So my takeaways:
I don’t get the urge to build around Beal. He is a good, not great, player, a complimentary guy who has been around for 8 years. People still expecting him to be something he hasn't been for 8 years is mystifying to me. Wall at his best was a better player, Westbrook still cam be a better player and at his best was in a different stratosphere. Lmao at the Wizards being "Brad's team"...
I see this as slightly more than a lateral move for Washington. They were a 9-seed last year---->Beal isnt good enough to lead a team anywhere, so having Westbrook makes them better, but they'll only be a bottom seed in the playoffs unless some other unforseen deal happens to make them better. I'm a Westbrook fan, and he was great in the season before the bubble last year, bounce back year that showed he still has something. He and Beal together, where is that going? The best thing is while Russ gets hurt he isn't likely to miss whole seasons the way Wall did, so he's an upgrade from Wall in that regard...
Houston wins this on paper if they keep Harden and Wall is available. He doesn't have to be back to pre-injury Wall, if he's a competent point, and Boogie is able to give you 15, this is a sneaky good team. The "if" factor is those two dudes health...
Wall gonna be challenged in The West. My thing with Houston is health. If these guys stay healthy, you've rebuilded and rebranded on the fly, not to contender status, but not worse than you were last year. Pf course if Harden keeps pushing for a trade, I still have a hunch Houston might do it anyway, a Wall/Boogie team in '21 aint taking you anywhere relevant, so you need to convince Harden this can work...
Weird trade, neither team got better than they were last year, but oddly enough, if both sides can stay healthy, both teams win the deal in their own right...
