“The Bulls were never going to get full value for Butler in a trade.”
Personally, I heard this one a lot and to a degree, this one makes sense.
Sure, Paul George and the Indiana Pacers shot George’s own trade value like when you shoot a teammate in a Call of Duty match, but look what the Pacers got for George in the trade that sent him to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo was enough of a package in a trade last year for the Orlando Magic to get Serge Ibaka.
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Paul George and Jimmy Butler are much better players than Serge Ibaka is in the current day, but the Pacers wanted to get something for George instead of knowing that he prefers to play in Los Angeles next season and then do nothing while getting nothing in the process.
If the Bulls truly thought this was the best offer that suited them, then so be it. They wanted to pick a lane and suck for a while for a better chance at high draft picks without actually saying it, so it makes sense to take Minnesota’s deal.
But, one would have to assume they got a little bit from the Boston Assets … er, Celtics, correct? They were probably never going to get the No. 1 pick after the draft lottery in a potential deal because as good as Butler is, he’s not worth the No. 1 overall pick and a big package if the C’s think Gordon Hayward is coming across the country, which he actually did.
Here’s the thing with the whole value thing: if this package — the Dunn/LaVine/pick for Butler/pick package — was the best offer you got, why in the world would trade Butler and your own pick for one “might be” good player, basically another old rookie and a pick that turned into another Nikola Mirotic-type of player?
Butler’s an attractive piece. He’s on a team-friendly contract for a couple of seasons. He’s a great offensive player and an All-Defensive Team-caliber player. Why officially blow it up just because you don’t always get full value for a star in deals? It’s clear some teams wanted him. There’s no way you didn’t get a better offer at some point.