With Horford now committed, we are clearly in win-now mode with no turning back. We must capitalize on our assets now and do what we can to make ourselves as good as we can.
So if KD doesn't end up leaving OKC, or at least not choosing Boston, then we should go HARD after Butler.
But what is different now than at the draft? A) We have a direction to go in - winning and not rebuilding, and B) we won't have to worry about cap space for anyone else.
With that being said, I've seen several prominent Bulls bloggers and writers talk about Butler's price right now, and it'd probably be something like Brown and one of the Brooklyn picks/swaps. They've all talked about Crowder or Bradley not making sense for them due to their age/mileage, which actually works out for both sides. So here's what we should do - offer them the non-guaranteed contract of Amir, Hunter, the rights to Brown, and the Brooklyn 2018 pick.
This allows us to not give up a rotation player in Crowder, Bradley, or Smart, which was the hangup for most here that didn't want to do that trade. They'd almost have to take that offer after this offseason, and I think they'd ultimately take it.
This would give us the following roster:
PG: IT, Rozier
SG: Bradley, Smart
SF: Butler, Crowder
PF: KO, JJ, Mickey
C: Horford, Zizic
Or we could go small with Butler and Crowder playing the forward positions.
Either way, it greatly strengthens our rotation without giving up one of our core rotation guys. Also, I'm sure after the ridiculous contracts that have been handed out the last several days that Butler's roughly $18M he'll get next year for us (a little higher due to trade kicker) looks much more palatable than it did at the draft. Further, we should still have room next year to add another max contract with an even higher cap, so this is a win-win for us.
Yes, Durant is still our number one goal, but this is a great back-up plan to that. And though it will hurt losing Brown and the 2018 pick, getting a multiple-time All-Star in Butler on a very, very good deal will make us both a legit contender this year and much more attractive to free agents next summer.
Who says no?