Thought on the Jimmy Butler trade rumors

[Lipoli390]

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. I think Thibs and Scott should be thankful they didn't end up getting a deal done for Butler. It would have meant giving up Dunn and either Ricky or Zach. Giving up either of those two, in addition to Dunn, would have been problematic for different reasons. And at the end of the day, I just don't think Butler is the right fit for this team under and realistic trade scenario. If we trade for Butler, we're acquiring him to become one of our core two or three elite players. That doesn't make sense to me for reasons I and others have given in prior posts. I'll sum them up as follows:

1. Butler's age relative to the other core players. Butler will be 27 years old when the season starts, meaning he's 6.5 years older than any of the remaining core young guys he'd be playing with. That's too big a gap between their respective player trajectories -- Butler possibly declining just as our two other core player begin entering their prime.

2. Butler's injury history. Missing 20+% of their games in 4 of his 5 seasons is a huge red flag. As good as Butler is, you're only as good as your ability to stay on the floor. Butler has that classic pattern of an injury plagued player who has an assortment of different ailments that come up in different seasons and prevent him from playing. At age 27, it's unlikely he'll get more resilient. To the contrary, it's likely to be the other way around.

3. Butler not the best fit. If we were to acquire Butler, it's likely we would have to deal Dunn and either Zach or Ricky. If it's Zach and Dunn, the Butler acquisition would substantially diminish our already inadequate 3-point shooting. If it's Ricky and Dunn, we would have have no starting caliber PG. That's unacceptable and there's no certainty we could acquire one in free agency.

So I'm happy with whether we're at. We were a nearly .500 team after the allstar break last season, so I don't see us starting the upcoming season as a 29-win team. Unfortunately, it took that long for the front office to get rid of Kevin Martin and for Sam Mitchell to put Zach in the starting lineup at his natural SG position. Now we go from Mitchell to Thibs, add Dunn and pick up a couple of quality free agents. That's all in addition to the inevitable improvement of our core young guys -- Zach, Wiggins, KAT and Gorgui. Assuming reasonable health, I see a playoff team at Target Center this season unless our front office does something short-sighted and imprudent.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Jimmy Butler isn't a point guard - straight up - analytics bear that out. He is a shooting guard with some point guard skills, and he's effective in the PnR,

Chicago might try to make him their point guard of the future - but we don't need a 2 learning to play the 1 (we tried that very recently), and if there is a position with this young squad where we need experience, it is PG.

If we could have gotten Butler for any combination of Lavine/Dunn/ and players not named Rubio/Wiggins/KAT, I would have been satisfied. But we can't experiment at the PG and I don't think that Thib's was planning on playing him at PG.

You may be right, yet none other than the much-maligned Dion Waiters was OKC's backup PG deep into their playoff run this year. And I already mentioned Wade and LeBron, both of whom were their team's main PGs during the playoffs. And how about Giannis in Milwaukee?

There is definitely some experimenting going on right now with this position and Thibs of all guys would have a keen understanding of the pros and cons of deploying Butler into this sort of role.

[TAFKASP]

Only way it ever was happening is if we included LaVine and I don't want to see that happen. If they asked for Dunn, Shabazz, and Tyus. I would do it in a second.

Not really going out on a limb with that one Bleed! No one in Minnesota says no to that deal, no one in Chicago says yes.

[bleedspeed]

Only way it ever was happening is if we included LaVine and I don't want to see that happen. If they asked for Dunn, Shabazz, and Tyus. I would do it in a second.

Not really going out on a limb with that one Bleed! No one in Minnesota says no to that deal, no one in Chicago says yes.

I know. I fell 15 feet out of a tree as a kid when I climbed out on a limb and it broke.

[TAFKASP]

Only way it ever was happening is if we included LaVine and I don't want to see that happen. If they asked for Dunn, Shabazz, and Tyus. I would do it in a second.

Not really going out on a limb with that one Bleed! No one in Minnesota says no to that deal, no one in Chicago says yes.

I know. I fell 15 feet out of a tree as a kid when I climbed out on a limb and it broke.

Maybe it's time to diet! ;)

[Coolbreeze44]

Jimmy Butler isn't a point guard - straight up - analytics bear that out. He is a shooting guard with some point guard skills, and he's effective in the PnR,

Chicago might try to make him their point guard of the future - but we don't need a 2 learning to play the 1 (we tried that very recently), and if there is a position with this young squad where we need experience, it is PG.

If we could have gotten Butler for any combination of Lavine/Dunn/ and players not named Rubio/Wiggins/KAT, I would have been satisfied. But we can't experiment at the PG and I don't think that Thib's was planning on playing him at PG.

You may be right, yet none other than the much-maligned Dion Waiters was OKC's backup PG deep into their playoff run this year. And I already mentioned Wade and LeBron, both of whom were their team's main PGs during the playoffs. And how about Giannis in Milwaukee?

There is definitely some experimenting going on right now with this position and Thibs of all guys would have a keen understanding of the pros and cons of deploying Butler into this sort of role.

Maybe your best player having the ball facilitating is the next big thing.

[bleedspeed]

I know. I fell 15 feet out of a tree as a kid when I climbed out on a limb and it broke.

Maybe it's time to diet! ;)

Ha! I was in 4th grade. Probably weighted 60lbs at the time.

[Squishypoo [enjin:6648839]]

I would bet anything if the would of happened Tibs plan would of been to go get a capable PG to start and play Zack 30 minutes off the bench. Butler as the de facto PG wouldn't of happened.

Like who? I hope you don't say DJ Augustin.....

Rondo?

[bleedspeed]

Maybe your best player having the ball facilitating is the next big thing.

Would anyone else trade Wiggins for Simmons?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Maybe your best player having the ball facilitating is the next big thing.

Would anyone else trade Wiggins for Simmons?

Not me