Although James Harden is in his eighth year with the Rockets, it has been newcomer Russell Westbrook who has “taken the initiative within the locker room” as of late, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Sources tell Charania that Westbrook has delivered “several passionate messages” to the team and has emerged as a leader. There’s no indication that’s been a problem for Harden, with Charania suggesting there’s a “renewed closeness” between the Rockets’ two star guards.
“Russell’s a good leader, and we’ve needed the motivation,” a Rockets source told The Athletic, referring to the team’s up-and-down recent play.
With the trade deadline approaching, the Rockets continue to explore the trade market in search of upgrades. Sources tell Charania that Houston is specifically looking for a wing and continues to make future draft picks available in discussions.
Here’s more from Charania’s most recent article:
- Rival teams believe the Mavericks are looking to open up a spot on their 15-man roster for added flexibility, according to Charania, who reiterates that Dallas is in the market for a wing and/or a big man. The Mavs could go the free agent route to acquire a big, Charania adds.
- The Pistons don’t appear to have any momentum toward an Andre Drummond trade. We previously heard that the Hawks and Knicks have pulled out of the Drummond sweepstakes, and Charania suggests that’s the case for the Celtics too. Sources tell The Athletic that no teams have made the Pistons a quality offer that meets their asking price of a first-round pick or a good young player.
- The Pelicans are telling teams they want to evaluate their current core for a longer period of time now that everyone is healthy, per Charania. It’s unclear if New Orleans will reconsider that stance at all before the February 6 trade deadline.
So now that the pistons have put off everyone trying to get Drummond it’s forced them into having to give him a huge deal this off season.
Which means either they will stay irrelevant for the next 5 years with Drummond and Griffin on the books or they will have to try trade Griffin in order to start a semi rebuild.
Like that idea of a 3 team trade:
Knicks: CP3 + Morris + A first from Detroit
OKC: Griffin + Ntilikina
Pistons: Randle + Portis + DSJ
Would the Pistons be better off paying Griffin $38M the next 2 years rather than give up a 1st and take on the other 3 players?
I’m yet to see a rational trade proposal from this guy
Morris is already on the Knicks? This trade wouldn’t work without the pistons dropping a man either
I guess he s talking about Morris jr, not Morris sr
Why in the world would Okc do this?
Griffin is a slight improvement over CP3 I guess. But I agree, I don’t see any reason OKC would bother with this.
Markieff Morris.
Piston do it because they aren’t going to get anywhere with Griffin and Drummond. So going younger and getting more pieces makes sense.
Randle is Griffin lite, Portis gives them a stretch big and DSJ gives them a back up PG with potential.
OKC do it because it opens up minutes at the point guard for SGA and lets him run the ship. Plus Griffin is born in OKC so it’s about of a feel good story and he would bounce back next year and play well. Plus he replaces Gallo who’s on an expiring deal. Griffin also saves the team 4 mil per year compared to Paul and Ntilikina is a young player they could try develop.
Pistons could easily just drop Tim Frazier since they are getting DSJ, Frazier who is 29 and hasn’t played much/if any minutes this year anyways.
Pistons get younger and get more useable pieces. OKC gives SGA a bigger role and replaces Gallo with a local star and get a young player. Knicks get a star and someone to lead that team
Are you saying Blake Griffin is a star now ? Med alert
In fairness if you take away the scoring, Randle gets just as many rebounds as Griffin and shots it almost just as good.
Would be a huge win for the pistons just getting rid of that contract to be honest
Betting Riley and Spo could figure out what to do with Drummond as a 1 year rental.
Waiters, J.Johnson, KZ Okpala for Drummond.
Pistons have plenty of other players to drop to get out of the Tax.
Why would the pistons want 2 really ugly contract and locker room players and a rookie who hasn’t played for a near all star level player ?
Hpuston lost 4 in a row, 3 at home, so there was something to meet about.
Russ is Russ but he is finding a way to get his game in. Doesn’t take long for him to get to the rim!
Russ is playing as well as anyone in the NBA over the past 6 weeks. He’s a lock for one of the backup guard spots on the AS team.
Griffin is untraceable right now… Just not going to happen unless pistons give a 1st for somone to take him even then I think it’s a stretch.. Only scenario of it happening is with a team like Brooklyn or golden state who are both looking to next year… Still not happening.. Drummond if not moved will likely stay in Detroit I see a contract that favors him maybe something like a 2+1 with player options and starting at 25 mill per… I think the pistons value him more than other teams would.. Rose only gets dealt if he ask for one or if a contender will give up young player and pick I see Detroit doing it… Then you have 4 players I think Detroit will look to move that’s Jackson, gallaway, snell, morris. Those players could very likely get traded..