The Butler Did It

benhogan

Granite Truther
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Nov 2, 2007
20,113
Santa Monica
also Porzingas, Paul, Gobert and Hayward??? health matters in a long regular and playoff season

Mitchell, Wall come on
 

the moops

Member
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Jan 19, 2016
4,700
Saint Paul, MN
Yea, I may have overstated it, but I can't see Butler being a top 10 player, mostly because of how much time he spends not playing basketball with all his inuries.

I think he slots in with a bunch of guys in the 10-20 range after Lebron, Curry, Durant, Harden, Davis, Paul, Kawhi, Giannis, Westbrook, Embiid, and probably a few others
 

TiredParent

New Member
Dec 8, 2005
44
Yea, I may have overstated it, but I can't see Butler being a top 10 player, mostly because of how much time he spends not playing basketball with all his inuries.

I think he slots in with a bunch of guys in the 10-20 range after Lebron, Curry, Durant, Harden, Davis, Paul, Kawhi, Giannis, Westbrook, Embiid, and probably a few others
Is he a clear, no doubt, top 20 player? Even ignoring contract and future production, who would each team refuse to trade for Butler straight up?

These teams probably have no players that are currently equal or better than Butler - Clippers, Suns, Kings, Hawks, Heat, Magic, Mavs, Memphis, Spurs, Nets,Bulls, Cavs, Pistons , Knicks (though Kristaps if he wasn't hurt)

These players might be traded straight up(one year, no consideration of fit, contract or future):
Boston - Tatum,
TO - Lowry
Nuggets - Murray
Jazz - Mitchell
Wizards - Wall

These players would likely not be traded straight up for Butler:
Boston - Kyrie,Horford
76ers - Embiid,Simmons
Raptors - Kawhi
Pacers - Oladipo
Bucks - Giannis
Nuggets - Jokic
Minn - KAT
OKC - Westbrook, George
Portland - Lillard
Jazz - Gobert
Warriors - Curry, Durant, Klay, Draymond
Lakers - LeBron
Hornets - Kemba
Rockets - Paul, Harden
Pelicans - Jrue, Davis

Of course, that is a subjective list, but even if you remove Kyrie or Kemba or Jrue, that would still be 20 players.
 

ManicCompression

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May 14, 2015
1,352
These are two different parameters, though. One guy can be a better player but less valuable because of age/contract. If you had to win one game right now, and the choice was between butler and Gobert, you take butler every time. The thing about butler against a lot of that list is that he’s older and about to get paid too much money on his decline.

Butler is a really good, top 15 or so player, but I don’t think he’s a good fit with Embiid and Simmons. It’s going to be really interesting to see how they juggle three guys who can’t really play off ball all that well. It’s a ton of talent and it feels like the whole could be less than the parts.
 

JakeRae

Member
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Jul 21, 2005
8,125
New York, NY
The list of players I would definitely not trade for Butler based on expected performance (and ignoring contract) in the next 3 years (somewhat arbitrary cutoff that avoids tangling with difficult questions like would I trade Tatum for Butler - probably not but it's not because Butler isn't better now and reasonably likely to continue to be better in the short term):

LeBron
Davis
Durant
Curry
Harden
Kawhi
Jokic
Giannis

Guys I'm not sure about but would consider:

Embiid
Paul (because age)
Draymond
Gobert
Lillard
Kyrie

Guys I think you can make a reasonable argument for but don't make the above lists for me:

Westbrook (I really don't like his game)
George
Horford
Oladipo
 

HomeRunBaker

bet squelcher
SoSH Member
Jan 15, 2004
30,096
Chandler has been hurt and they are working him back in he was on a minute restriction and he's fine. A solid bench wing, nothing exciting.
After having a weekend to look at the new Sixers I expect Chandler to be in the starting lineup and as your 'stretch 4" offensively. This year and his reputation from early in his career aside, Chandler has been a fairly durable player these past 3 seasons. Some are talking like the Sixers are running Chandler Parsons out there which is simply not the case.

With the lack of frontcourt depth now along with lack of second unit scoring punch...…..is Carmelo a viable option if he agreed to a second unit role that is currently Amir and Muscala? Move Redick into Fultz' starting spot and run the latter with Melo on a second unit where he can either get into the paint off the dribble or get the ball to Melo in iso.
 
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sezwho

Member
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Jul 20, 2005
1,951
Isle of Plum
The list of players I would definitely not trade for Butler based on expected performance (and ignoring contract) in the next 3 years
That is pretty much my list, but for a shorter period like 1-2 years...

Kyrie's offense (particularly in crunch time) is so exceptional that I'm not sure how to rank him against Butler's 2-way strength, but its quite possible the Sixers just added the best player on either team.