supremebve Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 51 minutes ago, RolandTHTG said: Call me unsold on Butler being a guy that makes a good team a contender. An average team to playoffs, yes, sure. A guy that limited from outside stands out like a sore thumb against his contemporaries for mine. I don't remember who I heard say it, but this was pretty much the exact reasoning the Bulls used when they made the decision to trade him. They didn't think he's good enough to be the best player on a contender, and as long as he's there they would never be able to get anyone better. I've been saying this for years about Carmelo Anthony. If Carmelo Anthony is your best player, your team is not good enough, but he's also too good to realistically believe he'd ever be anything but the best player on your team. So as long as he's on the team, you're never going to be satisfied with your team, but you're essentially giving up on winning if you get rid of him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 By the time Minnesota is ready to seriously compete, KAT is going to be the best player. Butler as a second option/lockdown defender is just what they need. Now they need a second big that can shoot, and maybe a point guard that can as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 Ideally, he's your third best player. Does enough to consistently churn out his 20 or so to be a threat, and does his thing defensively. I don't think he's even good enough to compete with a Kyrie or Curry as the second best player/second option. More than handy Kevin Love/Klay Thompson type in a contending team. Realistically, Boston probably run in to the same issue that Chicago had in retaining him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 He's one of the fifteen best players in the NBA. If you have him as your third best player, you're damn near the Warriors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 51 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said: He's one of the fifteen best players in the NBA. If you have him as your third best player, you're damn near the Warriors. Entirely my point. A team with Butler as their second best player aren't getting near the Warriors, or the Cavs for the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 Unless Wiggins ends up a lot better than I expect, there is no reasonable path to virtually any team putting together a lineup where Butler is lower than second best. The only team in the NBA he wouldn't be the first or second best player on is Golden State. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 I think this will work out well for Minnesota because Wiggins will be competing/learning from Butler and by the time Wiggins/KAT are reaching their full potential Butler should still be good enough to be the 3rd man on a title contender. Yes, I do believe Wiggins and KAT both have top 10-15 potential. With Boston they are in a weird "win now but also build for the future" situation and I know Ainge probably thinks he's playing chess and the rest of the league is tic-tac-toe but this is a very difficult maneuver to pull off. We'll know more once we get into free agency. He has to make a splash there and then explore trade options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubbymark Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 Thibs is really going to run Jimmy into the ground this time. The same way he rode Luol Deng so hard. Deng was good, not great, and all those 40+ minute games in a season on a team like Minnesota won't help Jimmy going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 Westbrook is your 2016-17 MVP. In other news, somehow Avery Bradley didn't make all-defense. I know he missed some games but man come on. Where's @Lawful Metal at to make sense of all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 The real mystery is who voted Isaiah Thomas all-defense, and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 Triple Doubles > wins apparently +2 rebounds / game was the difference first MVP to lose in the first round since ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 I can't complain too much. Rockets got the Coach of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, and Pat Bev won the NBA Hustle Award. Thats a good haul. Now please Morey don't trade Patrick Beverley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APO Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 20 minutes ago, Lawful Metal said: Triple Doubles > wins apparently +2 rebounds / game was the difference first MVP to lose in the first round since ??? Dirk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 You can argue either way if you're objective about it. Both guys have flaws. Switch Harden and Westbrook. Are the results different for either team? Who knows. They both were relied on way too much. Westbrook's usage percentage was psychotic. Without him or an equivalent, they probably win 30 games. NBA/ABA Leaders Rank Player Usg% Season 1. Russell Westbrook 41.65 2016-17 2. Kobe Bryant 38.74 2005-06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 On 6/24/2017 at 9:24 PM, Niners Fan in CT said: Ainge has something against Butler because when asked he basically said they didn't even try to get him. I don't understand what he wouldn't like out of a premier two-way player. But like I was saying earlier, Stevens is in love with Tatum. He probably looked at how Rondo came out of this season looking like a better mentor and leader than Jimmy Butler and said "Never fucking mind." I don't really blame him. I like Jimmy but I've never felt like he was really going to ever be the guy to lead us to promise land. A lot of games we lost control of because our bench or roel players fought us back, and then in comes 4th Quarter Jimmy ready to fuck all the momentum up. He has to be paired with a guy who is more dominant than him. Someone who can shut him down and tell him to do his job. The reason the Three Alpha gimmick didn't work is because he was the best one of the group. But you pair him with an Alpha like Westbrook or even John Wall, I think he'd fall in line because they back it up with elite play. Cleveland missed out. I think if they got Jimmy, they would have seen a ton of Lebron Lobs to Jimmy Buckets plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 So many Knicks fans were saying they'd buy Dolan's album if he fires Phil. Get ready, New York! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 ESPN's story basically says the split came because James Dolan refused to buy out Melo's deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 The Clippers are trading CP3 to the Rockets, per Woj! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Just now, Zimbra said: The Clippers are trading CP3 to the Rockets, per Woj! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 That doesn't seem like a great return but I guess it's better than nothing. I have no idea how CP3 will work with Harden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Was there a rule change? Are there two basketballs now? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I wonder what must be going through DeAndre's mind right about now. Do the Clips go rebuild or try to sign Lowry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I'm not terribly worried about the on-court fit. Harden and Paul are both incredibly smart players and if there's one thing D'Antoni knows it's offense. But I am a little concerned about how CP3's knees will hold up playing at the Rockets pace and about their perimeter defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 And it appears Woj has dropped his last WojBomb at Yahoo. What a way to go out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 So Chris Paul as a Clipper ended up only somewhat better than Deron Williams as a Net right? Who would've seen both those trades ending up pretty underwhelming/disappointing when they were done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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