thinking he was having FUN last year and esp in that OKC/GSW playoff series. He just looked angry and ticked off this whole series.

He knows their cap/salary situation and this would make me cringe if I was Russ-

https://theringer.com/2017-nba-playoffs-oklahoma-city-thunder-exit-interview-russell-westbrook-ab57d2ed61af

The Thunder acquired Doug McDermott for a reason. He’ll never be a secondary option on a contender, but he could be a knockdown shooter (or at least one more effective than Alex Abrines) if he’s given more open looks and time on court

yeah, if only he was a knock down shooter, we could have used him!

lol...McD looks the same. He can either be on or off, but off on most nights. I think McD got spoiled by being the primary scorer in college, and never learned or adjusted to being a role player working his way up in the NBA.

The Thunder needs a better bench + another all-star if they want to improve.

[Mech Engineer]

Westbrook shouldn't be taking 34 shots as a PG. A PG not only has the ball for 15 or more seconds and then he takes a lot of shots. Other players are never in any rhythm. Wasn't the same criticism levelled at him when KD was there. He needs to trust his teammates more and go down with them rather than doing the same thing every year.

What we see with OKC and the Bulls .....you need a whole lot of players who can contribute without the ball on offense. Houston has done a good job of getting them. And, Morey had to do multiple iterations of the roster to get there. That's the key to success.....ability for your best player and the GM to look in the mirror.

[kyrv]

Yep, Westbrook gets caught up in the triple double stat at times. It was apparent to be his individual goal this year when he began going on streaks with it.

With 20 something seconds left in the game last night was a perfect example of him chasing this stat where he could've taken a 3 pt shot to cut the lead down to 3, but he passed it to Jerami Grant (non-3pt shooter) to try to get a triple double since he was 1 assist shy of it.

The problem with this team is not only do they have bums, but to me they practice too heavily relying on Westbrook to do all the things he gets a triple double for. I remember even seeing him line up at the free throw line at times this season to try to get rebounds lol...Who lets their PG do that?

Last night, Westbrook took 34 shots! If a PG has to take that many, that's a sign of a bad team and a player not trusting his teammates. What would make things interesting is if Westbrook can focus on getting more assists to his bigs and to guys cutting rather than mostly fastbreaks and driving and kicking to guys for 3s, it can improve his game. But part of this blame goes to the coaching.

I thought I saw that too in a game and I was sitting there thinking to myself STAT STUFFER

I think he knew when KD left that OKC was not winning the title this year. Instead of trying to beat them, he opted to have a record book type season and wanted the MVP. It's the best he could do for the season, esp insuring Durant didn't win the MVP AND a title....

I also remember thinking he was having FUN last year and esp in that OKC/GSW playoff series. He just looked angry and ticked off this whole series.

He knows their cap/salary situation and this would make me cringe if I was Russ-

https://theringer.com/2017-nba-playoffs-oklahoma-city-thunder-exit-interview-russell-westbrook-ab57d2ed61af

The Thunder acquired Doug McDermott for a reason. He’ll never be a secondary option on a contender, but he could be a knockdown shooter (or at least one more effective than Alex Abrines) if he’s given more open looks and time on court

yeah, if only he was a knock down shooter, we could have used him!

lol...McD looks the same. He can either be on or off, but off on most nights. I think McD got spoiled by being the primary scorer in college, and never learned or adjusted to being a role player working his way up in the NBA.

The Thunder needs a better bench + another all-star if they want to improve.

They need even more than that. Presti gets a lot of love for some reason, not sure why. He turned Westbrook, Harden, Durant, and Ibaka into Westbrook and garbage. He had a superteam, and could have had Tyson Chandler for scraps to join them. They are in NBA hell. And they just lost out to the team they traded Harden too. Train wreck. I can't imagine us if we lost actually good players.

[Hangtime84]

Westbrook shouldn't be taking 34 shots as a PG. A PG not only has the ball for 15 or more seconds and then he takes a lot of shots. Other players are never in any rhythm. Wasn't the same criticism levelled at him when KD was there. He needs to trust his teammates more and go down with them rather than doing the same thing every year.

What we see with OKC and the Bulls .....you need a whole lot of players who can contribute without the ball on offense. Houston has done a good job of getting them. And, Morey had to do multiple iterations of the roster to get there. That's the key to success.....ability for your best player and the GM to look in the mirror.

Right now we are the .500 team. We have two chances to do that. this year and next. We just cannot go out there and try and break the bank.

[Chi town]

I just see no way where CP3 takes a 50M pay cut. He doesn't want to win that bad. Sadly, he will end up just like Melo.... taking the money and the losing too.

[Ice Man]

Westbrook shouldn't be taking 34 shots as a PG.

OKC with Westbrook was just as good as Houston with Harden. Houston won the series because it was good when Harden was on the bench, and OKC was terrible when Westbrook was on the bench. Which means that yes, Westbrook was the better player of the two. He took a weaker group of players and elevated them to the level where they could go toe-to-toe against Houston's best.

So, since Westbrook was the best player in the series, I won't judge him too harshly about his shot selection. He is not a normal player, he need not follow the normal rules.

[Mech Engineer]

Westbrook shouldn't be taking 34 shots as a PG.

OKC with Westbrook was just as good as Houston with Harden. Houston won the series because it was good when Harden was on the bench, and OKC was terrible when Westbrook was on the bench. Which means that yes, Westbrook was the better player of the two. He took a weaker group of players and elevated them to the level where they could go toe-to-toe against Houston's best.

So, since Westbrook was the best player in the series, I won't judge him too harshly about his shot selection. He is not a normal player, he need not follow the normal rules.

Say what you want....Westbrook is not as good an offensive player as Harden. He is great but his style just doesn't adjust with so many NBA players. How long can you keep blaming the cast....he had Durant before.

He dominates the ball just like Harden but appears to be the better player statistically. That said, Harden was hurt and still appeared to be more diverse in his offensive repertoire.

No question that OKC's cast was not as good as Houston. But, does it matter if he bricks or somebody else bricks. It is not winning basketball...it is not normal even for an abnormal player.

That triple double thing seems to have kind of put winning a tiny bit on the backburner.

[johnnyvann840]

Wade restructuring his contract will make things better for the roster in general. It will allow the FO to get both a good starter + a good role player. They will also have room to take in contracts for a trade.

Wade is not restructuring anything. He didn't leave Miami over money just to come here and take a cut again for the good of the team. This was his big payday, he isn't giving any of it away. The Wade family is not running a charity for other NBA players.

[johnnyvann840]

Did not realize Washington/ATL started already. What a terrible start time for Wiz fans to get to the game. Not even 5:30 and the 1st Q only has 4:00 left.

[kyrv]

Westbrook shouldn't be taking 34 shots as a PG.

OKC with Westbrook was just as good as Houston with Harden. Houston won the series because it was good when Harden was on the bench, and OKC was terrible when Westbrook was on the bench. Which means that yes, Westbrook was the better player of the two. He took a weaker group of players and elevated them to the level where they could go toe-to-toe against Houston's best.

So, since Westbrook was the best player in the series, I won't judge him too harshly about his shot selection. He is not a normal player, he need not follow the normal rules.

Westbrook's plus minus was insanely good, and that's including his dismal 4th quarters. Huge positive when on, huge negative when off, the off due to the bad bench as you mentioned.

He should have played his normal minutes, by the 4th he was not good. But I understand sitting him is always bas too. No good option for OKC, thanks to Presti-baby.

[Tricky_Kid]

Bulls are close with C's. Quite good game

Sent from my HUAWEI CAM-L21 using RealGM mobile app

[veji1]

Westbrook shouldn't be taking 34 shots as a PG.

OKC with Westbrook was just as good as Houston with Harden. Houston won the series because it was good when Harden was on the bench, and OKC was terrible when Westbrook was on the bench. Which means that yes, Westbrook was the better player of the two. He took a weaker group of players and elevated them to the level where they could go toe-to-toe against Houston's best.

So, since Westbrook was the best player in the series, I won't judge him too harshly about his shot selection. He is not a normal player, he need not follow the normal rules.

yeah I find all the posters lashing on Westbrook really super harsh. Sure he does too much, but his team is really poor withouth him on the floor and he just becomes more and more erratic as he tires.. But as the team is, you just can't give him much of a breather before the money time else you dig yourself a hole. He still has had a fantastic season.

[R3AL1TY]

Wade restructuring his contract will make things better for the roster in general. It will allow the FO to get both a good starter + a good role player. They will also have room to take in contracts for a trade.

Wade is not restructuring anything. He didn't leave Miami over money just to come here and take a cut again for the good of the team. This was his big payday, he isn't giving any of it away. The Wade family is not running a charity for other NBA players.

Not saying he will, but it is something worth exploring to allow wiggle room for a max player if he truly wants another ring. Another option will be to trade Lopez.

[erlim]

I think in all fairness you need to give that title to Isaiah Thomas. He has changed the pace of the series, Jimmy just gave his team a brief shot.

I think in all fairness, that's balderdash. IT wasn't even all that good in Game 3, and while he was great in Game 4, so was Butler. That Gerald Green >> Jerian Grant has nothing to do with the performance of anybody else but those two guys, and Green >> Grant was the difference in Game 4. If Grant were >> Green, the Bulls would have won Game 4, and nobody would be talking about IT as being the best player in the series.

Why should Grant vs. Green affect the evaluation of other players on the court? Players should get credit or blame for what they do, not for what the players next to them do.

Jimmy Butler just got dominated by Avery Bradley.

[ATRAIN53]

Westbrook is awesome, deserves the MVP if you don't base the teams W/L % or POST SEASON performance on it.

but I hope he just learned a big lesson that even if he put up 100/50/50 every night he'd still not win a title by himself. We watched it with MJ for years. There's no way Russ thinks he's better than Jordan so regardless of what OKC does with that roster, what I'd want to hear out of him this summer is something to the effect he need to work on turning Oladipo and Adams into All-Star players.

HOU won that series because they had a better roster and played more team ball + Harden didn't waste his energy going after rebounds to stuff his stats like Russ did.

I'm just salty that series is over, that was a great match-up and I wanted more games of Westbrook vs Harden!

[R3AL1TY]

Avery Bradley is a perfect example of how a guy who is 3 n D, but with ball handling skills can be consistent even in the playoffs. Even if his outside shooting gets cold, he has the ability to get points around the basket.

[TheSuzerain]

If we cleaned house and re-signed Wade on a cheaper (but longer term deal), would it be feasible to have:

CP3
Wade
Butler
Ibaka
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