Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden0916 wrote:

KiwiMatt wrote:Haven't the Nets been one of the success stories this season. Three years ago that franchise was dead and buried. Now they're 6th seed in the East. Impressive considering they've being missing arguable their best player in Caris LaVert.

Sean Marks got dealt arguably the worst hand in GM sporting history three years ago when he took the job. Now look at them! Impressive. And they also finally have not one but two first round picks in this years draft.

Savvy front office moves to restock the cupboards and an emphasis on player development has turned them around drastically. I've been a distant admirer/fan of that organization since Marks took over. You know when you're playing 2K in franchise mode and you're looking for the worst team to start with because it will give you the most fun in turning them around? That's the feeling I got with the Nets years ago after the Celtics trades and them really having no nucleus.

They turned it all around because they hit with their draft picks and utilized their cap space to absorb bad contracts in exchange for prospects and/or picks. And they did it almost flawlessly.

Think about a couple of deals that Marks pulled off. He initially offered Allen Crabbe a sizable contract, the Blazers matched, and then one year later they needed to offload him due to some poor cap management on their part (Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard) and the Nets took him on for the price of a first round pick.

The Nets made a similar move when they scooped up DeMarre Carroll from the Raptors in exchange for a first-round pick. And wouldn't you know it, Carroll bounced back to being a quality rotation player.

Oh, and my favorite, they turned Brook Lopez and a late first-round pick into D'Angelo Russell and ate Timofey Mosgov's bad contract in the process. Now Russell is an All-Star at the age of 23 and a legitimate cornerstone for that franchise.

Pair that with hitting on other mid/late picks such as Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert (who always had lottery talent and production, but happened to be coming off an injury when he entered the draft) and you have three very solid/good pieces to build around.

The kicker is they've done all of this without having a lottery pick to their name.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Can't get enough of Jimmy "Choke" Butler losing again in a close one at home to the "Irving-less" Boston Celtics. Our favorite son missed 2 of 3 free throws and of course the potential game tying basket at the buzzer. Nothing new here but it doesn't get old.

Camden wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Can't get enough of Jimmy "Choke" Butler losing again in a close one at home to the "Irving-less" Boston Celtics. Our favorite son missed 2 of 3 free throws and of course the potential game tying basket at the buzzer. Nothing new here but it doesn't get old.

Still an All-Star caliber player putting up 20/5/4 with 48/37/86 splits on a title-contending team. The angst and hate against Butler is silly and emotional. It's been obvious all year that the Wolves miss that guy.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Can't get enough of Jimmy "Choke" Butler losing again in a close one at home to the "Irving-less" Boston Celtics. Our favorite son missed 2 of 3 free throws and of course the potential game tying basket at the buzzer. Nothing new here but it doesn't get old.

Still an All-Star caliber player putting up 20/5/4 with 48/37/86 splits on a title-contending team. The angst and hate against Butler is silly and emotional. It's been obvious all year that the Wolves miss that guy.

Very good player. Excellent.

But it's also notable that the Wolves were 4 - 9 this season when he was on the squad.

Camden wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Can't get enough of Jimmy "Choke" Butler losing again in a close one at home to the "Irving-less" Boston Celtics. Our favorite son missed 2 of 3 free throws and of course the potential game tying basket at the buzzer. Nothing new here but it doesn't get old.

Still an All-Star caliber player putting up 20/5/4 with 48/37/86 splits on a title-contending team. The angst and hate against Butler is silly and emotional. It's been obvious all year that the Wolves miss that guy.

Very good player. Excellent.

But it's also notable that the Wolves were 4 - 9 this season when he was on the squad.

The Wolves were 37-22 with Butler on the court last year; 10-13 with Butler out.

I get the point you're trying to make, but the guy is a tremendous basketball player and his impact on winning with the Wolves was undeniable. Even with the off-court drama that was going on, he was still a more proven winner than anyone on the roster.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Can't get enough of Jimmy "Choke" Butler losing again in a close one at home to the "Irving-less" Boston Celtics. Our favorite son missed 2 of 3 free throws and of course the potential game tying basket at the buzzer. Nothing new here but it doesn't get old.

Still an All-Star caliber player putting up 20/5/4 with 48/37/86 splits on a title-contending team. The angst and hate against Butler is silly and emotional. It's been obvious all year that the Wolves miss that guy.

Very good player. Excellent.

But it's also notable that the Wolves were 4 - 9 this season when he was on the squad.

The Wolves were 37-22 with Butler on the court last year; 10-13 with Butler out.

I get the point you're trying to make, but the guy is a tremendous basketball player and his impact on winning with the Wolves was undeniable. Even with the off-court drama that was going on, he was still a more proven winner than anyone on the roster.

I think Butler was the best player on last season's team. Definitely.

Not this season. He was a huge distraction and just the fact that nobody knew when he was playing was a reason for the terrible start (and sabotage) of the season.



[Note: As for the record without Butler last season... not great. All we can do is speculate what would have happened without Towns... considering he's out there every night.]

PorkChop wrote:Russell is the best example of a player needing some time to mature. It should give teams hope that patience will be rewarded.