I think our disagreement stems from what "trainwreck" means or how it's being used. I can't speak for
wavycrocket
, but I'm not asking Russ to turn into a completely different player. he's going to shoot poorly. he's a poor shooter. but he can still impact the game being a poor shooter.
in game 1 he was 10-24, 24 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 turnovers. that's poor shooting, but the rockets were +15 when russ was on the floor. he was aggressive, created open shots, and his energy permeated to everyone else. rockets win by 15
in game 2, he was 4-15, 10 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 turnovers. he shot poorly AND he was an active detriment. he was indecisive, passive, and shot bad shots for even Russ standards. it was so bad that we were better if he just didn't even play. that's pure trainwreck. despite that, rockets overcame a 21 point deficit and were up 5 in the 4th. rockets only lose by 8 despite their 2nd star being not just bad, but an active detriment.
Russ is a high variance player so it's not really a surprise he can be so bad, but the rockets can withstand Russ being bad as long as he's not actively hurting the team. Game 1 and 2 are picture perfect examples of that. That doesn't mean I'm picking the rockets to win the series, or say that Russ is somehow going to increase his efficiency tenfold. Nothing more than, if he's not actively bad, the rockets can win the series.