Around the League

[Lipoli390]

I forgot to flag John Collins performance last night. In case you hadn't noticed, he had 35 points and 16 rebounds. As everyone on this Board knows, Collins would be a member of the Timberwolves if I had been Wolves PBO during the 2017 draft. :)

[Wolvesfan21]

I will pray for those that still think Wiggins is better than LaVine. How much regression is Wiggins allowed to show before you all abandon ship?

I think it is safe to say they are both net negatives and both overpaid

Yeah...neither has been proven to be a winner. It seems pointless to rehash the Wigs vs. Lavine argument when both have been losers their whole professional careers. Give me some Wolves players that help put more W's in the W-L department

Zachs not an all star that true but if he or Wiggins are the best player on your team you are not winning many games. For instance take KAT off the Wolves I would bet anything they would be right there with the Bulls record wise. Maybe even better because they have some legit NBA experience (Taj, Teague, Healthy Rose, RoCo), the Bulls really have a younger bad roster.

[Coolbreeze44]

I forgot to flag John Collins performance last night. In case you hadn't noticed, he had 35 points and 16 rebounds. As everyone on this Board knows, Collins would be a member of the Timberwolves if I had been Wolves PBO during the 2017 draft. :)

Big night for JC. I remember you touting him Lip. You and I were both on the CJ McCollum train, and I really wanted Jamal Murray. Maybe a call to Glen about a dual headed front office? The CooLip era?

[Monster]

I forgot to flag John Collins performance last night. In case you hadn't noticed, he had 35 points and 16 rebounds. As everyone on this Board knows, Collins would be a member of the Timberwolves if I had been Wolves PBO during the 2017 draft. :)

Big night for JC. I remember you touting him Lip. You and I were both on the CJ McCollum train, and I really wanted Jamal Murray. Maybe a call to Glen about a dual headed front office? The CooLip era?

He is shooting 37% on 3's also.

[Lipoli390]

I forgot to flag John Collins performance last night. In case you hadn't noticed, he had 35 points and 16 rebounds. As everyone on this Board knows, Collins would be a member of the Timberwolves if I had been Wolves PBO during the 2017 draft. :)

Big night for JC. I remember you touting him Lip. You and I were both on the CJ McCollum train, and I really wanted Jamal Murray. Maybe a call to Glen about a dual headed front office? The CooLip era?

Now we're talking! Assuming you and I had been in charge post David Kahn, here are some things the Wolves would have done based on what we both posted at the time:

2013: Drafted CJ McCollum and Rudy Gobert with our two 1st-round picks

2014: Drafted Zach LaVine with our 1st round pick & traded Love for Wiggins. (Not sure where you were on LaVine, but I loved him at the time. He was my sleeper pick.)

2015: Drafted KAT with our #1 pick.

2016: Drafted Murray or Hield (We would have debated this one because you had Murray ranked above Hield while I had Hield ranked above Murray. I know I had both ranked above Dunn)

2017: This is a tough one. I'm assuming the Bulls would have called offering Butler. But I doubt we would have included Murray or Hield in the deal. And hard to know where we would have been in the draft order. We wouldn't have hired Thibodeau and we'd have a healthy McCollum by this time with a KAT/Gobert front court.

[Coolbreeze44]

I forgot to flag John Collins performance last night. In case you hadn't noticed, he had 35 points and 16 rebounds. As everyone on this Board knows, Collins would be a member of the Timberwolves if I had been Wolves PBO during the 2017 draft. :)

Big night for JC. I remember you touting him Lip. You and I were both on the CJ McCollum train, and I really wanted Jamal Murray. Maybe a call to Glen about a dual headed front office? The CooLip era?

Now we're talking! Assuming you and I had been in charge post David Kahn, here are some things the Wolves would have done based on what we both posted at the time:

2013: Drafted CJ McCollum and Rudy Gobert with our two 1st-round picks

2014: Drafted Zach LaVine with our 1st round pick & traded Love for Wiggins. (Not sure where you were on LaVine, but I loved him at the time. He was my sleeper pick.)

2015: Drafted KAT with our #1 pick.

2016: Drafted Murray or Hield (We would have debated this one because you had Murray ranked above Hield while I had Hield ranked above Murray. I know I had both ranked above Dunn)

2017: This is a tough one. I'm assuming the Bulls would have called offering Butler. But I doubt we would have included Murray or Hield in the deal. And hard to know where we would have been in the draft order. We wouldn't have hired Thibodeau and we'd have a healthy McCollum by this time with a KAT/Gobert front court.

I loved the Lavine pick and wish we still had him. He hasn't panned out as well as we hoped, but he can be a nice piece on a contender.

[Coolbreeze44]

Jimmy Butler is on pace for 63 games this year. This is slightly more than his 59 last year, but slightly below his career average. Let's just say he doesn't have much in common with Cal Ripken.

[thedoper]

Jimmy Butler is on pace for 63 games this year. This is slightly more than his 59 last year, but slightly below his career average. Let's just say he doesn't have much in common with Cal Ripken.

All he cares about is winning

[AbeVigodaLive]

I hope nobody is questioning Butler's willingness to do whatever it takes to win games. Because nobody wants to win games (when healthy) more than Jimmy Butler. He's just a winner (when healthy). And wants to win more than anybody else (when healthy). And all young players should follow his example (when healthy) if they want to win games.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I hope nobody is questioning Butler's willingness to do whatever it takes to win games. Because nobody wants to win games (when healthy) more than Jimmy Butler. He's just a winner (when healthy). And wants to win more than anybody else (when healthy). And all young players should follow his example (when healthy) if they want to win games.

I would assume that everyone here agrees that Butler is a warrior on the court and shows an intense desire to win when he is playing. But that's the issue...he doesn't play enough. "Healthy" is an inexact term...different people react to maladies in different ways. We don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect that two different players with the exact same condition might make different decisions about whether they are able to play on a particular night. One might know he is not 100%, but decide to play anyway because his presence in the lineup gives his team a better chance to win...even if he is nicked up. I would put Cal Ripkin in this group, along with our own Karl Towns. The other might make a more selfish decision and choose not to play either because they don't want to put up with pain that someone in the first category decides they can endure or, worse, they are concerned that playing hurt might have an impact on their personal stats. I would put Joe Mauer in this category, along with Jimmy Butler.

I fully admit I may be wrong here...Joe's bilateral leg weakness and Jimmy's general soreness might actually have left them incapacitated and unable to play on a specific night. And maybe KAT and Cal Ripkin are superhuman creatures unable to be affected by injury. But I don't think so. While there are times when a player clearly is not capable of playing, just as often there are "gray area" days where it's a choice whether the player can play or not...and in these situations I suspect KAT plays and Jimmy sits. That's how you average 60 games per season despite never being in a situation that requires surgery.

So while I agree that Jimmy is a warrior and will do anything to win on nights he chooses to play, I do "question Butler's willingness to do whatever it takes to win games". I think he could do a lot more to help his team win by deciding to play on those vague injury nights.