Tim Bontemps predicts Jimmy Butler will be traded to Boston

[Moranis]

Didn't Ricky Davis play alongside KG in Minnesota? Ricky Davis was the Szczerbiak trade right? He would have a year and a half alongside KG. Doesn't KG count as a dominant big man?

29/30 year old KG was certainly better than a 35 year old Pau Gasol.

Yes.  Post-prime Ricky Davis averaged 17 points, 4.8 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 1 steal with 47%/40%/84% shooting next to Kevin Garnett.  Not surprisingly, KG's prescense caused Davis' efficiency to peak... he had a career high TS% of .566 (higher than Butler this season).  He also had career highs in VORP and WS while playing next to KG. - adding further proof that a star big like KG/Gasol can open things up for a guy like Davis/Butler. 

Unfortunately for KG/Ricky, the 3rd best player on that team was Mark Blount.  The forth best player on that team was Mike James.  Despite this, the tandem won 32 games. 

The question then becomes... If you replaced Blount/Trenton Hassell/Mike James with Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, and Doug McDermott,  could they have won 10 more games and finished with 42 wins like Pau and Butler did this year?  Probably not... since Butler is obviously better than post-prime Ricky Davis.   

FWIW, in the 10 or so games that Butler played over the past two seasons with Gasol sidelined, he actually played really well.   Such as this game where he dropped 53 points on the team calling themselves the 76ers:  http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?id=400828474 ... so who knows, maybe Butler actually is capable of taking the leap.  I thought Dame Lillard's efficiency would drop without LaMarcus Aldridge and instead, Lillard took it up another level.   Maybe we should go after Butler at any cost regardless if it leads to additional free agent signings.  I actually do like him as a player.  I liked Davis too.  But I like Bradley, Crowder, Thomas, Smart and the draft pick as well.   

post-prime?  Ricky Davis was 26 and 27 his 1.5 seasons in Minnesota.  Garnett was 30 years old and led the NBA in rpg and finished 9th in MVP voting.  To compare him to Gasol last year is ridiculous.

Davis has also played with an in prime Illgauskas and Boozer, didn't seem to help him much.

[GetLucky]

Didn't Ricky Davis play alongside KG in Minnesota? Ricky Davis was the Szczerbiak trade right? He would have a year and a half alongside KG. Doesn't KG count as a dominant big man?

29/30 year old KG was certainly better than a 35 year old Pau Gasol.

Yes.  Post-prime Ricky Davis averaged 17 points, 4.8 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 1 steal with 47%/40%/84% shooting next to Kevin Garnett.  Not surprisingly, KG's prescense caused Davis' efficiency to peak... he had a career high TS% of .566 (higher than Butler this season).  He also had career highs in VORP and WS while playing next to KG. - adding further proof that a star big like KG/Gasol can open things up for a guy like Davis/Butler. 

Unfortunately for KG/Ricky, the 3rd best player on that team was Mark Blount.  The forth best player on that team was Mike James.  Despite this, the tandem won 32 games. 

The question then becomes... If you replaced Blount/Trenton Hassell/Mike James with Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, and Doug McDermott,  could they have won 10 more games and finished with 42 wins like Pau and Butler did this year?  Probably not... since Butler is obviously better than post-prime Ricky Davis.   

FWIW, in the 10 or so games that Butler played over the past two seasons with Gasol sidelined, he actually played really well.   Such as this game where he dropped 53 points on the team calling themselves the 76ers:  http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?id=400828474 ... so who knows, maybe Butler actually is capable of taking the leap.  I thought Dame Lillard's efficiency would drop without LaMarcus Aldridge and instead, Lillard took it up another level.   Maybe we should go after Butler at any cost regardless if it leads to additional free agent signings.  I actually do like him as a player.  I liked Davis too.  But I like Bradley, Crowder, Thomas, Smart and the draft pick as well.   

You can be assured that getting Butler wouldn't not require all of Bradley, Crowder, IT, Smart, and the Brooklyn pick. You can be doubly assured that Danny Ainge would reject that deal as soon as he heard it.