Boston Celtics Receive: SG/SF Jimmy Butler Chicago Bulls Receive: SG Avery Bradley, F/C Jonas Jerebko, PG Terry Rozier, No. 3 pick, No. 16 pick Jimmy Butler is in a weird situation with the Chicago Bulls. He is clearly the franchise player and just one season into a five-year pact that will look like a bargain under the new salary cap. However, the team, apparently, isn't opposed to dealing him, according to The Vertical's Chris Mannix. Moving him isn't a terrible idea if the Bulls are looking to hit the reset button. He is only 26, but that's more like 30 to 32 after spending the first part of his career playing for Tom Thibodeau. And Chicago can use him to acquire a healthy stable of picks, prospects and reasonably priced impact players. Totally regrouping isn't the ideal scenario for a squad that, up until this season, was painted as Cleveland's biggest Eastern Conference threat. But it's time for the Bulls to fold on that dream. Their title window has expired with this foundation, if it was ever really open. The Celtics can flip, say, Brooklyn's 2018 first-rounder as well and still emerge on top. They shouldn't have to dig that deep into their war chest. Butler isn't a top-10 superstar. But they can. Hell, they might. Read more http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ockbusters-that-could-alter-the-nba-landscape
The article goes on to say they could sign Horford out right as well and then be prepared to be in real contention next season. Talking about Boston.
I think it'd be useful to evaluate the following trades in hindsight: Clippers: Chris Paul Hornets: Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, 1st round pick (Austin Rivers) The Clippers' winning % went from 39% to 61% and they made the second round of the playoffs. The Hornets' winning % went from 56% to 25%. Celtics: Kevin Garnett Timberwolves: Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, 2009 1st (turned into Wayne Ellington), and another 2009 1st round pick (turned into Jonny Flynn) The Celtics' winning % went from 29% to 79% and won the NBA championship the next year. The Timberwolves' winning % went from 39% to 26%. (They previously had 5 straight winning seasons with Garnett as their best player, including 1 trip to the Western Conference finals). Rockets: James Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, Lazar Hayward Thunder: Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, 2013 1st round pick (Steven Adams) The Rockets' winning % went from 51% to 55%. The Thunder's winning % went from 71% to 69%. I'd say all of these deals looked reasonably good for the teams parting with their top-tier talent given their circumstances, but in hindsight they're some of the most lopsided trades in NBA history that weren't salary dumps. The teams receiving the superstars got significantly better and stayed that way for at least 3 years after the trade. For the Timberwolves and Hornets the trades were permanent blows that they're still recovering from because they've never been able to recoup the elite talent that walked out the door when they let Paul and Garnett go. The only team that was able to withstand their superstar leaving was the Thunder, and that was because they already had 2 first ballot hall of famers on the roster who were taking up most of the offensive usage on the team (which is the reason Harden was dealt in the first place). I don't think the Bulls have any 1st ballot hall of famers to pick up the slack when Jimmy leaves. So in short, this trade totally sucks for the Bulls unless you think the guy they can get with #3 is going to be a blue chip prospect who's going to play on a similar level of play as Jimmy within 2-3 years. Given what we know about the draft, that seems unlikely. Supposedly the Bulls are high on Kris Dunn, and maybe Pax sees shades of a young DWade in him or thinks of Dragan Bender as a Pau Gasol like talent, but otherwise this trade should be avoided at all costs. Many people lament the "Miserable NBA Middle" because purgatory is the worst place to be in the NBA, and it's better to be a bottom dweller collecting high lottery picks on the low probability that you can get a draft pick that turns into a hall of famer. 1). It's worth noting that all 3 of the teams receiving the superstar used the trade to catapult themselves into contention rather than the draft. 2). Here is the record of the Timberwolves and Hornets after the trade until the present day: Timberwolves: 22-60 (27%) 24-58 (29%) 15-67 (18%) 17-65 (20%) 26-40 (32%) 31-51 (38%) 40-42 (49%) 16-66 (20%) 29-53 (35%) During this time the Wolves went through 5 coaches and 2 GM changes that I'm aware of. Hornets: 21-45 (32%) 27-55 (33%) 34-48 (41%) 45-37 (55%) 30-52 (37%) The best either of these teams could do was to get to the playoffs once, where they promptly got swept in the first round. In short, those trades were basically dumpster fires for both teams and neither one has been able to get back to the level they were are at before the trade. That's not "The NBA Middle." It's "The Bottomless Pit of Suckiness." IMO our roster probably has a lot in common with the Hornets/Pelicans and Wolves pre-trade: a combination of middling vets and 3rd tier young talent that probably won't turn into impact players and not much else. The team is all but guaranteed to have enough cap space to sign a starter level player this year and next. The odds of improving the team and staying relevant are far better going this route and adding to Jimmy Butler than trading him for what'll probably amount to a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things. If you think GarPax are incompetent the impetus to keep Jimmy Butler should be even stronger because unless you just have dumb luck the odds are very small that you'll pull yourself by your bootstraps into contention without top shelf talent, which usually doesn't come in the lottery (or anywhere else for that matter). This trade totally blows.
