contract wrote:AirP. wrote:After years of Westbrook being in the top 10 in real plus-minus because of his athletic ability and effort level, last year he was 42nd while his teammate was #1, the decline has started while on that supermax contract, he relies too much on that athletic ability to stay near his prime while going deeper into his 30s.
Miami would be doing OKC a favor getting them out of that contract, hopefully, if Miami trades for him none of the young players are included, at the bare minimum they're needed for the rotation.
If we get Westbrook he wouldn't be playing 36 minutes a game like he is in OKC. That should help him some, even if he wouldn't like it.
Getting Westbrook could be a big plus depending on what Miami sends out, he dropped last year in real plus-minus which I'm sure is at least partly decline, the other factors may not be. The best way to look at the contract is he's a ~30 million player(each year) but has a bad contract attached to him(without taking up a roster slot but also not able to get rid of) and of course his last year he's an incredible expiring contract where a team who wants to move on from a player will have to toss in filler(maybe a good player as an asset) and draft asset(s).
If Westbrook is good with Butler as the closer and Butler is good with Westbrook being the main playmaker the first 3 quarters, it could work well if they don't figure that out it could be a disaster, an expensive disaster. Having 2 high effort players, especially in the playoffs, is very, very intriguing.
If it were me, I'd really consider expanding the trade with Houston, letting Westbrook go there and grabbing CP3(shorter contract) and someone like PJ Tucker or possibly Capella(with Bam at the 4).
