It's getting to be that time of year - Westbrook to Celtics latest rumor

http://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/x-potential-trade-partners-russell-westbrook.html/?ref=YF&yptr=yahoo

The rumor mill runs hot and heavy this time of year, but the question is: could Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook actually be on his way out of town? At first, after Kevin Durant chose to leave the Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, the thought process was that the team may have difficulties being able to re-sign their other young star during 2017 free agency, which could result in them wanting to move him sooner than later.

Those rumors blazed even hotter when Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reported that the Thunder want to trade Westbrook “soon.” It was in a video, but Beck stated the following:

“What I’m hearing in Las Vegas from some GMs, not only are they hearing that Westbrook will get traded, it’s that it will be sooner rather than later — before the season starts — and the most likely destination is the Boston Celtics.”

Then, of course, Westbrook signed a three-year, $85 million dollar extension. This doesn’t keep him in OKC, especially not with the final year being a player option, but it does give the franchise a little more rope.

So, while they’re reporting that the Celtics are indeed one of the front-runners to potentially land Westbrook in a trade, who else could be in the mix for the young point guard? Instead of completely speculating, we’re going to take a look at a few teams who could put together a pretty nice trade package and have a chance to land Westbrook from the Thunder. We’ll start it off with none other than the Celtics, because they have plenty of young talent.

The Celtics simply have so many interesting pieces, that it can be hard to envision even where they’d begin. They obviously can’t move Al Horford, who they just signed, but could Isaiah Thomas be on the move? Thomas is a fan favorite, but if they didn’t have to give an arm and a leg on top of Thomas, it may be a starting point. Rookie Jaylen Brown’s name would likely need to be included, but it really boils down to what the Thunder would want.

The Celtics have guards for days on their roster, and while they’d hate to give up a few of them the prospect of getting one of the best point guards in the league via trade is enticing. Imagine how excited Celtics fans would have to be if Westbrook and Horford were leading the way in the near future?

There is more in the link, but it is about other teams landing Westbrook. Basically, no concrete plausible trade is presented, just linking the Celtics to yet another trade rumor. Could be interesting though if the part about OKC looking to trade him is true, in which case there can be little doubt Danny will make a call. What would you give up for Westbrook? Would you rather pass on him, despite his talents, since he is so ball-dominant?

he'd be a great pick up for sure.

I tried to work our a trade salary wise and had a hard time working anything out. Amr, Thomas and Brown combine for about $23M. I am sure OKC would want that Nets pick next year at least also.

Westbrook is $26.5 alone, so I think that might work for salary cap reasons. But a three for one deal leaves us undermanned.

Now adding Jerami Grant (recently from Philly) and his less than $1M salary helps us. But even that may kick us out of the salary cap rules.

maybe a third team in some way?

the best thing I can see would be a HUGE ( or YUGE) deal ,which never really happens in the NBA anyway.

Bradley, IT, Amir, Jaylen , the nets pick and maybe another lesser draft pick ( totals about $31.5M).

for
Westbrook, Grant and A. Morrow. ( $31.1M)

something that big would have no chance of happening.

but even IF it could, should we?

Horford
Zeller
Kelly
Jerebko
Crowder
Grant or Green
Smart
Westbrook
Rozier
Morrow?

is that team ready to compete for a title?

I dunno.

Can the Celtics really top any of the best offers this article gives from three other teams?

- D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and a future 1st rd pick
- Andrew Wiggins and Kris Dunn
- Paul Millsap and Dennis Schroeder

with

Isaiah Thomas or Smart
Rozier
Jaylen Brown
Yabusele
Zeller 

and both Net's picks

That is probably our best offer right?

I mean, Westbrook needs to be here starting with Bradley, Crowder, Horford, along with a FA center to be determined and a bench of one of Thomas/Smart, Olynyk, Zizic, Jackson and maybe Young or Nader or Jerebko sticks around or a 2nd rd pick they hit on. But really, a slightly weaker bench isn't going to be a big deal if you have an All-NBA 1st teamer in Westbrook, All-NBA 3rd teamer in Horford, borderline all-stars in Bradley (all NBA Defensive 1st team) and Crowder (possibly all defensive 2nd team, along with Horford), and either a former all-star turned 6th man candidate in Thomas, or possible all-NBA defensive 2nd teamer and feared glue guy Smart.

Another rumor that has no substance IMO.

And how many titles has he won?

If he was on our team we would be better but also worse off the bench. End result is no meaningful difference from where we are now.

dboss

dboss wrote:And how many titles has he won?

If he was on our team we would be better but also worse off the bench.  End result is no meaningful difference from where we are now.

dboss

I'm not necessarily for a Westbrook trade (actually, I'm probably against it), but I don't agree with your logic. How many titles had KG won before he came here? How many had Lebron won before coming to the Heat. You might argue that there were other pieces added in both those situations, but addition of the first piece can facilitate addition of the second piece. I just don't buy into judging a player by titles alone - its not so simple.

Shamrock 1000 said:

"I'm not necessarily for a Westbrook trade (actually, I'm probably against it), but I don't agree with your logic. How many titles had KG won before he came here? How many had Lebron won before coming to the Heat. You might argue that there were other pieces added in both those situations, but addition of the first piece can facilitate addition of the second piece. I just don't buy into judging a player by titles alone - its not so simple".

I agree with you totally. Today's NBA players are much more fraternal and sycophantic than the players we grew up watching. IMO their AAU upbringing is the cause of that. To attract a star you've got to not only have one, he also has to have a certain "cred" or "cache" with his peers. Both IT and AH are good players and all stars but I'm not so sure that they have that aforementioned "it". For that reason I would be in favor of a Westbrook/Cousins deal, as long as they're not of the franchise crippling variety.