Tim Bontemps predicts Jimmy Butler will be traded to Boston

[walker834]

If we could get Isaiah, Butler, Durant, Love and Horford that would be good.  The clippers have Paul, Redick, Blake and Deandre and Doc Rivers as their coach and can't win even if they were healthy.  We'd have Stevens and a more talented team.

[Csfan1984]

Jimmy Butler for a 42 win Bulls team:  20.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.6 steals, 45%/31%/83%
Ricky Davis for a 33 win Celtic team:  19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 46%/32%/79%

Neither made the playoffs.   Butler had former MVP Derrick Rose, 6x All-star Pau Gasol, last year's ROY runnerup Nikola Mirotic and a solid bench of players like Taj Gibson. 

I wouldn't mind bringing in Butler, but I'm not overpaying for premium-brand Ricky Davis.

Jimmy Butler for a 50-win Bulls team: 20.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals, 46.2%/37.8%/83.4%

Ricky Davis Career stats:  13.5 points, 3.3 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 1 steal 45%/36%/78% in 29.8mpg

Jimmy Butler Career stats:  13.6 points, 2.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 45%/33%/81% in 31.2mpg

Dude cmon now. You know you're just using career stats to have a (lame) reason to not want butler. You know jimmy didn't get a ton of time in his earlier years, and was only getting PT for his defense, right?

Yeah, I also know I've seen articles from Bulls fans who said his defense cratered once he was given a larger offensive role. 

Honestly, I haven't watched enough of Butler to really have a major opinion one way or the other.  Did you guys watch a ton of Bulls games this year?  I just know what I've read about him.  I'm fine with bringing him in, but I wouldn't overpay for him. 

As a 23 year old Ricky Davis put up Butler-esque stats of 20.6 points, 5.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals... It was his 5th season.  He was an effective player for a number of years.

This was Butler's 5th season.  The 26 year old has game.  Davis was a bit of a headcase (though I've heard Butler has a little of that in him as well) and Butler is widely believed to be a better defensive player (though playing for a team with an elite defensive identity impacted that a bit).   I'm not saying Davis was better than Butler.  I'm just saying that we've seen guys put up big stats for losers in the past.   I wouldn't mind trading for Butler if the price is right.  I wouldn't hold my breathe on him being the franchise player the team needs.

Your problem is instead of reading articles written about Butler from credible news sources or watching Bulls games, you are getting your information from uninformed and biased Bulls fans on blog sites. That's like trying to learn more about the Celtics players by listening to Celtics fans that post on Celticsblog. If people did that and took BBallTim seriously they would believe that Rondo was better than Jordan. If those people listened to triboy they would think Jordan Mickey was better than Bill Russell. If they listened to our group of young posters that love tanking they would have been convinced Ainge was an incompetent boob for not going all Hinkie. If they listened to some others they would be convinced Isaish Thomas isn't an All-Star caliber talent and should be coming off the bench. If they listened to you they would have been convinced that the Nets pick wouldn't have stood a chance at landing in the top ten of the lottery.

Time to start getting your information from better sources LB. Jimmy Butler is ten times the player Ricky Davis ever was.

Skip Bayless of Celtics Blog just got GOT

Lol.  Ridiculous.  His greatest claim in this bombshell of a post was that I get my info on jimmy butler from bulls fans.  Uh... 

First of all, I admitted what most people here are too stubborn to admit - I don't watch a ton of bulls games.  Neither do most of the Celtic fans here.   I said that I have to form my opinion mostly on information available about butler ... Same with pretty much everyone here since I doubt a lot of people on this forum watched him daily.   I did mention that there was a group of bulls fans who pointed out that butler's defensive efficiency had dropped significantly when his offensive role grew. 

So based on that, y'all think I got burned ?

The most relevant thing nikagneta said in his post was, " That's like trying to learn more about the Celtics players by listening to Celtics fans that post on Celticsblog"

So essentially, y'all are having histrionics about a guy who legitimizes my entire character premise.  That the opinions of most Celtic fans (such as you guys) are worthless. 

Pick your mic back up.

Yeah

it is his mic, and i don't think he is coming back to get it.

Anyways... I stand by my original comment.  I wouldn't overpay for Butler unless it guaranteed us Durant.   If Butler was a franchise-level talent, the Bulls wouldn't be hypothetically shopping him.  It sounds like it would cost us a pretty hefty price to bring him in.   I'm guesstimating all of our picks + Bradley, Smart or Crowder.  It could get expensive real quick.   

Do you think Butler would cost less than that?  If so, welcome to a self-created paradox.  You can't claim Butler is a superstar above criticism while at the same time arguing his price should be cheap. 

I'm fine with bringing in Butler.  In-fact, I wrote an entire 4000 page article with our "best-case" scenario involving bringing in Butler and two max contract players.  I'm just saying, I wouldn't overpay for him unless it lead to free agent signings.  We could very easily give up the majority of our tradeable assets and have no room for follow-up trades.  That means we'd have to rely on free agency to add the other stars.  If we can't land other stars via free agency, I'm not comfortable going all-in for Butler.  I don't see him as a franchise player (neither do the Bulls, apparently).   And our goal is obviously to get a franchise player.   I'd see Butler more like the Ray Allen move we hope to lead to the KG move.  But if there's no KG move to be made, it might be a bad idea.

Don't worry LarBrd33 I read the post on the whole Davis was a not literal but more an example of team role of Butler not being a Superstar. I also agree on the let's not go all in for Butler and use those assets on a better guy. But that roast was pre-explanation which is why it was good then. I really don't like people dragging out the Davis and Butler thing on ya since you explained what you meant to say already in a few ways. I believe your point was Butler isn't a Superstar and you don't unload multiple high picks for him, Butler is a 2nd or 3rd star not a #1.

[MBunge]

You can't claim Butler is a superstar above criticism while at the same time arguing his price should be cheap. 

WHO IS CLAIMING THAT?

Mike

[celticsclay]

To get back to seriousness. I do think Butler can be a superstar. I don't think he is Lebron or Durant or Curry who probably get you get a top 5 seed each year if healthy with very little else on the roster. However, I do think if you magically added him to our roster without taking anything away we would challenge to win the East. With a few other additions (more shooting and a little better interior defender) I think we could be right where we need to be. He definitely is a good defender, however, the biggest difference for our team with him is that he can really create his own shot and draw contact. His presence would really open things up Bradley, Crowder and Thomas to get better looks on the offensive end, and more opportunity for Thomas to drive.

I think he is the ultimate buy-low candidate right now. The bulls, partly through bad injury luck, have really screwed up their team. Injuries turned Noah from an above averaging starting center to a below average bench player before ultimately sending to the IR. Rose's injuries really sapped him of the super elite athleticism that made him so good and he hasn't made adjustments to his game that he needs to be a more well rounded less athletic player (no improvement in shooting, no improvement in being a distributer off drives). Gibson is an average big man that was in and out of the lineup all year. Portis is a nice prospect, but was not ready to be a rotation player on a playoff team and Mirotic seemed to not get any better between last year and this year and has a real propensity to jack up deep 3's. Gasol seems like he is completely empty stats at this point. He grabs an amazing amount of rebounds and can certainly still score, but seemed to really struggle on defense. You look at that roster, and watch them play (which I actually did a decent amount this year) and it is really not on Butler that they did not make the playoffs. I think he will definitely continue to grow and develop as a star on whatever team he joins.

So to answer the question of why the Bulls would trade such a star? Well what we can hope is that their front office is as dysfunctional as it has appeared the last few years. Forcing Thibs out, hiring Hoiberg, seemingly holding on to a core group that has continued to erode for the last 4 years to watch Noah and Rose become complete non-assets. Maybe they really do pick Hoiberg over Butler...

[86MaxwellSmart]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

[celticsclay]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

I would rather have Butler.

[Who]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

I would rather have Butler.

Me too

(1) Butler is better defensively
(2) Butler is tougher to bother offensively. More consistent. Better equipped against top defensive teams and players.
(3) Butler is a better outside shooter. Can provide more ball spacing.
(4) Butler less prone to tunnel vision iso-ball.

[Donoghus]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

Butler.  Without hesitation.

[Moranis]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

I'd rather have Derozan and all the assets we would get to save by signing him as a free agent.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

Butler.  Without hesitation.

I'd be happy with either---but yeah---Butler seems to have a more dominate presence --even though their number are similar.

[LarBrd33]

You can't claim Butler is a superstar above criticism while at the same time arguing his price should be cheap. 

WHO IS CLAIMING THAT?

Mike

To get back to seriousness. I do think Butler can be a superstar.

...

Maybe they really do pick Hoiberg over Butler...

Yeah it totally makes sense to choose a coach over a budding superstar.

[LarBrd33]

Would you rather have Butler or Derozan--?

I'd rather have Derozan and all the assets we would get to save by signing him as a free agent.

Bingo.  Derozan is a free agent.   Butler would presumably have a hefty price.

[celticsclay]

You can't claim Butler is a superstar above criticism while at the same time arguing his price should be cheap. 

WHO IS CLAIMING THAT?

Mike

To get back to seriousness. I do think Butler can be a superstar.

...

Maybe they really do pick Hoiberg over Butler...

Yeah it totally makes sense to choose a coach over a budding superstar.

You neatly edited out the rest of my post where I said it was possible because their front office is so incredibly dysfunctional. If you don't get how the front office is dysfunctional and has made a ton of stupid moves in the last decade I don't really know where to start.

Also dude, editing my quotes around from a post to remove the meaning is pretty crappy. It is one thing to misunderstand what someone was says, but intentionally manipulating their posts to make them say something else is kind of crappy, even for you.

[MBunge]

You can't claim Butler is a superstar above criticism while at the same time arguing his price should be cheap. 

WHO IS CLAIMING THAT?

Mike

To get back to seriousness. I do think Butler can be a superstar.

...

Maybe they really do pick Hoiberg over Butler...

Yeah it totally makes sense to choose a coach over a budding superstar.

Even by unfairly editing the crap out of that post, you still fail.

WHO IS CLAIMING BUTLER IS "A SUPERSTAR ABOVE CRITICISM" WHILE ALSO ARGUING HIS PRICE SHOULD BE CHEAP?

I realize I might come off a bit abrasive at times but at least I don't relentlessly mischaracterize and distort what other people post to try and make myself look smart.

Mike

[alldaboston]

You can't claim Butler is a superstar above criticism while at the same time arguing his price should be cheap. 

WHO IS CLAIMING THAT?

Mike

To get back to seriousness. I do think Butler can be a superstar.

...

Maybe they really do pick Hoiberg over Butler...

Yeah it totally makes sense to choose a coach over a budding superstar.

.