OT: How lucky is Anfernee Simons to be drafted by Portland and mentored by Damian Fucking Lillard? There is not one single situation in the NBA that would be better for Anfernee than developing under Dame's wing. None. Imagine the negative influence someone like John Wall would have on this kid.
yeah you don't want to include him as a throw in but there could be an astute GM out there who scouted him enough to value his potential. At least as much value as a future lottery pick. Which he would have been if he would have gone to college this year.
I’d add Simons in a second, and I say that as a fan of Simons. If that’s the best asset we’re sacrificing for JIMMY BUTLER, I’d live with that.
so you don't think he's a star in the league? I dint say all star, I said star or up and coming. Oh I bet if you surveyed the league most would say CJ is a star for sure. Just my opinion.
If it were up to me tho, I would rather trade CJ... his 30 mil per year contract is horrendous for an undersized SG that doesn’t play defense... especially since you will have to give Jimmy a similar contract at year end... that would total to 100 mil for 3 players... I think the better option is to trade CJ for Jimmy... we have enough at SG, especially with the development of Stauskas all around play to fill in the gaps until Simons is ready... who IMO has much greater potential than CJ and without the giant salary
If Minnesota wanted CJ sure, but I could see the case for them preferring less long term money and a younger asset like Simons. But that’d me more of an ownership preference than a Thibs one.
If Anfernee is the best asset, sure. Not sure how to make the salaries match without giving up better assets.
I really think that is the trade that Minnesota will go for and it's best for Portland also. Butler and Patton for CJ. Our second unit is going good now; I don't really want to mess it up by trading Turner. Butler takes CJ's place on the first team. We still would need a better SF. There is no purpose in trading Butler if we can't keep him and we can't keep him if we are still paying CJ that much.
Maybe just me, but if we were to hypothetically trade CJ for Butler, I'd want to bench Layman, put Butler at the 3, and move Stauskas...er, sorry--SACUE!!...into the starting lineup.
Well sense they benched Layman in this scenario would you want to give him minutes? Also i think. Swannigan / Meyers would share back up and backup to the backup duties depending on matchups.
TorturedBlazerFan said: ↑ Dame, Sauce, Butler, Collins, and Nurkic. I still include Layman in the 2nd unit because I don't think you can play Harkless and Aminu together. It's a very small sample size, (obviously) but eFG% for Harkless, Aminu and Layman is .472, .417, and .583 so far. That is a massive gap. Harkless and Aminu are better defensively (most of the time) but Layman can actually dribble and pass a little bit.
Dame Stauskas Butler Collins Nurkic Curry Trent Turner Aminu Biggie/Layman depending on matchup If Harkless is healthy put him in there instead of Trent.
Minnesota has been a lottery for what seems like forever and finally made the playoffs. I doubt they want to go younger and regress back to a lottery team. The west is way to tough to try and climb back into the playoffs. Even with a happy Butler they could still conceivably miss the playoffs.
Can Butler co-exist with anyone? But your question is legit. It would work if Butler liked and respected Dame and let him lead the team off the court. Because although a good player Butler seems like a pathetic leader off the court. Doesn't mean the Blazers can't have two alphas on the court. But Butler will need to "grow" and adjust his Prima Donna attitude no matter where he goes, because his act ain't working with his teammates.
