Source
r/torontoraptors•
PortlandSwept

My Pitch for a Westbrook trade.

Kawhi and Danny puts us around 42M less in salary If we trade Westbrook for Ibaka(expiring), FVV and Norm + picks. that leave us with a lineup of Westbrook/Kyle/OG/Siakam/Gasol. That is a decently competitive lineup for one year. RHJ/Stanley/OG off the bench with a couple vet min guys.

Next offseason we free up another 60M in salary.

The only commitments we have is 38M on Westbrook. 2M on OG 3.5M on Stanley and 1.3M on Thomas. That's 45M on salary. The Salary cap in 2020 will probably be around 110-112M. That leaves us with 67M cap room. We have to re-sign Siakam. But we have his birds rights so we can spend our cap space then re-sign him after. Same thing with Kyle if we bring him back and Gasol, but I don't see us bringing him back.

Say we wanna wait until freeagency 2021.

We can sign Siakam(25M/yr) but we will only have around 42M to play with rather than the 67M in 2020

Screw a rebuild, we can be contending for 4 more years

TLDR. If we trade for Westbrook. We will have 67M to strongarm him with talent next summer + We will have Siakam to pair with him.

Posted Jul 8, 2019, 12:30 AM UTC

047
AngryPenguin501Toronto Nephews•

Imma be real with you bro, from what i’ve seen, this sub isn’t too hot on Westbrook. So you’re probably gonna get roasted in the comments, just a heads up

32
PortlandSweptOPBUILT over BOUGHT•

they get Kawhi for one year and all of a sudden any player that isn't an elite two way top 5 player isn't "worth it" lmao. They would have traded for Westbrook in a millesecond back when we still have DeRozan,

-20
[deleted]•

[deleted]

2
Mortifer17Legends•

The difference between Kawhi and Westbrook is the play style. Kawhi can be inserted to any line up and he can be elite. On the other hand, Westbrook have a lot of flaws that may or may not fit a already established line up. For one, his shot selection is terrible. Raptors became successful because of shit distribution. Lowry will play make once he realized that his shot is off where as Westbrook will keep taking shots until he make it. If Westbrook takes 30-40 shots a game, it will hinder the development of the younger players.

2
lyes_messi10•

I’m not even reading this lmaooooo next

30
hypnotiichippo_Big Spain•

Rejected.

12
N7BrendanDay 1 OG Stan•

So you want to trade 3 bench players and picks for an MVP and his albatross contract

not only do we never do this, OKC would actually block our number

12
pop_lock-it_drop-it:Champs:Champs•

The rockets sub was trying to offer Chris Paul. I was laughing my ass off.

3
PortlandSweptOPBUILT over BOUGHT•

Look at what Miami is offering. Think we can't beat that?

-2
N7BrendanDay 1 OG Stan•

Why would we want to

Westbrook+Siakam isn’t winning a title and we’re giving up assets to maybe make the conference finals - when we should be selling and acquiring picks and assets of our own

-2
PortlandSweptOPBUILT over BOUGHT•

a rebuild isn't a guaranteed contending team

1
N7BrendanDay 1 OG Stan•

So you’d rather waste assets on Weetbrook and his albatross contract and sit around middling in the playoffs again? Masai already said he’d rather go young than get knocked out in the second round year after year.

Westbrook isn’t a championship winning player.

1
theabsoluteunicorn•

I'm a simple girl. I see Westbrook, I... get tf outta here

6
ClayvoHasDat•

We need fvv. He was literally our most reliable shooter in the finals

5
DemonRDT6#bootios•

Don’t forget that having a player like Westbrook can definitely help attract free agents in 2020 or 2021

4
pop_lock-it_drop-it:Champs:Champs•

True but, I don’t think Westbrook has truly learned to play in a half-court offence effectively, yet.

1
danielisverycool•

I don’t know many stars that want to play with Westbrook. Harden, KD, and now PG have all left.

1
schooli0Vince Carter•

Siakam is not going for $25m, his value calculated by 538 last season was $35m, that's before winning the mip and any improvements he makes this summer

4
DELLZOR43 Pascal Siakam•

not gonna read it but no, westbrook has fallen off a cliff and his shot selection is very questionable

  • he can't space the floor
4
limpiff•

Stop. 🛑

3
Bleachdrinker1998Kyle Lowry•

I used to love Westbrook but he is falling off hard. He is super inefficient and plus im not a huge fan of his attitude. Doesnt fit the team unfortunately.

3
zSalsyMatt “99% shooting” Thomas•

Not only is Westbrook extremely overrated the trade would of never happened regardless.

Presti used Masai as leverage for a better deal.

3
Itsallinthegameyoo•

Masai should just call up the knicks and find a way to fleece them again lol

2
TheBrokenAsylumOG Shoulders•

Westbrook is a really good player, an MVP, a very competitive and athletic freak, but he doesn't elevate a team, he doesn't have that ability. He's not gonna put us over the top

2
Fluffytheman69•

Honestly there will never be someone as good as Kawhi that will ever come to the Raptors ever or for a very long time!

0
TheBrokenAsylumOG Shoulders•

You're probably right ngl

2
schooli0Vince Carter•

Trust Masai, also the championship run opened a lot of people's eyes

1
w1beltran•

Nah he's constantly competing and did it with out KD. He's aight.

0
Fluffytheman69•

Tell me I'm wrong but Russell Westbrook plays for STATS! "Russell for 3 points totaling 40 tonight cutting the lead to 18"

2
schooli0Vince Carter•

Why are people still bringing up Westbrook trades? If we wanted Westbrook, we would have taken him with Paul George and therefore re-sign Kawhi. What's the point of getting Westbrook without Kawhi?

1
pop_lock-it_drop-it:Champs:Champs•

We could never get both anyways. Clippers gave up all there rights to there own picks until 2027, they had a larger war chest with those Miami picks. Kawhi would of chose the Lakers if The Clips couldn’t pull through on the PG trade (note, he was communicating with both). He simple just wanted to go home, we had no chance either way.

3
schooli0Vince Carter•

So Westbrook is the consolation prize for missing out on Kawhi? Hells no, our cap is so clean come 2020

2
pop_lock-it_drop-it:Champs:Champs•

I didn’t say, I wanted Westbrook chief. Don’t group me in with OP. Westbrook is great talent, terrible contract because of his lacking half-court game

1
dmasterdunk•

How are you expecting to fill it though? The 2020 FA class isn’t awesome.

1
schooli0Vince Carter•

Then maybe 2 gap years until we're competitive again, I'm sure Masai can do some magic with our expiring deals to get younger and collect some picks

1
PortlandSweptOPBUILT over BOUGHT•

Do you really think free agents are lining up to signing up to join Pascal Siakam?

-3
dmasterdunk•

I think a lot of people don’t understand this. All you have to do is read the Woj article to understand that us landing PG gave us no certainty that Kawhi would re-sign and really, if the Clips didn’t land PG, he was Lakers bound. Dude was LA bound all along... people need to know that and stop assuming had we landed PG (and Russ I guess) that kAwhi would’ve re-signed because he most likely wouldn’t have.

2
dmasterdunk•

I don’t know why people are assuming we would’ve signed kAwhi. Has no one read the Woj piece? There was NO guarantee kAwhi was staying, even if we landed PG. Woj indicates he was likely going to the Lakers if Clips didn’t get PG.

1
schooli0Vince Carter•

With or without Kawhi, Westbrook's contract is horrible, a huge factor in trading DeRozan was getting rid of his contract, no way Masai goes and gets Westbrook of all people

1
Blue_cow1•

You have og starting and off the bench

1
dmasterdunk•

If Masai trades for Westbrook, I’ll believe. I don’t think he will though.

1
danielisverycool•

The only fan base in the entire NBA that wants him is OKC. The only way I could see a team working well with him is either a strong coach that will make him get better habits, or just have him dominate the offence and build a really strong defensive team. Other than that, he’s never going to be the choice for a ring contending team.

1
tthomas26•

No

1