Thunder Sign Westbrook To Multiyear Deal

[ABQCOWBOY]

Westbrook signs extension with Thunder

Associated Press
Updated: January 19, 2012, 1:36 PM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook to a multiyear contract extension.

Westbrook was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, meaning the Thunder would have had to match any offer he received from another team. Instead, they locked him up Thursday with a new deal.

Terms were not disclosed.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7479799/oklahoma-city-thunder-russell-westbrook-signs-extension

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Good move on the part of OKC. He's a real good player. Had they not done this, there is a real good chance that they might have lost him. This was the PG I would have liked to have seen go to the Lakers.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Woot!

 

[EMMITTnROY]

SO happy about this!!! I'm gonna cut and paste the comment I left on a Thunder forum to explain what's up...

The way I understand it, Russ agreed to the "max" instead of holding out for the "supermax", which he very well could have qualified. If true, this means he signed for 5 years/$80 million instead of 5 years/$94 million, leaving a lot of money on the table so that we might be able to keep Serge and The Beard. That's incredible... it helps ease the worries we've all had about being able to keep all our guys together.

While Presti definitely deserves major props here, let's give Russ some major love. His willingness to resign here at a lower price is incredibly selfless and really helps our team big-time in the long run. All those people who said that he wanted to play in LA or that he was a selfish player are looking like huge fools today.

Great day to be a Thunder fan!

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

SO happy about this!!! I'm gonna cut and paste the comment I left on a Thunder forum to explain what's up...

The way I understand it, Russ agreed to the "max" instead of holding out for the "supermax", which he very well could have qualified. If true, this means he signed for 5 years/$80 million instead of 5 years/$94 million, leaving a lot of money on the table so that we might be able to keep Serge and The Beard. That's incredible... it helps ease the worries we've all had about being able to keep all our guys together.

While Presti definitely deserves major props here, let's give Russ some major love. His willingness to resign here at a lower price is incredibly selfless and really helps our team big-time in the long run. All those people who said that he wanted to play in LA or that he was a selfish player are looking like huge fools today.

Great day to be a Thunder fan!

This, I think, is ridiculous. He did have more then just a passing interest in playing in L.A. That isn't even in question. Had a deal not been worked out, I think the chances are better then 75% that he would have ended up in L.A. I don't blame the kid for wanting to stay in OKC but to say that anybody who thought he wanted to play in L.A. are fools is beyond delusional. Westbrook was headed to L.A. if a deal was not done.

I will go one step further. While I would not say this is likely, do not rule out the possibility of a sign and trade deal.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Did you guys know that Prest rejected a deal that wouldn't netted them CP3? It was a straight up swap of Westbrook/CP3. Just a horrible decision by them. Westbrook is a good player, but he's not CP3 not even close really. Westbrook isn't a true point guard he's really a shooting guard in a point guard's body. The thing OKC still lacks is a legit low post threat. That's why if I was them I would've traded Westbrook for a legit low post threat. This is why they struggle in the half court. They're basically a jump shooting team in the half court.

As for L.A. it's all good we're going after Deron Williams.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Did you guys know that Prest rejected a deal that wouldn't netted them CP3? It was a straight up swap of Westbrook/CP3. Just a horrible decision by them. Westbrook is a good player, but he's not CP3 not even close really. Westbrook isn't a true point guard he's really a shooting guard in a point guard's body. The thing OKC still lacks is a legit low post threat. That's why if I was them I would've traded Westbrook for a legit low post threat. This is why they struggle in the half court. They're basically a jump shooting team in the half court.

As for L.A. it's all good we're going after Deron Williams.

I would not agree that he is a SG playing PG. I think he is a PG but I also think he's on a team that needs him to score. He has a career average of 7 APG. It's interesting if you look at the season thus far. He is averaging more assists in losses then he is in OKC's wins. That suggest to me that they do need him to score more then dish out assists. If he played on a team that had a legit post game, you might see him play in the role of a more traditional PG and dish the rock more then he does in OKC.