The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Going Commando]

I read that the reason the players have been wanting out of Houston is because Tillman Fertita donated a bunch of money to Trump and Republican candidates.  That's a little crazy to me, if true.  I'm guessing most if these billionaire owners give money to Republicans.

26 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

No thanks. We wouldn't be clearing salary and Westbrook doesn't make us demonstrably better than Wall(assuming Wall is healthy because the Rockets wouldn't want him if he wasn't).

 

That's what makes me think something happened with John behind the scenes to where they want him gone.

[Going Commando]

The team had been rock solid loyal to John for ten years and now they're abruptly shopping him?  Trading John is an ownership level decision, realistically.  Something happened and it's hard not to speculate that the gang ties **** from two months ago is a reason for the change.

[philibusters]

I think Westbrook is better than Wall.   I am weary of the trade just because we'd have to give up assets to make it happen which means a future rebuild will be even tougher, but in the near term it would improve the team.

[@DCGoldPants]

There isn't a single player on this roster who should be untradable. Trading that brings older players and/or giant contracts? No thanks. Cap room and all the draft picks only. 

[Skin'emAlive]

1. Cant stand Chris Miller. He’s worthless. 
 

2. John is the team. I don’t want to see him leave. But I’ll list the scenarios here:

 

John+9 for Westbrook: Hell no

John+9 for Westbrook+16: I’d think about it

John+9 for Harden: I loath Harden. But I think a Harden+Beal team works better than Westbrook+Beal. 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

If this happens I'm done.... just like I am with the football team..

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I think about it, I don't actually believe this.

 

I think this is Houston leaking "stuff" in an attempt to drum up interest in Westbrook.

 

 

[Destino]

32 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

The team had been rock solid loyal to John for ten years and now they're abruptly shopping him?  Trading John is an ownership level decision, realistically.  Something happened and it's hard not to speculate that the gang ties **** from two months ago is a reason for the change.

It might be that he’s due 40 million a year and has missed pretty much all of the last two season.  

[CRobi21]

 

[Destino]

Rockets leaked it?  That’s not a good look for them, teams are going to be real hesitant to put out feelers if that’s true.  Bad time to be caught doing dirt for them, being that both of their stars want out.  

[Hersh]

This has all the makings of a four team mega trade by tomorrow.  Westbrook to the Knicks, Wall to Clippers, Knicks 8th pick to Houston, Playoff P and Elfred Payton to the Wiz, Clippers first round pick in 2042 to Houston. Houston probably needs some salary from the Knicks plus the Wiz’s first round pick in 2022.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Hersh

[Going Commando]

36 minutes ago, Destino said:

Rockets leaked it?  That’s not a good look for them, teams are going to be real hesitant to put out feelers if that’s true.  Bad time to be caught doing dirt for them, being that both of their stars want out.  

 

So the way I'm seeing this is they tried to squeeze us for #9 and we turned them down and backed out, then they leaked it to try and **** up our locker room and pressure us into making a deal.  If that's what happened, that is scummy as ****.  That organization is the worst.

[abdcskins]

Unless we are the one getting picks, no way I would trade Wall for Westbrook.

[Kosher Ham]

Westbrook is MUCH BETTER than Wall. No one in this draft is better either. The guy is a walking triple double. 

[Destino]

Wall can’t stay healthy and that’s an absolute disaster for a supermax deal.  All the skill in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t stay on the floor.  Anything we can get for him has to be considered, because if he gets injured again that contract stays here forever.  And you can not rebuild until it’s gone.  It’s purgatory.  
 

Westbrook is better than Wall.  He’s healthier too.  Problem is healthier isn’t healthy, we’ve seen him struggle through injuries recently.  Abe’s also going to age as badly as any star in the game.  He’s all about aggression and athleticism with little to no finesse in his game.  No shooting either, he’s a brick factory, and his contract is just as bad.  Without that explosion he’s got nothing offensively, and his defense was abysmal in his prime.

 

I wouldn’t be mad at the trade unless wizards included the #9 pick.  Houston is over a barrel and they know it.  Wizards need to refuse to offer more.  They can get a potential star to rebuild, or they can trade their stars for role players and draft picks.  Their choice.

 

Wizards need that pick for depth if they’re going to carry a super max contract.

[Skin'emAlive]

Westbrook is not better. He’s 32, with 4 knee surgeries, a prp injection, coming off covid, and his skill is in decline. He won’t have Enes and Adams walling off the court for rebounds here. 

[Destino]

13 minutes ago, Skin'emAlive said:

Westbrook is not better. He’s 32, with 4 knee surgeries, a prp injection, coming off covid, and his skill is in decline. He won’t have Enes and Adams walling off the court for rebounds here. 

Wall's 30 coming off nearly two years out of the game, more knee surgeries than I care to remember, a problem with keeping his weight down, and an achilles injury.  Westbrook has been an MVP though and has never been out of shape.  He also works so hard he changed Oladipo's life.  Wizards could use some of that type of crazy. 

 

But, to be clear, these are both bad contracts.  Very bad.  Worst in the NBA type bad.  Neither of these contracts is ideal for any team to have... which is probably why trading one for the other is in the news.  No one wants these contracts.

[Skin'emAlive]

I feel part of the issue John had with keeping his weight in check was due to the bone spur misdiagnosis for 6 years. ( which is incredible btw). I’m not ready to throw in the towel on John. His game has made dozens of careers here. Westbrook’s aura made one play harder on another team. Give me wall with a pnr threat and bertans/Beal as kickout options over Westbrook.
 

It’s a bad contract, sure. But every contract is bad unless u are a contender and a guy like David west offers to play for free. 

[ixcuincle]

Wall started off great but can't stay on the floor. Extending him with supermax was arguably one of the worst decisions Ernie made in 20 years with the team.

 

Deal him.

[Going Commando]

Stealth shopping John, if that's what Tommy has been doing, doesn't sit right with me.  Houston leaked this to try and force our hand, I think that much is clear.  It's a reason to never do business with "master negotiator" Rafael Stone again.  But if Tommy was actively shopping John, that makes his word questionable.

[Going Commando]

Westbrook doesn't make sense for us either.  The problems with Wall's fit within the structure of this team are way more pronounced with Westbrook. At least with Wall you can talk yourself into the possibility of him morphing into a defense and passing point for 50+ games a season, plus he's well liked here.  We're clearly much better off just taking our chances with Wall, especially if Houston is trying to hold us hostage for extra assets in a situation where they don't have any leverage.

[Thinking Skins]

I would take the Westbrook deal in a heartbeat. He doesn't have Wall's injury history and he's a better player. Our defense is bad no matter what but Wall always talks defense and just doesn't put up until he cares enough. 

 

Plus,  in this new league of super teams Westbrook gives us much more of a base to say, hey random all star player, don't you want to come to Washington and build a superteam here? 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Just a reminder that, prior to COVID/bubble/quad injury, WestBrick was putting up insane numbers in Jan/Feb.

 

I still don’t like the idea of dumping Wall, tho.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

1 hour ago, Thinking Skins said:

I would take the Westbrook deal in a heartbeat. He doesn't have Wall's injury history and he's a better player. Our defense is bad no matter what but Wall always talks defense and just doesn't put up until he cares enough. 

 

Perhaps Wall's defense was impacted by the bone spurs he played with for years.

 

The same bone spurs which ultimately led to his partial achillies tear....🤷‍♂️

 

[Hersh]

4 hours ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Stealth shopping John, if that's what Tommy has been doing, doesn't sit right with me.  Houston leaked this to try and force our hand, I think that much is clear.  It's a reason to never do business with "master negotiator" Rafael Stone again.  But if Tommy was actively shopping John, that makes his word questionable.

GMs should always have discussions about every player on the roster unless their name is Lebron James. I’m encouraged they are looking around. Also, never write off a team when it comes to making trades. 

[Thinking Skins]

Maybe, but Just like Agent 0 was nothing after the knee injury we should be looking to unload the max contract on the injured player. This is Beal's team.