This summers storylines has been ruled by the NBA when it comes to the sports landscape. Even with with free agency dying down there are still plenty of headlines around the NBA this week. The real deal sports 2 big takeaways this week we will explore Damian Lillard's comments about not wanting to team up with another superstar, and Russell Westbrook’s fit in Houston.
Earlier this week Portland Trailblazers' Star Point Guard Damian Lillard spoke about this week how with players being more friendly today that a pitch of going to play with friends is more powerful than any sales pitch a General Manager or other executives can make. Also he talked about how back in the day players such as Michael Jordan would not have thought about the idea of calling up other star players in the league and saying do they want to team up. The premise of what Lillard is saying is true but also flawed at the same time. When you look back at the teams from the 80’s and 90’s many of the teams that won championships in those eras the rosters were filled with stars and players who are in the Hall of Fame. The Celtics and Lakers just to name some of the players who were on those teams Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, for the Celtics. For the Lakers you had Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, James Worthy all of who are in the Hall of Fame as well. The Bulls in the 90’s had Micheal Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman who are all in the Hall Fame. Also the Detroit Pistons has Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Dennis Rodman another group players who are the in Hall of Fame. This shows that you need multiple stars to win in the NBA for the most part. The difference being back then the executives of the teams constructed the rosters. In today’s game the very elite players have the power and they are using but instead getting different coaches such as they did back in the day they are saying I want to play with that guy.
In addition to Lillard's comments another hot topic which occurred later this week was the Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul trade. This reunited Russell Westbrook and James Harden to form perform one of the most dynamic duos in the NBA. The biggest question is how are both James Harden, and Westbrook are going to play together. Both star players did play together in Oklahoma City 2009 to 2012; but much has changed in the last 9 years. Harden and Westbrook have since both won the Most Valuable Player ( MVP) awards; both have also produced historic individual achievements with the ultimate team goal of winning a NBA Championship eluding both. I believe the duo of Westbrook and Harden will work if Westbrook takes a step like he did while playing with Paul George last year. Also Westbrook has to improve his 3 point shooting as he only shot 29% from the 3pt line last season. When the season is over the Rockets will be a top 4 seeded team with a chance of winning a championship.
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