Rockets GM Daryl Morey Reflects On Russell Westbrook Trade
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey recently reflected on the Russell Westbrook trade that occurred before the start of the season.
Over the summer, Houston worked out a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder that would net them Westbrook and send point guard Chris Paul to OKC.
Some questioned the fit of Westbrook and James Harden, but Rockets brass insisted it would not be a problem.
While the Rockets have done more or less fine with Westbrook, the team does seem noticeably worse in some regards. There have also been some very real chemistry issues when Westbrook and Harden are on the floor together.
Recently, Morey sat down with ESPN’s Zach Lowe to discuss the decision to acquire Westbrook.
“We just felt like you can’t win unless you’ve got a peak level that’s very high,” Morey said.
“And we thought with Chris (Paul) and James (Harden) we were an extremely good team, and in fact in 2018, you could argue the best team. I think Golden State, to be fair, was probably the best (in 2018), but we were right there with them.
“And we felt like the team we had with Chris and James was extremely good but was going to come up short of the title. And we thought that adding Russ, who unquestionably has this peak level of play that not many guys have reached, was the right move.”
Will the Rockets’ move ultimate pay off? That remains to be seen. Prior to the season getting suspended on Wednesday night, Houston was 40-24 through 64 outings and sat in sixth place in the Western Conference.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
