It has been a quiet few days in the NBA world. So, naturally, the NBA had to do something to get your attention back. If you’re reading this, you already know that Russell Westbrook has been traded to the Washington Wizards and John Wall, along with a heavily protected future first, has been traded to the Houston Rockets.
The question now is: how well the Wizards do with Westbrook now, rather than having John Wall, who hasn’t played an NBA game in almost two calendar years?
First, I grade the trade.
Grades
Here are the details for the trade:
Rockets: C
I definitely understand the urgency to trade Westbrook. He definitely isn’t getting any younger and his contract is massive. However, according to Woj, the two general managers got together after weeks without contact and got a deal done within a few hours. Rushing a trade when you’re clearly getting the worse player out of it seems like a very poor idea. Because in return, they get the aforementioned worse player, and a single first round pick that is several years down the line and is heavily protected. I feel like they could have gotten more–or better–compensation when we are talking a Westbrook-Wall exchange specifically. The Rockets front office has mentioned they were willing to get uncomfortable with Westbrook and Harden by keeping both as training camp began. Yet, this move seemed like they were trying to avoid that.
The reason why this grade is not worse is because John Wall–the last time we saw him–was still pretty good. If he comes back and is 80% of what he was the last time we saw him, then the Rockets will definitely be competitive. That’s a pretty big “if” though.
Wizards: B+
This grade is less about acquiring Westbrook and more about what little they had to give to get rid of John Wall. Obviously John Wall is capable of being a good point guard. John Wall at 80% is better than most point guards in the league. However, the uncertainty of where John Wall is and how he is going to perform warrants a lot of doubt. Wall and Westbrook both rely on their athleticism in order to be at their best. So, if a player relies on their athleticism, having a sore left knee that forced them to missed 40 games and a torn Achilles that has forced them to miss the last year and a half is more than enough to want to explore other options. Westbrook may be older, and hasn’t been 100% for a couple of years now, but also hasn’t suffered a significant injury in quite some time.
Can Westbrook and Beal Work?
The obvious answer is yes. The main thing that made the Harden-Westbrook tandem not work was the lack of ballhandling for Russ. Westbrook is a bit more dependent on handling the ball in order to at his best, due to his ability to get the rim or shot create for others. The style Morey and D’Antoni wanted Harden to play really hindered that aspect. While they were able to find ways around that as the season progressed–i.e. micro-ball–it is still better to let Westbrook handle the ball a majority of the time he is on the court.
Even though Russell Westbrook needs the ball a lot to be the most effective, doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to be the second option. With Beal, it is more like his pairing with Paul George. While everyone wants to troll on how that ended, at it’s peak Paul George–aka MVPG–and Westbrook was a pretty strong duo. The main reason it was so effective was because Paul George didn’t need to have the ball a whole lot in order to be effective. He was able to run set plays off-ball, run off-ball screens, along with catch and shoot. If it weren’t for having trouble with his shoulder, this duo wouldn’t be as poorly remembered as they were.
With Beal, he has been relatively healthy for the last few years, and at 27 he still has a lot of years left. He would also be considered an improvement as far as a fit with Westbrook compared to George or Harden mostly because he is probably the best off-ball player while matching their volume as far as scoring.
With all that being said, Beal will still have plenty of opportunity to be the primary ball-handler. Everyone knows this is Beal’s team. So, he will have his opportunity to run the offense and create his own shot, just he has been for the last few seasons.
Lineup and Depth
As it stands if I had layout the potential lineup and bench for the Wizards it would look like:
PG- Russell Westbrook
SG- Bradley Beal
SF- Davis Bertans
PF- Rui Hachimura
C- Thomas Bryant
Bench- Ish Smith|PG, Robin Lopez|C, Troy Brown Jr|SF, Mortiz Wagner|PF/C, Isaac Bonga|PG/SF
The starting five is pretty good. However it’s the bench that seems to be lacking. Smith and Lopez are fairly serviceable veteran role players. Then, you have three very young players in Wagner, Brown Jr, and Bonga. The main question is how well can these guys mix and can they hold the fort when Westbrook, Beal, or both are off the court?
Team Outlook
One note I should definitely mention is that Russell Westbrook has been reunited with former Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. While I have never really been that high on Brooks overall, I can expect him to get more out of Westbrook than D’Antoni did. Brooks also gets essentially the guy he was trying to emulate with John Wall.
Obviously, it is very unlikely the Wizards can make a run to the Finals. Their depth isn’t that great and their coach certainly has his limitations. However, they will not be an easy out. Their star power alone makes them a playoff team, especially in the East where the conference is definitely top-heavy. A lot of people don’t want to give the Wizards that kind of credit due to their negative implicit bias towards Russell Westbrook, but that is the reality.
With that being said, I can see the Wizards finishing anywhere between the 4th seed and the 7th seed, depending on how well Westbrook and Beal mesh. I can also see them making it past the first round. Before this trade, where they were relying on John Wall to be close to the same player he was two years ago, I pegged this team to be anywhere between the 9th seed and the 12th seed. So, if you really want to how I feel about this trade for the Wizards, this sums it up.