Woj - Westbrook for Wall and 1st Rounder

[Silvie Lysandra]

The Skins/WFT/Wolves have been ahead of the Wizards for a decade, despite Snyder's Trumpian incompetence and nepotism, because Danny Boy actually wants to win and cares about winning. So there's a chance that Snyder might fall ass backwards into winning. Leonsis doesn't give a **** about basketball, and Abe was even more nepotistic and also didn't care about putting out a winning product.

[Wizardspride]

Wall is going to torch us... badly.

I am rooting for Wall.

That "durable" Westbrook is working out really well for us n'est pas Ted?

Everyone in the front office should be fired for this trade. Unfortunately, we can't fire Leonsis, even though it's clear he had a large part to do with that awful move.

As crazy as this sounds, the WFT is leap years ahead of the Wizards from a functional perspective. Kyle Smith—who was basically the Tommy Sheppard of that WFT organization—was pushed out not because he wasn't good at finding talent, but because he was the last straggler from the Bruce era (according to local media). Rivera believed that anyone associated with that previous regime of ineptitude had to go. Well, the Wizards are in the same situation, minus having a Rivera personality in house. It's a bunch of Grunfeld era losers running the team. Culture has not changed upstairs, and you can see that in the final product on the court.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It's pretty clear this is the same Westbrook that we saw during the bubble, i.e. an injured and badly conditioned player.

I recall Kawhi sat for a long time with a quad injury. Perhaps, the best course of action would be to shut down Westbrook for a an extended period of time until we are clear that he is fully recovered.

However, this is the Wiz and people are fighting for their jobs (Brooks and also the front office) so I fear he is being "forcefully" played...The Wiz are gonna Wiz

Westbrook and Brooks go back a dozen years. Russ could feel responsible for Scott being on the hot seat. He might insist on playing through, and his injury might have already progressed to a point of no return.

[pcbothwel]

Wall is going to torch us... badly.

I am rooting for Wall.

That "durable" Westbrook is working out really well for us n'est pas Ted?

Everyone in the front office should be fired for this trade. Unfortunately, we can't fire Leonsis, even though it's clear he had a large part to do with that awful move.

As crazy as this sounds, the WFT is leap years ahead of the Wizards from a functional perspective. Kyle Smith—who was basically the Tommy Sheppard of that WFT organization—was pushed out not because he wasn't good at finding talent, but because he was the last straggler from the Bruce era (according to local media). Rivera believed that anyone associated with that previous regime of ineptitude had to go. Well, the Wizards are in the same situation, minus having a Rivera personality in house. It's a bunch of Grunfeld era losers running the team. Culture has not changed upstairs, and you can see that in the final product on the court.

Lol... Yeah, thats not the case whatsoever.
Kyle Smith has been excellent at finding talent. Rivera was very clear in that he wanted his GM with experience as a people person, running an organization, and establishing a culture.
Kyle is 36 and hasnt shown those chops yet. I would argue that is almost the opposite of TS.

[doclinkin]

It was near the end of the last game I'm referring to. Those didn't look like passes that he would normally throw. It might be nothing, but something looked odd to me.

It's a consequence of his inability to either shoot or drive to the rim. The book is out on him on defense. His habit is to drive to the interior, if stopped he will jerk a bad pull up or kick to the wings. He will not blow through or over defenses as he used to, but his body still thinks he is going to. Once he is in deep he has no options but bad ones at this point.

When Westbrook has the ball a) though he has no three pt game he is either going to jack a shot early or hold the ball on the perimeter and stall the action, he's not giving it up until it is too late, b) player movement stops while he is fooling around with it because there are no team sets when he has the ball, even his teammates don't know what he is going to do, so they stick to their spots, and c) his passes are predictable. So: Fall back, guard the paint, jump his passing routes because he has no other option.

[queridiculo]

I am rooting for Wall.

That "durable" Westbrook is working out really well for us n'est pas Ted?

Everyone in the front office should be fired for this trade. Unfortunately, we can't fire Leonsis, even though it's clear he had a large part to do with that awful move.

As crazy as this sounds, the WFT is leap years ahead of the Wizards from a functional perspective. Kyle Smith—who was basically the Tommy Sheppard of that WFT organization—was pushed out not because he wasn't good at finding talent, but because he was the last straggler from the Bruce era (according to local media). Rivera believed that anyone associated with that previous regime of ineptitude had to go. Well, the Wizards are in the same situation, minus having a Rivera personality in house. It's a bunch of Grunfeld era losers running the team. Culture has not changed upstairs, and you can see that in the final product on the court.

"Most importantly, all I really wanted from the start of all of it was just to be told the truth. That's the most important thing and what made it so hard for me to understand what was going on because I wasn't told the truth. I understand it's a business and things go on and people move on and you get traded, organizations in different ways. When I heard the rumors, I called and asked are these true or are these something not to worry about? From that day forward, all I heard was 'no, those rumors aren't true, don't worry about it.' In all reality, it was true," Wall said.

Tommy Sheppard flat out denying that they were going to trade him or were having talks.

You tell me if he's a liar, or just a muppet.

"... durability and high character", classy Ted, and as much as it hurts, the irony is hilarious.

[Ruzious]

It was near the end of the last game I'm referring to. Those didn't look like passes that he would normally throw. It might be nothing, but something looked odd to me.

It's a consequence of his inability to either shoot or drive to the rim. The book is out on him on defense. His habit is to drive to the interior, if stopped he will jerk a bad pull up or kick to the wings. He will not blow through or over defenses as he used to, but his body still thinks he is going to. Once he is in deep he has no options but bad ones at this point.

When Westbrook has the ball a) though he has no three pt game he is either going to jack a shot early or hold the ball on the perimeter and stall the action, he's not giving it up until it is too late, b) player movement stops while he is fooling around with it because there are no team sets when he has the ball, even his teammates don't know what he is going to do, so they stick to their spots, and c) his passes are predictable. So: Fall back, guard the paint, jump his passing routes because he has no other option.

Wow, that's a great explanation - unfortunately. Unless he regains that step, he'll have to change his game to be effective - and because he's always relied on his superior explosiveness, he probably doesn't have the skills to adjust.

[Ruzious]

Everyone in the front office should be fired for this trade. Unfortunately, we can't fire Leonsis, even though it's clear he had a large part to do with that awful move.

As crazy as this sounds, the WFT is leap years ahead of the Wizards from a functional perspective. Kyle Smith—who was basically the Tommy Sheppard of that WFT organization—was pushed out not because he wasn't good at finding talent, but because he was the last straggler from the Bruce era (according to local media). Rivera believed that anyone associated with that previous regime of ineptitude had to go. Well, the Wizards are in the same situation, minus having a Rivera personality in house. It's a bunch of Grunfeld era losers running the team. Culture has not changed upstairs, and you can see that in the final product on the court.

"Most importantly, all I really wanted from the start of all of it was just to be told the truth. That's the most important thing and what made it so hard for me to understand what was going on because I wasn't told the truth. I understand it's a business and things go on and people move on and you get traded, organizations in different ways. When I heard the rumors, I called and asked are these true or are these something not to worry about? From that day forward, all I heard was 'no, those rumors aren't true, don't worry about it.' In all reality, it was true," Wall said.

Tommy Sheppard flat out denying that they were going to trade him or were having talks.

You tell me if he's a liar, or just a muppet.

"... durability and high character", classy Ted, and as much as it hurts, the irony is hilarious.

Because of that debacle, the entire front office lost its credibility in the DC area. And because of that, it probably makes sense to go to some form of the Ron Rivera model - where you hire a guy who's clearly "in charge' to run the team - weather it's the coach or GM. The owner bleeped up and made his GM look like a fool/puppet, and it's to the point where the owner needs to be seen as being separated from ALL personnel decisions.

[NatP4]

You would think that after 10+ years of being the face of the franchise, they would atleast be honest with him about moving on.

I hope Wall doesn’t try to “show” us tonight, he has had some rough performances when he is trying to prove something and forces things. Thinking back to that awkward game against Lonzo Ball and the lakers when Wall shot something like 4-20.

[payitforward]

Tommy Sheppard flat out denying that they were going to trade him or were having talks.

You tell me if he's a liar, or just a muppet.

"... durability and high character", classy Ted, and as much as it hurts, the irony is hilarious.

Because of that debacle, the entire front office lost its credibility in the DC area. And because of that, it probably makes sense to go to some form of the Ron Rivera model - where you hire a guy who's clearly "in charge' to run the team - weather it's the coach or GM. The owner bleeped up and made his GM look like a fool/puppet, and it's to the point where the owner needs to be seen as being separated from ALL personnel decisions.

That is exactly correct. Unfortunately, it ain't going to happen.

After firing Ernie, Ted declared himself in charge of completely altering the organization; he hired high-priced consultants blah blah blah, to help him pick the absolutely best executive to run things, &... he could get no one interested in the job. You can be sure that was because he wasn't giving total control, he was planning to stay involved.

It was under those conditions that Tommy took the job. Ted said so at the time -- his deal with Ernie was that he only had access to him, no one else on the team. He said he wouldn't do that again. He wanted involvement in the whole organization.

Truth is -- Ted is the true GM of the Wizards, the guy who is running the place. Tommy makes the small decisions -- many of which are important, of course! But the 3 big decisions that seem to have been Ted's -- picking Rui, trading John, re-signing Davis -- have all been significant mistakes & will make the already-difficult rebuild really painful.

[queridiculo]

A good rule of thumb, if Magic likes it, you're probably in trouble.

Read on Twitter

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Makes you wonder. Do any of these people actually watch any NBA games?

Westbrook is terrible and it's obvious. Last few years he's been empty calories, junk food, fool's gold. Terrible play hidden by inefficient stat stuffing.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Watch on YouTube

Sent from my SM-T500 using RealGM mobile app

[Meliorus]

4 in a row for the Rockets, allowing only 101 points to Portland who is a great offensive team. I don't know why Wall is defending so much better than his Wizards days, maybe it's the defensive talent around him, maybe it was the bone spurts.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[Dark Faze]

yall remember this? :

https://www.awesemo.com/sideaction/scott-brooks-says-he-will-punish-team-if-russell-westbrook-dunks-bjs/

Might be tinfoil hat stuff, but it always struck me as odd at the time. Was there something they were concerned about health wise? Fast forward to a month later and now bro looks like he has no lift at all.

[FAH1223]

4 in a row for the Rockets, allowing only 101 points to Portland who is a great offensive team. I don't know why Wall is defending so much better than his Wizards days, maybe it's the defensive talent around him, maybe it was the bone spurts.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Eye test tells me he's playing the best defense I've seen since his All NBA Defense days in 2015. He's fighting through screens, running back even when he doesn't get a foul call, and communicating.

Wall and Oladipo together will make for an intriguing pairing.

[Shanghai Kid]

The Rockets are 6-4 on the season in the games Wall has played. And they have a cupcake schedule coming up over the next 10.

John IS playing the best defense he has had in a long time. He's also finishing at the basket better than he ever has. Those are both signs that he's gotten rid of some health issues that were plaguing him.

On the other hand, he's not quite the playmaker he used to be. From watching him it looks like more decides to score or pass ahead of time now. In the past he could do both pretty fluidly in a flow. That might be him needing time to get comfortable on the court and his teammates. And he still can't shoot. His scoring efficiency is pretty much on par of what's been the norm for him in his career.

But overall so far it's been a solid comeback for John. No matter the stats, leading the Rockets to wins is the biggest thing he can do to raise his value and stock in the league. They've won 4 in a row and have said nothing but positive things about John's leadership.

[gambitx777]

Dude healthy. We know what John is when egs healthy and motivated. The question is will he stay healthy ?

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

[queridiculo]

4 in a row for the Rockets, allowing only 101 points to Portland who is a great offensive team. I don't know why Wall is defending so much better than his Wizards days, maybe it's the defensive talent around him, maybe it was the bone spurts.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Wall was playing on one leg for the three years leading up to his injury.

The thing that stands out to me though about the Rockets, how stellar of an offseason they had despite having far less to work with than the Wizards.

The Christian Wood sign and trade was brilliant, he's just what the doctor ordered for the Wizards (ignoring for a moment that posters here were imploring the Wizards FO to bring him in for years).

[Meliorus]

The Rockets are 6-4 on the season in the games Wall has played. And they have a cupcake schedule coming up over the next 10.

John IS playing the best defense he has had in a long time. He's also finishing at the basket better than he ever has. Those are both signs that he's gotten rid of some health issues that were plaguing him.

On the other hand, he's not quite the playmaker he used to be. From watching him it looks like more decides to score or pass ahead of time now. In the past he could do both pretty fluidly in a flow. That might be him needing time to get comfortable on the court and his teammates. And he still can't shoot. His scoring efficiency is pretty much on par of what's been the norm for him in his career.

But overall so far it's been a solid comeback for John. No matter the stats, leading the Rockets to wins is the biggest thing he can do to raise his value and stock in the league. They've won 4 in a row and have said nothing but positive things about John's leadership.

There’s many moments in each game where I scratch my head wondering why they don’t run more Wall/Wood pick and rolls, Wood is a legit lob threat.