Westbrook Trade Rumors (Beck)

[fairweatherfan]

I’m hearing that the Westbrook to Boston deal is basically in place and now just waiting on the final details to be worked out.

@jsor21 Yeah, it’s for the 2018 Nets pick and odds and ends.

https://twitter.com/KDN4/status/753292303083540480

Does anybody know who this guy is or how credible he is? Jeff?

Nonsense, other Twitter guy said we were definitely gonna land Griffin by the end of the week.  Though on second thought, I can't imagine someone getting online and just telling lies, so we must be landing both!

[WolfofCausewayStreet]

Smitty just said most people in Vegas think Westbrook to BOS is basically done.

OMG Smitty has no clue.  Please stop quoting him.  He's been making up stuff for years.

Ok, I'm not sure either. I'm relatively new to the forums. But from what I've heard on RealGM people think he's legitimate.

[TA9]

Smitty just said most people in Vegas think Westbrook to BOS is basically done.

That's the issue. Nobody knows what's going on, hence why they are trying to guess what's going to happen.

[walker834]

We'd give the thunder the best chance to rebuild. This is just okc trying to drum up interest from us. Westbrook is going to leave for LA.  The news is going to eat it up.

there have already been several stories about possible trade destinations for him.  We are "the frontrunner".  Of course we are.

[tyrone biggums]

CelticThug has more credibility than Smitty

[Ilikesports17]

For me, getting stuck with Horford assures us we'll never beat gs in a series so that's why I'd consider bringing Westbrook in at s shot at beating the cavs. The only reason I wanted Horford was to get Durant. I've been called dumb here and other places just for asking if it was possible to now move Horford. I realise how that could look but I think maxing horford( even though I can't blame the celts for swinging for the fences) is going to be why we have no chance at beating gs in a series.
  Anything is possible and mind you, this is just an opinion. So anyone getting really angry at this viewpoint I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm not trying to upset anybody and it's clearly a tiny, tiny, minority opinion.

Yeah I also strongly disagree with that opinion but to each his own. However that makes the rest of your post even more baffling.

If you think we dont have a chance to win a championship wouldnt you want to hold on to what is likely a top 5 pick next year and conservatively a lotto pick the next? Theres no way we get Russ without giving up at least one of those.

What am I missing. You dont believe the next few years we will be contenders no matter what, so you plan to mortgage the future so we can still not be contenders? sounds absurd to me.

You're making too much sense! Ha. You're right. I guess it's just me reluctantly getting on board with what the celts are doing because if not Westbrook I see them using the picks on another guy that also won't get us to beat g.s.  Once the ball goes up game 1 I can't help but be a fanatic. I've been driving myself nuts about Durant messing up the league and me feeling we are going to win now at whatever cost. So I've just given up and hoping I'm proven wrong.
 

fair.

The Red Sox werent supposed to come back from 3-0 to beat the Yanks, the Cavs werent supposed to beat the warriors and the Giants sure as hell werent supposed to beat the Patriots. The Butler Bulldogs werent supposed to make it to 2 final fours and the 2012 Celtics were supposed to get steamrolled by the Cavs. The Mavericks were supposed to lose to the '11 Cavs as well.
Just keep the hope! upsets happen in sports and probably more encouraging is the fact that so do injuries. KD and Steph has extensive injury histories regarding their ankles and feet respectively and Draymond just got arrested! Also who knows if the chemistry will work out.

Ill agree that while that superteam is around we will never be the preseason favorites, but we can certainly put ourselves in a position to be there if and when they falter.

[Vermont Green]

I still find it hard to believe we would give up much for just one year of Westbrook (and a hope that maybe he signs with us) and I find it even harder to believe that Westbrook would extend with us this summer and forego free agency.

I would not mind being wrong about this so long as I am wrong about both.

[Evantime34]

I’m hearing that the Westbrook to Boston deal is basically in place and now just waiting on the final details to be worked out.

@jsor21 Yeah, it’s for the 2018 Nets pick and odds and ends.

https://twitter.com/KDN4/status/753292303083540480

Does anybody know who this guy is or how credible he is? Jeff?

604 followers.  Good way to pump up his sonicsrising.com site, though..

If I was a petty Thunder fan I might leak a Westbrook rumor, so that I could revel in how Thunder fans would freak out.

Not sure there is any love loss between Sonics fans and the Thunder.

If he's right and we can get Russ for the 2018 Nets pick plus "odds and ends" then I'll be ecstatic, but I assume he's just trolling Thunder fans.

[j804]

CelticThug has more credibility than Smitty

or what's the posters name Bostonhooligan or something? Lol

[walker834]

I still find it hard to believe we would give up much for just one year of Westbrook (and a hope that maybe he signs with us) and I find it even harder to believe that Westbrook would extend with us this summer and forego free agency.

I would not mind being wrong about this so long as I am wrong about both.

That's fair.  Westbrook + Horford basically equals OKC without Durant + Ibaka as it stands though.  We have a better coach.  Better roleplayers with Isaiah off the bench in a james harden role.  I don't know how that team beats GS though unless Brad is really that good. If we add Blake to that then we are talking and Westbrook might sign an extension here.

[Vermont Green]

I still find it hard to believe we would give up much for just one year of Westbrook (and a hope that maybe he signs with us) and I find it even harder to believe that Westbrook would extend with us this summer and forego free agency.

I would not mind being wrong about this so long as I am wrong about both.

That's fair.  Westbrook + Horford basically equals OKC without Durant + Ibaka as it stands though.  We have a better coach.  Better roleplayers with Isaiah off the bench in a james harden role.  I don't know how that team beats GS though unless Brad is really that good. If we add Blake to that then we are talking and Westbrook might sign an extension here.

In the unlikely (in my opinion) event that we are able to trade for Westbrook, I believe that IT would be traded too, likely back to OKC but if not, then elsewhere.  IT off the bench no longer makes sense after last season.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I can't see this happening.

According to everything made public so far, Westbrook wants to be in L.A. next season.

And I think trading for him, with the hope of convincing him to sign a long-term deal with Boston, is a risk far too great and irresponsible.

I dont doubt it at all that LA would be the favorite, but people seem to be acting like its a foregone conclusion to sign Russ. This is a Lakers team that in all likelihood will not be coming off a playoff appearance, so Russ must have indicated or as you wrote made something public indicating he wanted to be in LA.

Do you have any sources other than just rampant speculation?

Again, I dont doubt it, but everyone is acting like Russ is gone to LA, but Ive yet to see any reason why other than that hes a big personality and is from LA.

No, no other sources. And maybe Russ's true thoughts on the matter are quite different—like, even being open to a long-term deal with Boston, for all I know. The Lakers will likely be a fairly bad team this season, but again, it's L.A., and way too many people seem to be in love with the idea of playing there.

[jpotter33]

Great players don't get traded on the first two years of their deals. And deals are now all 4 years (with player option after 3) or 5 years (with a player option after 4).

Any player we trade for is going to be either a FA after a single season or best case scenario you get them for two. If you're not willing to trade for a rental player or a short term deal you're just not willing to trade for great talent.

TP, very underappreciated point. Teams aren't just willingly selling away top 15-20 players unless they absolutely have to.

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.

TP. I think they sunk their ship with all of those "meh" contracts that they handed out this year. Beforehand, I'm pretty sure they legitimately would've had the ability to sign three near-max contracts next summer, but now they're down to being able to just afford one. That's a big difference.

[LarBrd33]

Smitty just said most people in Vegas think Westbrook to BOS is basically done.

OMG Smitty has no clue.  Please stop quoting him.  He's been making up stuff for years.

Ok, I'm not sure either. I'm relatively new to the forums. But from what I've heard on RealGM people think he's legitimate.

That's the problem with RealGM.  It's filled with fake insiders and some of them are moderators.  They all vouche for each other but none of them actually have inside information or have any proof of ever being right about anything.  It's a cesspool. 

[hwangjini_1]

nm