Would you guys trade Aldridge for Westbrook?

[Masbee]

He's assisting on over a third of his team's baskets in this year's playoffs. He is a point guard.

Because he is hogging the ball. He is insanely ball dominant right now.

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

I agree with the big for small thing. But man. If Oden was healthy next year and we had the chance to make the deal around the deadline I think I'd pull the trigger. He's the closest thing to Derrick Rose in the league. And still so young. So quick and athletic, improving jumpshot, big strong PG. I love LA but I think Westbrook has the higher ceiling.

Listen, if Oden were to be healthy and mature (on the court) over a full season - Andre Miller would get us to the Championship!

The question PA needs to be asking is: Do we give up on Oden now? Or do we build a team around the prospects of a healthy Oden?

 

[Minstrel]

Except when it came to the Memphis series during crunch time. Then, he changed. Don't know why or what is up, but it was weird and disturbing. In a way, it was like an All-Star player who chokes in the playoffs with their shooting percentage plummeting, unforced turnovers, blown layups, etc. Westbrook "choked" by forgetting about team offense and his team's best player.

Or it could be a small sample of playing poorly.

Because he is hogging the ball. He is insanely ball dominant right now.

Most point guards are ball-dominant. They want the ball in their hands to make the decisions. Bad ones call their own number even when they're not the best choice for that possession, good ones either call their own number or create for someone else, depending on who has the best chance for success on that possession. The numbers suggest that, by and large, Westbrook is creating for others quite a bit.

 

[Draco]

LaMarcus can play either big man spot, besides him we have a question mark in Oden and a 38yr old Camby. I don't think Westbrook is going to be at the perenial all-star level, he'll be a borderline all-star. We can find an acceptable guard much easier than an acceptable big man. I wouldn't trade LA for him although anybody else on the roster I would, but without LA I don't think we have a chance of OKC trading him.

 

[Ed O]

He's assisting on over a third of his team's baskets in this year's playoffs. He is a point guard.

He also defends point guards, right? That's half of what a PG is right there...

Ed O.

 

[anonymous gambler]

I'd seriously consider this trade, but would end up rejecting it because I see Aldridge as creating better chemistry than a scoring point guard would- if Durant is not getting enough shots, what would happen with our cast of lesser scorers? Also, this would leave a huge hole in the middle.

That said, I wouldn't be offended at trading any number of Blazers for Kevin Durant- including staff like HCP!

 

[LittleAlex]

I would not trade LaMarcus for Marbury 2.0 under any circumstances.

Westbrook is completely overrated.

 

[Denny Crane]

Or it could be a small sample of playing poorly.



Most point guards are ball-dominant. They want the ball in their hands to make the decisions. Bad ones call their own number even when they're not the best choice for that possession, good ones either call their own number or create for someone else, depending on who has the best chance for success on that possession. The numbers suggest that, by and large, Westbrook is creating for others quite a bit.

Good PGs don't dominate the ball unless they're the #1 option on their team. Getting rid of the ball early in the clock shows trust in teammates and allows for them all to get a touch within :24.

Westbrook is one of the best players in the NBA, IMO, and there are clearly times he is their #1 option.

 

[Rhal]

Good PGs don't dominate the ball unless they're the #1 option on their team. Getting rid of the ball early in the clock shows trust in teammates and allows for them all to get a touch within :24.

Westbrook is one of the best players in the NBA, IMO, and there are clearly times he is their #1 option.

He is a great player you can't argue that. He created for his teammates even in crunch times through the regular season and a lot during the Denver season. What has me baffled is his "its all me" attitude that he has had this Memphis series. So many times he has taken a long time to just pass the ball when they needed a basket. His game seems very limited this series in crunch time if he can't get to the basket. I don't care who you are, if KD is on your team you get him the ball in crunch time and Westbrook hasn't really done this the last few minutes of games vs Memphis.
It's a disturbing sign if the coaches aren't telling him to do it, and if it doesn't change I can see him and Durant getting into it often on and off the court.

 

[Masbee]

Or it could be a small sample of playing poorly.

Yes, during crunch time, when you want your All-Star players not "choking". Dude has failed when it really, really mattered, in a couple of games against the 8th seed they had a chance to win.

Most point guards are ball-dominant. They want the ball in their hands to make the decisions. Bad ones call their own number even when they're not the best choice for that possession, good ones either call their own number or create for someone else, depending on who has the best chance for success on that possession. The numbers suggest that, by and large, Westbrook is creating for others quite a bit.

Kevin Fucking Durant is on his team.

I don't care what you say about his stats over the season or during the playoffs as a whole. When the game was on the line, Westbrook couldn't manage to get Durant the ball very often. And for long stretches he didn't even make any effort whatsoever to look Durants way. That is a big, big, big problem.

 

[Minstrel]

Yes, during crunch time, when you want your All-Star players not "choking". Dude has failed when it really, really mattered, in a couple of games against the 8th seed they had a chance to win.

Well, we'll have to disagree on the import of that. While I agree he's let his team down late in a couple of games, I am more apt (based on everything he's done in his career up to now, including those two games) to chalk it up to some random bad play rather than Westbrook truly defining himself as a point guard. I also don't think those two games define him as a choker, as I don't feel that every moment of bad play in clutch situations points to a flaw in the player's make-up. Even players with solid clutch credentials, like Jordan, Reggie Miller, Magic Johnson, have had bad moments or even bad games in the clutch. Sometimes bad play is just random variation, not a choke.

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

No.

As much as I have felt LMA to be "soft" he has proven to be one of the top five PF's in the league today. He finally has showed us some upside! And if that fire can be lit, game in and game out, we don't trade him. Not even for CP3.

Rather, we must look to move other pieces to get our PG of the future. LMA is who we build around. Wallace will prove to be a great compliment to LMA's game. I wish we could get Marc Gasol - a big, young, talented Center who is capable of taking on the "enforcer role" and allowing LMA to be the scorer.

 

[Sex Panther]

I think the Thunder should offer Westbrook either for John Wall or for the rights to Kyrie Irving, so long as they're convinced that each of those is a better PG. Or Deron Williams, of course, but that would just be unfair on the rest of the league.

I love Westbrook, but John Wall could very well end up being the best PG in a year or two. Guy is a beast. No way they'll trade him for Westbrook. Wall + Durant would be freaky. And I'm not sure if Kyrie Irving will be as good as Westbrook. He's definitely not the prospect that other superstar PGs were coming out of college.

Oh, and to be honest, anyone expecting Serge Ibaka to be a "star-in-the-making-PF" will be seriously disappointed.

 

[Sex Panther]

Westbrook is better than Rose in my opinion. Same athleticism, better rebounding, better defender. Swap Rose with Westbrook and people would be having the same complaints about Rose while Westbrook would be MVP.

People are naturally criticizing Westbrook because he's playing alongside the best scorer in the NBA, and they would be right about that. But it terms of pure talent, I think Westbrook is close to Durant, and probably better than every guard in the league except Wade.

So would I do it? Yeah, I probably would. We would have a gaping hole at the bigs though, so it would have to be followed up with more trades.

He's not as athletic or anywhere near as a explosive as Rose. And as point guards, neither of them are still on that elite level in comparison to Deron or Paul. Wow, there's quite a number of people overrating Russell Westbrook.

 

[PapaG]

Because he is hogging the ball. He is insanely ball dominant right now.

Outside of his PER, which is over 20 in part because of his high usage rate (34.8%), Westbrook's advanced stats are rather ordinary. 1.0 WS in 10 total games (Durant has 2.3 to compare), a 105 Ortg (Durant 125), a 106 Drtg (Durant at 104), and Durant's usage is only 28.3, with a PER of 25.6.

I agree with you, and I think that Westbrook is actually hurting OKC at this point by not deferring to Durant.

To summarize the playoffs

PER
Westbrook 20.8
Durant 25.6

TS%
Westbrook 50%
Durant 60%

Ortg
Westbrook 106
Durant 125

Drtg
Westbrook 105
Durant 104

WS
Westbrook 1.0
Durant 2.3

Usage rate
Westbrook 34.8
Durant 28.3

WS/48
Westbrook .123
Durant .266

 

[Nikolokolus]

In a vacuum I think both LMA and Westbrook are comparable on a scale of 1 to 10 as far as talent and ability to affect a game and I wouldn't rule out trading Aldridge for Westbrook out of hand, but frankly I think you would be exchanging one set of problems for another without much tangible affect on the team's ability to win or lose games (which is all that really matters).

When you talk about the maxim of not trading bigs for smalls I'm not sure it matters as much in this era of basketball where the rules seem to favor perimeter guys, but it would leave us less than paper thin up front.

 

[Lanny]

No, although he gets a lot of assists, his fg% is actually pretty poor compared with Aldridge. He shoots 44% to Aldridge's 50%. Not exactly what I'd like to see.

Also, there's the point that someone else already brought up about losing a big, our only really good PF, in exchange for a point guard. We need a good point guard, but it doesn't seem wise to give up our All-NBA PF in order to get one.

 

[MickZagger]

No, although he gets a lot of assists, his fg% is actually pretty poor compared with Aldridge. He shoots 44% to Aldridge's 50%. Not exactly what I'd like to see.

Also, there's the point that someone else already brought up about losing a big, our only really good PF, in exchange for a point guard. We need a good point guard, but it doesn't seem wise to give up our All-NBA PF in order to get one.

PG's normally have a lower FG% than Forwards.

 

[PapaG]

Well, we'll have to disagree on the import of that. While I agree he's let his team down late in a couple of games, I am more apt (based on everything he's done in his career up to now, including those two games) to chalk it up to some random bad play rather than Westbrook truly defining himself as a point guard. I also don't think those two games define him as a choker, as I don't feel that every moment of bad play in clutch situations points to a flaw in the player's make-up. Even players with solid clutch credentials, like Jordan, Reggie Miller, Magic Johnson, have had bad moments or even bad games in the clutch. Sometimes bad play is just random variation, not a choke.

Take a look at Chris Paul's Asst% v. Usage rate. If the Blazers are going to trade an All-NBA big, they had better get a Chris Paul in return. Westbrook being 2nd team over Paul is a joke, IMO. Westbrook's Ortg/Drtg is terrible for an "elite" player, and it is worse in the playoffs.

 

[Minstrel]

Westbrook being 2nd team over Paul is a joke, IMO.

I agree with that.

 

[magnifier661]

Seeing how Westbrook thinks he's mj; naw I think I would rather have Aldridge right now.

 

[BBert]

I watched the 4th quarter of the OKC/Memphis game tonight. Based on that extensive sample size, I don't want Westbrook at all, but I'd take that Zach Randolph guy.

Seriously, how is a player like Durant supposed to get into a rhythm when Westbrook is hogging the ball and throwing it away time after time? After a while, you just hoist up a shot when you finally touch the ball. That's not good basketball. I'd rather have Conley.

I'll keep LaMarcus, thanks.