I know his contract was hideous and they are probably glad to be rid of it, but they also lost Ryan Anderson. They basically replaced Anderson's shitty defense and .386 3-point shooting with Carmelo Anthony's shitty defense and .357 3-point shooting. Plus, they lost their two best wing defenders in Ariza and Mbah a Moute. Man getting Melo was STOOPID. I would be surprised if there wasn't some handshake agreement between Morey and CP3 that he'd get his buddy Melo, too. Melo has been going downhill for years and the slope it getting steeper every year. It's just one stat, but look at his PER for the last 7 seasons: 24.8 24.4 21.5 20.3 17.9 12.7 9.0 Let's graph that, shall we: Notice any trends? Morey is desperate to get Butler for his defense alone and is willing to mortgage the future for a possible 1-year rental. BNM
Not a whole lot of protections available on 4 picks in 7 years when the Stepien rule is involved. I don't know if they have any other 1st round picks from any other teams, but if they don't, then the only protections they could put on those picks would be non-conveyance, which I doubt the Wolves would accept.
My first thought when I heard the Butler to Houston offer was if Butler keeps getting bent about teammates not playing defense, he's going to love Melo and Harden, haha. Plus, now you've got three ISO players in the starting lineup. I think this trade is bad for Minny, and won't work for Houston. So I hope they do it.
To trade all four, you have to make sure they are conveyed. They could put all four as lottery protected, reverting to second round picks but the value of the package would be little. Minnesota should find a third team that would want the picks. Maybe Cleveland for Keven Love?
In deals like this though you play the odds and Houston has been able to stay competitive for awhile now as this will likely be there 7th year in a row of making the playoffs. I think the odds are far better they won't be lottery picks.
I think Houston is one of the few teams that Minnesota could play hard ball with because if Morey wants Butler this badly then Minnesota has a little bit of leverage here. If I'm Minnesota I'd demand they have to take Dieng with Butler which would basically force Houston to have to give them Gordon, Tucker, and Knight plus 3 1st round picks (this way there could be some light protections on the earlier ones without it getting too complicated). Minnesota would get a couple of veterans that could really help them this season plus have a stockpile of future picks. Houston would be gutted just to get another star but that is the type of move Morey has a history of going for.
I don't know about that. If one of the picks is 2025 (which it would pretty much have to be) then during the 2024-25 season Harden would be 35 if he's still there, Paul would most likely be retired, and Butler even if he signed a max extension the contract would be over before that season and he'd also be 35. Without 3 of the 6 1st rounders in the years leading up to that draft that limits a lot of options for staying good. There really isn't anyway to know who's right but both sides have valid points.
Unless the TWolves hate their fans though, dumping a player for future picks can also put them back into rebuilding mode. If I have a player of Butlers caliber, I want an all star level player coming back to go along with my young talent.
I'm sure they would love an all-star level player in return, however so far no one is offering close to that. This is a completely different discussion though, we were talking about the value of the Rockets picks.
