NBA: The Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul trade looks like a win-win deal

Houston Rockets

Things got off to a rough start between Russell Westbrook and the Houston Rockets. They won games, but Westbrook had a rough go of it. It turns out it wasn’t easy to find a way for two ball-dominant superstars to share the floor.

As it happens, Westbrook may have been the perfect complement to James Harden and what the Rockets ultimately wanted to become this season. In their pursuit of 24/7 small-ball perfection, they found that Russell Westbrook is the ideal component.

When playing small, you don’t want any of your pieces to be TOO small, and Westbrook’s 6’3″ stature (and he plays a lot bigger than that) is clearly a size upgrade on Paul’s 6’1″ frame. Often initiating the offense, Westbrook has found success being a wrecking ball once again, but he hasn’t had to be a one-man army like he so often was in Oklahoma City.

He’s found a way to drop the 3-pointer out of his repertoire in recent weeks, and as a historically poor 3-point shooter this alone is a major improvement.

There always remains a “Let Russ be Russ” element to Russell Westbrook’s game, even when he makes positive changes to his approach like eschewing his low-expectation shooting output, but if this one sticks it could be a huge benefit to the Houston Rockets as they ramp up for the NBA playoffs.