The offseason trade of Chris Paul (and draft considerations) for guard Russell Westbrook boosted the Houston Rockets’ odds of winning the NBA championship by about 30 percent, according to GM Daryl Morey, who cited internal calculations.
“Now is our best chance,” Morey told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck about his team’s chance to win the NBA championship. The Houston GM, long known for use of advanced statistics, spoke to Beck as part of his latest feature story on James Harden.
Not surprisingly, Harden also gave Beck a glowing review of the Westbrook acquisition by his team:
But I’m more excited to go into war, postseason, with somebody that is, like, a dog. Somebody that’s a killer, for real.
Westbrook was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2017 after tallying 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game. That made Westbrook the first NBA player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62 season, and he has since averaged triple-doubles in the last two seasons, too.
Now 30 years old, Westbrook’s per-game averages of 22.9 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 10.7 assists per game easily surpassed the 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists tallied by the 34-year-old Paul.
Perhaps most significant, Westbrook has only missed 14 games combined over the last four NBA seasons (and none in the playoffs). In that same time period, Paul has missed 77 regular-season games while also having two of his four playoff runs cut short by injury.
On the other hand, many around the league have questioned how Westbrook’s ball-dominant style will mesh with that of Harden, who averaged a career-high 36.1 points per game last season. But the 2018 MVP, who is Westbrook’s same age and has known him since childhood in the Los Angeles area, believes their comfort level with one another will allow them to overcome those types of challenges.
“Russ isn’t just like one of my old teammates that I was in Oklahoma City with; Russ has been my brother since I was 10,” Harden told Beck. “Our communication is different. The way we talk to each other is different.” Beck’s complete story can be read at Bleacher Report.
