TRKO wrote:I think it's a great trade for Minnesota. You get guy who is one of the best two way players in the league to pair with two young ascending talents. Add some quality vets around them without killing future cap space and start winning now. Build that winning culture.
I don't think this is as bad of a trade for the Bulls as the national guys are making it to be provided LaVine's health. I don't like their pick at 7 and Dunn showed very little. If healthy LaVine is a great building piece.
I don't get what Boston is doing. Butler is absolutely a guy they should have targeted due to his ability, fit, and contract. They probably could have traded the third overall pick straight up for Butler. If their pick at 3 plays to Butler's level in his career you'd be happy. Why not add that guy to the roster now, still have the future Nets and Laker's picks in your back pockets and add one of the best two way players to the best team in the east during the regular season. I think Ainge is so worried about fleecing the other team he passes on quality moves.
I think it's pretty clear he much have valued Tatum pretty highly.
I get that, and I'm not a great talent evaluator, but they have a team that can win the east right now if they add Butler and a top tier free agent. Heck they could win the whole thing by doing that. Why not get a little aggressive? They still have a treasure trove of assets. I guess I would rather have proven, young, commodities over unknowns, especially for a team that can win now. That being said Ainge knows way more than I do.
Yeah Ainge has a pretty good track record at this point.
We also don't know how the Bulls felt about the assets that the Celtics were willing ot give up compared to what they got from the Wolves. Maybe they came around and really liked getting Lvine. Maybe they liked Dunn as a PG. Remember they have Valentine who possibly could fit well with Dunn and Lavine as sort of a PG. They may have liked the idea of getting one asset in Lavine that has actually shown something worth getting excited about. I'm not really trying to be convincing here just throwing out another way to look at it.
I don't disagree with the idea of the Celtics going all in.
I think Ainge knows what he's doing and he has the track record to prove it. The fact that Ainge seems to have had little interest in adding Butler makes me even more concerned about the deal Thibs just made.
Could it end up an F for the Bulls. Sure. They also might have just received back an all-star back court that are great compliments to each other and 3 total starters for a guy who was only getting them to an 8 seed in a weak conference with their current roster. Crazy to evaluate so harshly for the Bulls right now. Zach and Lauri should thrive under Fred. It could be an F. It also could be an A+. There are a lot of different ways Dunn, Zach and Lauri's careers could go from here.
One thing that makes sense about trading for Butler is...he and Thibs have a legit relationship. It's pretty likely Butler will want to stick around after his contract is up. He doesn't seem like he cares about much of anything except basketball. Completely a Thibs guy. That's a positive.
khans2k5 wrote:Could it end up an F for the Bulls. Sure. They also might have just received back an all-star back court that are great compliments to each other and 3 total starters for a guy who was only getting them to an 8 seed in a weak conference with their current roster. Crazy to evaluate so harshly for the Bulls right now. Zach and Lauri should thrive under Fred. It could be an F. It also could be an A+. There are a lot of different ways Dunn, Zach and Lauri's careers could go from here.
Butler is/will be a better player than Tatum will ever be. Hopping on that island. Ainge messed up when he picked IT over Fultz for their long term future and he compounded that error by not getting a guy like Butler with the 3rd pick. Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Crowder just isn't gonna work.
I feel like a lot of ok players can put up numbers on a bad team. I love lavine but his numbers were inflated due to teams trying to guard kat and wigs. Look at love when he was here. If wiggins and kat arent good enough to carry us with butler, they wiggins and kat sadly arent the players we think they are.
I've been pushing for this trade for a year... good to see it happen.
LaVine's injury came at a bad time. And I just don't see him having the instincts/chops to make smart basketball plays that win games regularly over the long haul... especially defensively. Dunn looked terrible offensively, even though I dug him as a bulldog type defensively.
More importantly, the team was DESPERATE for a veteran guy who could actually play. Butler is a top 15 - 20 talent... to pair with another top 15 - 20 talent and a promising young athletic scorer on the wing.
This also means Rubio LIVES! And I'm totally cool with that on this team.
And then Chicago makes a nice pick in Jordan Bell and immediately sell him to the Warriors. Of course the Warriors find a way to add a nice talent...
That fan base has to be very disappointed, though i believe they'll be quite surprised with the LaVine/Dunn duo. Great offense/Defense blend there to kickstart the rebuild.
