Rockets voice Bill Worrell sizes up the team’s big trade for Chris Paul.
Two minutes after wrapping up his morning round of situps Wednesday and being confronted with news of the Rockets’ trade for Chris Paul, Bill Worrell came up with a soundbite-quality analysis of the deal that reportedly will send Pat Beverley, Sam Dekker, Lou Williams, four other players and a first-round draft pick to the Clippers.
“He (Paul) makes the difference between winning and losing in close games,” Worrell said. “Look at his history. He has his hands on the ball when it’s winning time. Now we have two of those guys with James Harden who can win in the final possession.”
The departure of Beverley obviously will have an impact on the Rockets’ team personality, but Worrell said the Rockets are getting a well-liked player in Paul, who is president of the players’ association and who, like Beverley, is an NBA all-defensive first-team player.
“I don’t think Chris Paul has to have the ball to succeed,” Worrell said. “In fact, I’ll bet that in the first interview he gives, he’ll say that he’s glad not to be the absolute distributor of the ball all the time. That can put a lot of stress on a guy.
“When you rest James Harden, you’ve got Chris to run the show, and we didn’t have that before. We lacked that scoring. And when they play together, they’ll make it work.”
On NBA TV, analyst Chris Webber sounded a more cautious approach to the trade.
“I’m interested in seeing how it works,” Webber said. ”I love Chris Paul. He’s one of the best point guards. You know that in any situation he will rock it. He will do his thing.
“Being that the brilliance of last season was James Harden handling the
ball, it’s a tougher option. Moving James to the 2 (guard) to me does not make much sense. I will be interested to see how it works.”
Webber said Paul’s acquisition also could have an impact on the Rockets’ breakneck pace of play.
“(Paul) is one of the guys who dribbles the most in the league and one of the point guards who needs the ball the most. How does that work with other teammates in a free-flowing offense?” Webber said.
“Chris Paul wants to win. I’m sure they will figure it out. Based on their body of work, this is just interesting to me, especially when you lose Beverley, who is the heart and soul of the team defensively. I want to see how this works out.”
NBA TV and Turner Sports analyst Reggie Miller said the big question is how Paul, as a longtime “ball-dominant point guard,” can co-exist with Harden. Based on reports that Paul is ready to play off the ball, Miller said, “That is a smart thing for longevity for CP3.”
“As much as I love Pat Beverley … it’s an upgrade,” he said. “You’ve got a great defender still, you get possibly the best leader of men and teams in CP3 and you get a guy who understands what it takes to win.”
Miller said splitting ball-handing chores will be a key decision for Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni but added, laughing, “Hey, you’re the coach of the year. Your decision. Go ahead and have at it.”
As for biggest trades in Rockets history, Worrell and former Rockets radio analyst and media relations director Jim Foley said the Paul deal qualifies for a list that includes trades that went well for the Rockets, including the trade of Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler that helped form the 1995 championship team, and the Harden acquisition from Oklahoma City in 2012.
Another big trade that led to a championship, albeit not for the Rockets, as Worrell noted, was the trade of Elvin Hayes to Washington for Jack Marin in 1972, arguably the best trade in the history of the Bullets/Wizards.
Long, long time ago
Here’s something to give you pause, if you’re of a certain generation or two.
In a sports media context, 20 years ago Thursday, June 29, 1997, was the Day the Music Died: the final ESPN appearance of “The Big Show,” the 10 p.m. CT “SportsCenter” hosted by Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick.
It was the day after Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear, which prompted Olbermann to say, “Boxing is no longer a sport. It’s a parody of the life of Vincent Van Gogh.” According to my notes, the final show also featured name-drops of Bob Uecker, Harry Caray, Vin Scully and Barry Melrose plus about seven “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” references.
Arguably the show has never been better, or more popular. As Olbermann said to Patrick in his final goodbyes, “Nothing will ever be the same.”
Years later, while recalling those days, we still sing dirges in the dark.
Down, down, down
The weekly national sports viewing report from Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group: Viewing was down 28 percent last week from a year ago, owing to no World Cup action this year, and down 8 percent a year ago with soccer excluded. Total national sports viewing so far is down 6 percent for the year.
Baseball continues to thrive, with a 12 percent viewership jump over this time last year. ESPN accounts for the bulk of that growth, but it also accounts for the bulk of the decline in the sports commentary category (primarily “SportsCenter”), which is down 18 percent for the year.
Four DVRs, no waiting
New wrinkle on Root Sports Southwest’s Astros telecasts: The occasional dugout chat with manager A.J. Hinch. Announcers Todd Kalas and Geoff Blum talked with Hinch during the third inning of Tuesday’s game. … Ratings continue to tick upward nicely for Astros games on Root Sports Southwest. Last Sunday’s game was the most-watched show of the day on Houston TV, topping out with a 5.5 Nielsen rating late in the game. … The fictional Rob Petrie once worked a hundred consecutive hours on radio on the “Dick Van Dyke Show,” so certainly KILT’s (610 AM) studio crew should be able to handle their assignment of 610 uninterrupted minutes of commercial-free sports talk on Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:10 p.m. Friday. …
ESPN has extended through 2019 its agreement to carry BYU home football games. ESPN networks will air least seven BYU games in 2017, including the Sept. 2 game against LSU at NRG Stadium. … Fox Sports will cut about 20 writing and editing jobs in Los Angeles and replace the slots with video production workers, according to a company memo obtained by Bloomberg News. … Fox Sports has joined ESPN in subscribing to the Nielsen Co.’s out-of-home viewer measurement service, which uses the Nielsen Audio portable people meter devices to record media consumption. … Another outlet for over-the-air TV streaming of the four major networks: YouTube says it will launch YouTube TV in Houston and nine other markets this year. …
So what did they expect? The Boston Globe says NESN opted not to air a recent David Ortiz roast because of the “wildly vulgar and profane” humor on display. … ESPN’s NBA draft coverage averaged 3.4 million viewers, up from 2.3 million in 2016 but down from 3.4 million in 2015. … As expected, NBA writer Adrian Wojnarowski begins his new job with ESPN in the early morning hours Friday, appearing with Scott Van Pelt on “SportsCenter” and a post-midnight ESPN2 special on NBA free agency. … Paul Pierce, who worked for ESPN during the playoffs, told the Boston Globe he’d be interested in talking full time for a network. … Coming next season from NBC Sports: 130 Premier League games that don’t make network air, available for streaming at $49.99 for the season. …
I was once walking down a street in New York City and heard a voice behind me that I could identify instantly, even in a crowd. I turned, and there, indeed, was Fox Sports majordomo David Hill, who was named this week to receive the Pete Rozelle Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame for broadcasting contributions. It’s well deserved. … ESPN’s new Home Run Derby telecast crew is Karl Ravech, Jessica Mendoza and Mark Teixeira with Buster Olney. ESPN2 will feature a Spanish-language simulcast. “Intentional Talk” with Chris Rose and Kevin Millar also will air from Miami at 4 p.m. July 10. … Finally, a sad Olympics note: The World Taekwondo Federation henceforth will be known as World Taekwondo, which signals the demise of the most truthfully accurate acronym in sports. After watching the hapless, occasionally venal jokers in charge fumble through four Olympics, I always thought WTF was an appropriate appellation.