Westbrook Trade Rumors (Beck)

[CoachBo]

After further review, I am not buying that the Celtics are seriously interested in Westbrook. Cousins? Sure. Griffin? Absolutely.

Westbrook? No. And here's why.

Westbrook is a multi-faceted scorer, rebounder, etc. But he's ball-dominant, and we know what happened within Brad Stevens' system the last time we unloaded a ball-dominant guard, albeit one who couldn't score the basketball, was horrific from the foul line and bragged about his disinterest in defense.

I don't think Westbrook and Brad Stevens mix.

[Endless Paradise]

For a one year rental?  Are you kidding me?

This is how the NBA works. Are you pretending that you didn't see the Goran Dragic (which was a two-month rental) and Kevin Love trades go down or what?

[footey]

Two major questions that come from a strong Westbrook rumor.

1. Will DA be 100% sure he resigns

2. If 100% sure whats the package?

Question 2 brings on the following,

Do they want IT when they have Payne?

Do they want Smart when they have Payne and Oladipo?

Do they want AB when they have Oladipo?

Who do they prefer Brown or Crowder in a deal? or both?

If DA is reassured in Westbrook resigning I would with great hesitation offer the following,

Brown, Smart 2017 Nets, 2018 Cetlics

Either he extends, or he doesn't. You can't be "reassured" that he will re-sign. It is illegal to have these "re-assurances". Ask Kevin McHale regarding Joe Smith a few years back.

Westbrook is a one year rental, period. How much would you be willing to trade in this case? 

[chiken Green]

That doesn't make them worth paying more for, though.    If you aren't confident that you can retain the player past next summer, it's a rental.

Westbrook in particular scares me that he would not be willing to re-sign in Boston because:

a) He's clearly going to leave OKC -- so that means that Bird Rights' contractual advantage is not going to be enough to convince him to stay.  So trading for him now would give Boston no particular advantage due to Bird Rights.   He is perfectly willing to sign a non-Bird FA max contract with a different team in order to exercise his finally-won ability to decide where he wants to play.
b) He's from Long Beach, CA.
c) He's got pretty well known business and personal interests in the fashion industry and celebrity pop culture.
d) He just bought a 4.65M mansion in Beverly Hills (from some dude who is on one of the reality shows (Kardashians?).
e) The Lakers will have enough cap space to sign him to a max contract plus an attractive, "Come back to your home town and rebuild the next great Laker dynasty with all our young talent, Russ!", sales pitch.
d) The Clippers almost certainly could move one of their big assets (CP3) to clear cap space to sign him.

What about any of that would give you confidence that he would stay in Boston?

All signs to me indicate he will most likely end up going to one of the LA teams.

Sure, any star we might trade for is likely to only have 1 or 2 years remaining on their deal.  But I don't think all one-year-rentals are created equally.

For example, if we traded for Gordon Hayward, I'd expect that the probability that he would sign long term with the Celtics to be extremely high.   That said, that doesn't mean I'd want to trade very much for Hayward, either.  Because if we think we have a very high probability of signing a player to sign here long term, why not just wait and sign him next year in free agency, and not give up significant assets?

Ultimately it comes down to price.  I'd be willing to give up a little for Hayward to get him here early, but definitely not a lot because he's not going to win us Banner 18 this year.   

And I'd be willing to give up even less for Westbrook to get him here early because I don't have faith that he will resign and, again, he's not going to win us Banner 18 this year.

If the Lakers' pitch to Westbrook is to rebuild a dynasty rather than jump into a ready-made contender and create one, their proposal is dead in the water already. More than anything, the dude hates losing. I don't see any way he goes to the Lakers unless they're a competitive team this year or make the requisite moves next offseason to become one beforehand. He might seem like an L.A. guy, but he's even more of a "I'm obsessive about winning" guy.

The Lakers are poised to be impressive in the very near future. They have Room to  bring in 2 max guys, they have 2 top 2 picks and one top 10 pick already in the line up. Each with at least 2 years under the belt before Russell gets there in 2017.. Ingram is going to be a player whether we like it or not..  when they Add Russ they will have 1 room for 1 more max player.. That pitch is exactly what we are pitching.  They have what Cleveland had when they brought their Cleveland guy back for the 2nd time.

They couldn't even get a meeting with Durant, so people might be overestimating where the Lakers are right now.

Again, Russ as a sure lock to LA seems to be the narrative but there's nothing to substantiate any of that. People said the same thing about Kevin Love, but he opted out and resigned in Cleveland. So what if Russ just bought a house there? You know who also bought a house in Beverly Hills this offseason? Lebron James. Do we think he's going to the Lakers? Chandler Parsons is also another athlete who has interests in fashion and celebrity, and allegedly had interest from the Lakers, and he ended up in Memphis.

My point is, you can't assume any of these guys have a predetermined destination and working on that assumption will cost us opportunities. I think Russ is really competitive and he wants to be in a situation where he has a good chance to win. Maybe that's in Boston, maybe it's not.

I hear what you are saying but Wess is a different kind of Cat.. You can look at him and Tell that he has CALI weirdness written all in his DNA..  Those kinds of guys are just different..  And YES He is a competitor but he is the type that believes that HE makes the difference - completely different from Durant.. Wess is looking to create a championship team not join one.. He is the purest definition of an Alpha Dog..  He truly believes that he can throw the lakers on his back and drag them back to the Glory days.

As for not getting a meeting with Durant.. Mannnn please.. There pitch was going to be "Hey do you want to play with Wess next year on his team.."  Being the Stud in LA or NY will always trump anything any other team can offer.. Those markets sell themselves.  I am not trying to say that Boston isn't awesome because it is but the men who are made to be Boston Stars are not the men who are made to be NY or LA stars.. Magic would not be Magic in Boston and Bird would not be Bird in Cali..

as for the Lebron thing..  I dont see how you cant make the correlation.. Just because Russ wasn't drafted by the a Los Angeles team doesn't mean he wasn't born and Raised and there..  He is just as much a Cali guy as lebron is a Cleveland Guy.. heck when Lebron Left for Miami did anyone actually think he was not going back to get a ring for his home?
Ask Pierce about what it's like to go back to Cali try to Win one..
   

[footey]

For a one year rental?  Are you kidding me?

This is how the NBA works. Are you pretending that you didn't see the Goran Dragic (which was a two-month rental) and Kevin Love trades go down or what?

what did Miami give up for Dragic?? Squat, that's what. Kevin Love was being traded to play with the commissioner of the NBA (de facto), Lebron James.  Basically, he told the Cavs that if he signed with them, they needed to make that trade. It was, we can all agree, a foolish trade in retrospect. Who on the Celtics is refusing to sign if we don't trade for Westbrook??

[mctyson]

Agreed, Russ would not work with Brad's offense.  Let's keeping developing current core and draft Harry Giles next summer.

Westbrook would be the best player on the team by a mile.  he solves a shooting and go-to scorer deficiency that we have. 

I have little doubt that Brad will figure out the best way to use Westbrook if Danny acquires him.  The lesser players on the roster can adjust to whatever changes are made to the playing style.

Um...he definitely does not solve any team's shooting deficiencies, especially ours.

[Casperian]

I like Westbrook as a player, but it's just wrong to give up any assets for him.

Westbrook is one of the prime examples of how the rule changes have benefitted athletic scoring PGs, but that also means that whatever he can give you can be somewhat replicated by lesser, and more importantly, cheaper players (see IT). The NBA is loaded at the PG position.

I think in general, Westbrook has become incredibly overrated by being the guy who stole all these shot attempts from KD on national TV. He's good, but not BRK pick good.

[mctyson]

For a one year rental?  Are you kidding me?

This is how the NBA works. Are you pretending that you didn't see the Goran Dragic (which was a two-month rental) and Kevin Love trades go down or what?

Goran Dragic was not a rental.  He stated clearly to Phoenix that he wanted to be traded and he WANTED MIAMI.  There was no doubt he would resign.

Please do not compare Westbrook to these guys.  Westbrook will not re-sign with Boston, guaranteed.

[MetroGlobe]

i think the only time i feel happy to cash in everything would be for (As much as i hate/respect that guy) Lebron and none other lol XD

Lebron James?  On the Celtics?  The Boston Celtics?  Absolutely no way.  Not ever.  That would be like Kobe joining the Celtics.  Or Kareem.  Eff no!

Without question, no way.  Celtic Pride is more important than Championships that would be tainted by his stench.
Lol you wouldn't want LBJ on the celtics? Are you insane? Obviously it would never happen but if there was a chance you could never say no.

[footey]

Sadly, I think all these Rumors are just a combination of Danny & Co. making the "We're not done" statements last week--and Danny making phone calls this week.

i think so too...it seems like its been every day this week. althought today's Beck rumor, carries so much more weight than the other 2.

Those are not rumors just speculations (turned into rumors)
Only because we have assets, cap space and in win now mode.

"in win now mode"---what does that even mean??  We are winning now. We won 48 games, and just signed a top 3 free agent. 

If a trade for Westbrook could guaranty one championship, to be followed by years of mediocrity, i pass on that offer.  I'd rather take my time building up a great team, like the Warriors did.  We have drafted well, and are going to draft even better in the next couple of years.  And we are attracting good free agents.  Why throw away assets on one year ball hogs??

This is not a video game.

[Hank Finkel]

I propose to trade all or some of the young guys.  Young, Rozier, Mickey, Hunter, or mis and match by throwing in Brown and a second.   If OKC is going to rebuild you need young bodies to grow with and draft picks.  We can keep our 17 pick and throw something else at them.  They are going to have a lottery pick of their own anyway next year if they trade Westbrook.    Just my two cents on all these rumors.

[Endless Paradise]

For a one year rental?  Are you kidding me?

This is how the NBA works. Are you pretending that you didn't see the Goran Dragic (which was a two-month rental) and Kevin Love trades go down or what?

Goran Dragic was not a rental.  He stated clearly to Phoenix that he wanted to be traded and he WANTED MIAMI.  There was no doubt he would resign.

Please do not compare Westbrook to these guys.  Westbrook will not re-sign with Boston, guaranteed.

Unless Dragic signed an extension locking him into a deal, there was nothing official about him staying in Miami. DeAndre Jordan "WANTED DALLAS" until a week later, when he didn't. Kevin Love probably "WANTED CLEVELAND," but that didn't mean anything until he re-signed with them at the end of the 2014-15 season.

[walker834]

If there is any truth to these rumors I'd say the CEltics feel they are in better position to construct a super team of their own this offseason vs next.  Next offseason they'd be bidding for westbrook or hayward and guys like Griffin and still trying to pry Cousins.  Okafor is out I think and isn't going to get us there.

We may be able to get both westbrook and griffin this offseason which is a better combination than anything we could do.

Griffin and Westbrook by themselves do not make much sense.  Together they do. 

I still think they are just entertaining this stuff.  Trying to get it all to work is something else.

[Endless Paradise]

Oh, and everyone knew Rondo was re-signing with Dallas because Carlisle and Cuban publicly said they traded for him with the intention of making him their long-term point guard. How'd that work out?

[mctyson]

For a one year rental?  Are you kidding me?

This is how the NBA works. Are you pretending that you didn't see the Goran Dragic (which was a two-month rental) and Kevin Love trades go down or what?

Goran Dragic was not a rental.  He stated clearly to Phoenix that he wanted to be traded and he WANTED MIAMI.  There was no doubt he would resign.

Please do not compare Westbrook to these guys.  Westbrook will not re-sign with Boston, guaranteed.

Unless Dragic signed an extension locking him into a deal, there was nothing official about him staying in Miami. DeAndre Jordan "WANTED DALLAS" until a week later, when he didn't. Kevin Love probably "WANTED CLEVELAND," but that didn't mean anything until he re-signed with them at the end of the 2014-15 season.

He requested a trade to Miami.  If Westbrook was requesting a trade to Boston some time next season I would feel 1,000% better about our chances to resign him. 

Otherwise, your comparison is pointless.