Butler requests trade...

[worldK]

First of all, thibs is an idiot and should be fired. No communication with his stars the whole summer? We are weeks away from training camp and have to deal with this distraction.

Butler is an ass. Kyrie requested to be traded during draft time and paul george even before that. If he did not want to play for us then he should have directly said so earlier.

Heck, maybe thibs knew all along and kept it quiet for selfish reasons. He knew he would be fired and was hoping things could work out and he gets to have a better chance at having a successful season.

Onto the trades..

If we can get even just murray for butler, I would be thrilled. But that is not going to happen. Murray would be better than butler in 3-4 seasons, A more reasonable deal with denver would be a

butler/taj/dieng for milsap/harris swap.

I love harris's game and milsap can play and is an expiring. Again, murray would be the homerun return for jimmy.

Of the 3 teams, guys have mentioned knox, russel and tobias harris along with picks. I think those would be reasonable and realistic scenarios.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

[Sang] Hoo boy. Scoop just confirmed what I think we all suspected after the Shams report: KAT's terms are specifically for Jimmy to be off the roster. So yeah, this ain't about money. This is something crazy personal between them

https://twitter.com/Phantele_/status/1042524320424226816

maybe there is some truth to jimmy causing the break up between kat and his girl in july.

I guess this what jimmy meant by mentoring the younger players.

[Lipoli390]

Jimmy obviously isn't interested in winning considering the 3 teams he chose to get traded for.

Hes looking to brand himself.
Hes looking for a situation where he can be the alpha and have teammates bad enough that he can shift blame when they start losing.
There are any talented players (zingus, but he's out a while abd will come back from major surgery) for him to feel threatened.

Now being reported that butler wants to be a clipper.

I would be happy with Harris, Alexander and a pick

Screw what he wants. We need to send him to whoever offers us the best deal, ideally from an eastern conference team.

Dont disagree, but he can somewhat dictate where he goes because teams wont give up much knowing he would be a rental

Clearly the Wolves shouldn't confine their negotiations to the three teams Jimmy named. But Jimmy's 3 choices put the Wolves in a particularly difficult bargaining position because all three teams will have plenty of cap room to sign Jimmy as a free agent next summer. So none of those three will be inclined to give up a lot to get him now. And yet, the fact that Jimmy has declared those as the only three teams he's prepared to re-sign with, has severely damaged the Wolves bargaining position with the other 27 teams not on his list. It's almost as if Jimmy is intentionally trying to screw the Wolves.

Bottom line is that Wolves have to cast the net wide and hold out for the best deal they can get among all 30 teams in the League, no matter what conference and no matter what Jimmy the prima dona wants.

Jimmy's choice of 3 is curious to say the least. It sort of puts a lie on Jimmy's claim that he's all about winning. The only common thread among the teams is that they're all in this Country's two biggest most celebrated cities - New York and LA. It's especially interesting that he listed the Clippers but not the Lakers. But again, that just underscores where winning seems to fall on Jimmy's priority list. So we can only surmised that he want the celebrity of playing in New York or LA, but doesn't want risk being overshadowed by an iconic players like LeBron - hence his decision to list the Clippers but not the Lakers. But here's another thought. Perhaps he listed teams with a lot of cap room and no other stars as part a plan Jimmy and Kyrie put together to play together after this season. Seriously, they may have come up with a list and Kyrie has promised to join him as a FA with the team that trades for Butler. Then again, that's a pretty dubious plan since it the team trading for Butler will not be making a commitment to sign Kyrie next season.

In any event, Thibodeau should have traded Butler on draft night when the return value would have been MUCH higher. But the Wolves have no choice now and will have to trade him before the season starts for a lot less than we gave up to get him. The only question in my mind is whether Thibodeau should be fired before or after Butler's traded.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I think PG staying in OKC helps our leverage. If you don't get these guys in the building you are risking them staying where they end up. Jimmy picked 3 places he could recruit another guy into existing cap space. If the Lakers don't land someone next summer they are gonna look real dumb for not giving up assets for guys like Kawhi and PG. We won't get top level offers, but I would expect to get decent value in return.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Someone may have pointed it out, but it's telling that LAL is not on the list. He knows he can't run roughshot over that locker room. I'm also upset that I'll probably never get a chance to hear Grandpa Sports interview Lavar Ball.

I did see where someone said it will turn out because he named 3 teams. Oh, you mean like that time Johan named three teams?

The minute NYK was mentioned 3 months ago, they should have done Butler/Dieng/Patton for Kanter/Noah/Knox. Between Butler pushing the issue and Patton's injury, not sure they can still get that done. But if that were to be worked out, the Wolves would get a good young wing, Kanter is better than Dieng, Noah has one less year than Dieng and hopefully healthier than Patton, and they could sign a 15th player without paying the lux because they would save $2.3m.

[TAFKASP]

But Jimmy's 3 choices put the Wolves in a particularly difficult bargaining position because all three teams will have plenty of cap room to sign Jimmy as a free agent next summer. So none of those three will be inclined to give up a lot to get him now.

I don't think the Wolves are at quite the disadvantage you suggest. Butt-ler wants to play with Irving so whichever team he goes to is going to have to have room for both of them. Are any of the three teams in a cap position to sign both without a trade?

If no good offer is forthcoming I would not be against parking his ass at the end of the bench all season. Drag the bum around and make sure he's miserable, then work with the cap space his leaving will clear. I may actually prefer which ever route is most vindictive, no matter the return received!

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

[Sang] Hoo boy. Scoop just confirmed what I think we all suspected after the Shams report: KAT's terms are specifically for Jimmy to be off the roster. So yeah, this ain't about money. This is something crazy personal between them

https://twitter.com/Phantele_/status/1042524320424226816

maybe there is some truth to jimmy causing the break up between kat and his girl in july.

I guess this what jimmy meant by mentoring the younger players.

Bobby Phils just called. Every NBA feud is about a woman or a gambling debt.

[Lipoli390]

Someone may have pointed it out, but it's telling that LAL is not on the list. He knows he can't run roughshot over that locker room. I'm also upset that I'll probably never get a chance to hear Grandpa Sports interview Lavar Ball.

I did see where someone said it will turn out because he named 3 teams. Oh, you mean like that time Johan named three teams?

The minute NYK was mentioned 3 months ago, they should have done Butler/Dieng/Patton for Kanter/Noah/Knox. Between Butler pushing the issue and Patton's injury, not sure they can still get that done. But if that were to be worked out, the Wolves would get a good young wing, Kanter is better than Dieng, Noah has one less year than Dieng and hopefully healthier than Patton, and they could sign a 15th player without paying the lux because they would save $2.3m.

I'd like that deal for the Wolves, but I don't think the Knicks would give up Knox, in which case, it would't be a good deal for the Wolves. Yes, the Wolves should have dealt Butler months ago as a few of use were urging at the time. But we all knew Thibodeau wouldn't never deal his beloved Butler - instead adding as many of Jimmy's former teammates as he could get. Thibodeau's a stubborn obsessive-compulsive guy whose myopic attachment to Jimmy has led to where we're at today. The first order of business before making any further personnel should be replacing Thibodeau with someone capable of leading the Wolves front office and making sound decisions.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Someone may have pointed it out, but it's telling that LAL is not on the list. He knows he can't run roughshot over that locker room. I'm also upset that I'll probably never get a chance to hear Grandpa Sports interview Lavar Ball.

I did see where someone said it will turn out because he named 3 teams. Oh, you mean like that time Johan named three teams?

The minute NYK was mentioned 3 months ago, they should have done Butler/Dieng/Patton for Kanter/Noah/Knox. Between Butler pushing the issue and Patton's injury, not sure they can still get that done. But if that were to be worked out, the Wolves would get a good young wing, Kanter is better than Dieng, Noah has one less year than Dieng and hopefully healthier than Patton, and they could sign a 15th player without paying the lux because they would save $2.3m.

I'd like that deal for the Wolves, but I don't think the Knicks would give up Knox, in which case, it would't be a good deal for the Wolves. Yes, the Wolves should have dealt Butler months ago as a few of use were urging at the time. But we all knew Thibodeau wouldn't never deal his beloved Butler - instead adding as many of Jimmy's former teammates as he could get. Thibodeau's a stubborn obsessive-compulsive guy whose myopic attachment to Jimmy has led to where we're at today. The first order of business before making any further personnel should be replacing Thibodeau with someone capable of leading the Wolves front office and making sound decisions.

Before this Mishigas, I would have said there was a chance. Remember, whomever trades for him, if it's those 3, is the front runner to resign him because of the Bird rights.

Is it Thibs, or is he just trying to do the best he can to work around Taylor's meddling?

[Lipoli390]

Someone may have pointed it out, but it's telling that LAL is not on the list. He knows he can't run roughshot over that locker room. I'm also upset that I'll probably never get a chance to hear Grandpa Sports interview Lavar Ball.

I did see where someone said it will turn out because he named 3 teams. Oh, you mean like that time Johan named three teams?

The minute NYK was mentioned 3 months ago, they should have done Butler/Dieng/Patton for Kanter/Noah/Knox. Between Butler pushing the issue and Patton's injury, not sure they can still get that done. But if that were to be worked out, the Wolves would get a good young wing, Kanter is better than Dieng, Noah has one less year than Dieng and hopefully healthier than Patton, and they could sign a 15th player without paying the lux because they would save $2.3m.

I'd like that deal for the Wolves, but I don't think the Knicks would give up Knox, in which case, it would't be a good deal for the Wolves. Yes, the Wolves should have dealt Butler months ago as a few of use were urging at the time. But we all knew Thibodeau wouldn't never deal his beloved Butler - instead adding as many of Jimmy's former teammates as he could get. Thibodeau's a stubborn obsessive-compulsive guy whose myopic attachment to Jimmy has led to where we're at today. The first order of business before making any further personnel should be replacing Thibodeau with someone capable of leading the Wolves front office and making sound decisions.

Before this Mishigas, I would have said there was a chance. Remember, whomever trades for him, if it's those 3, is the front runner to resign him because of the Bird rights.

Is it Thibs, or is he just trying to do the best he can to work around Taylor's meddling?

There is absolutely no evidence or sign of any meddling by Taylor. Of course this is all Thibs - and Jimmy!

You're right about the advantage to a team that trades for him. It even gives an advantage to a team that would otherwise have the cap room to sign him because with Bird rights would come the option to re-sign him for 5 rather than 4 years. So the team that trades for him can offer him about $48 million more over the term of his next contract. So yes, there might be a team not on his list that's willing to step up and offer decent value for him similar to the Thunder when they traded for PG and the Raptors this summer when they traded for KL.

Some teams I'd keep my eye on as potential suitors beyond Jimmy's anointed three would be the Heat, Nuggets and Celtics.