OKC really ought to make an offer for Butler. But I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give up Adams (Westbrook and George are of course untouchable), and if 4 first rounders doesn't do it... Roberson would be a good piece (he's a better defender even than Butler) if he was ever healthy.
Love to know his stats against great players because Kawhi destroyed him the other night when they were matched up. But I am not so sure that anyone can slow down great offensive players with the current rules. So unless you are an elite long defender who doesn't need to be physical to defend, and also can score........ why give them the max? Also if Thibs and Butler are so good at Defense then why has Minny been below average on D since they both got there? Sure he is a good defensive player, but is he a difference maker? Having said I would take him for ET and Picks.
You should probably look at the difference between Butler playing last year and the games he missed for Minnesota's team defense. Here's a hint, it's quite staggering. Also, wasn't Butler sick and expected to miss the game last night but gutted it out anyway?
When the tweet came out that he was sick I didn't believe it but he didn't look right in that game. He could've been sick for real or the whole team could be imploding or both. Trust me, I badly want to see those guys be a complete dumpster fire but it's hard to speculate on one or two games.
Those two games is really not my point. I am just questioning how much you give up for a defensive player these days when they are not allowed to actually play defense.
If you want to say that defensive only type players aren't worth trading for, sure I can buy that. If you are trying to say that Butler is only a defensive player I have to completely disagree with you. His advanced shooting stats are pretty good and efficient, plus he doesn't turn the ball over much. He also gets to the line a decent amount. I noticed that he has averaged less than 1.5 fouls per game the last couple years which is pretty good considering he is often guarding the other teams best offensive player.
Portland lost to a crappy Wizards team that is getting pummeled on their West Coast road trip, and then lost to a Heat team....the first team to play any defense. The Blazers will be nice and win 40-some games but unless they do something like go make a Butler trade happen, this season will look a lot like seasons in the past. They'll win some games they shouldn't, and lose some games they really should win. NBA purgatory.
That is true of every good team in the NBA. It happens. And I disagree that this is purgatory. Nuggets have been in Purgatory for years, back to back 9 seed. Kings have been in Purgatory, going to lottery every year and winding up with nothing. We're a very good team on the cusp of contending. That isn't purgatory to me. That's the 2013-14 Golden State Warriors.
If we swapped out CJ for Butler I think you’d see an impact similar to Kawhi in Toronto. We’d get tougher and we’d get less predictable. Butler isn’t Kawhi but the impact he’d make would be palpable. When the going gets tough, Butler is the type of player that can consistently put a team on his back, much like Dame. He just does it in different ways. He’ll do it on both ends.
I agree with this. I love cj. I dont think he has that elite killer instinct. He seems a bit softer than those at the elite level. Put butler next to dame and.....we are undefeated right now.
Honestly I dont know. The good news I think he’d respect Dame. The bad news, CJ, Harkless, Nurkic, I think would piss him off. Butler seems to think everyone has to ‘play by his rules’ or they arent trying hard enough.
Possibly. But sometimes its addition by subtraction. Put kwahi next to lowry and derozen and thats a contender right? But they didnt. They swapped and are now undefeated?
I would swap CJ for Butler in a heartbeat. I'd also add draft considerations. I bet on our team being able keep Butler beyond this season.
I think he'd love Dame and Zach. He seems to have the most problems with young guys who don't give a shit about defense and/or winning. There aren't a lot of 20-year olds that put in the effort on defense that Zach does. Plus as frustrating as Nurk can be on the offensive end at times, he anchored the 8th best defense in the league last season. BNM
I know Nurkic made a huge difference defensively last year, but his defense seems so bad this year. I actually wonder what the numbers are, but it seems like he’s been really bad on that end of the court. I think Butler would like Zach too.
Defense is hard to measure statistically, especially with a small sample size. With those caveats, Nurk is tied with Zach for the best DRtg among the rotation players at 107. The difference is Nurk's ORtg is also 107. Zach has the highest ORtg on the team at 146 (Dame is at 136). DBPM tells a different story. Nurk has a DBPM of -0.2. Zach has the best DBPM on the team at 3.2. I think pairing Nurk with a physical defensive wing like Butler would help. Right now, he's basically playing goalie behind Dame and C.J. BNM
