Just saw on Twitter a girl I had a class with and did some partner work with at UW won a WNBA championship. Very cool stuff!

Philadelphia 76ers tap Elton Brand for vacant GM role

Good for Elton Brand but this feels like he got an early copy of DDS: Pro Basketball 19.

Jimmy Butler requesting a trade out of Minnesota. Dont let the door hit ya on the way out. I am sure Towns will be gone soon as well. Sucks to be a smaller market NBA GM. You are a feeder for the big markets.

Dammit I thought that cable tech who was here fixing my internet looked familiar. I had no idea it was Elton Brand downloading DDS:PB19!

Insert all the caveats about Butler being a great player here.

That being said, who exactly can Butler play with and who can he play for? Given his tenure in Minnesota, I don't think he can play with the young rosters that are the Nets and the Knicks. I think he can play with the current Clipper roster but if Kawhi goes to the Clippers, can those two work together as both seemed to want to be the top dog? Same for if Kyie/KD goes to the Knicks.

What is his perfect situation?

All he needs is a team with Jimmy Butler, and 4 guys who give Jimmy Butler the ball.

Anthony Davis signed with Klutch. Next step is to force a trade out of New Orleans

Butler is the perfect 2nd or 3rd banana on a championship roster. He doesn't need the ball, and plays A+ defense. Yet you won't get far if he's your #1. He's Paul George. This is why I feel dumbfounded that Miami is going aftr him so hard, unless they have a plan in place this summer I'm not ready for.

I think the plan for the Heat would be to get out of some of the mediocre players that they have on the roster right now. If they could get rid of say Whiteside, Tyler Johnson and Dion Waiters for Butler, that would be a great* thing.


* Great meaning the league decided to change all the rules specifically for the Heat that forced that trade to happen;)

Tristan Thompson says the Cavs are still the team to beat in the East. I'm all for players being confident, but good luck with that.

He'd have to change his offensive game a bit. He's still heavy on the iso stuff and a ball stopper. A lot more Carmelo to his game than Paul George in my opinion.

Yep. We're not talking the player Jimmy Butler looked like he was developing into in 2014, we're talking about the one who prefers to run a ball stopping iso-heavy one (granted Thibodeau isn't the best offensive coach), that has also shown problems playing with a superstar and helping develop young guys, and indicated with his trade list he cares more about being the alpha dog in a big market than playing for a winner.

You really think the guy who just put 3 of the NY/LA teams on his trade lists but not LeBron's is accepting that he could/should be a 2nd banana on a championship team?

PS there is 0.0% chance Kyrie goes to the Knicks, and I still believe the real on court problem in Minnesota wasn't KAT/Butler, it was giving Andrew Wiggins his max extension before he showed any willingness to try on defense.

This is when the doctor tells Tristan he has been in a coma for 3 months and has some news he'd like to share

It's pretty hard to trade Butler with the Luxury tax. I think the Kings are the only team with cap space, so they would need to be tipped out to make a trade

He also picked the ugliest Kardashian sister, so his judgement is questionable.

3 months? I think it's been about 12, based on last season.

Choosing any Kardashian sister is evidence of being totally braindead.

The last time the Cavs made the playoffs without Lebron they were coached by Mike Fratello, their team leader in win shares was Wesley Person, their leading scorer was Shawn Kemp, and their rookie class was Brevin Knight, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cedric Henderson, and Derek Anderson.


EDIT: Wrong Knight

This makes me nostalgic. This was when watching NBA over here became much easier to do, as well as following boxscores online in my school library, and was exactly the period of time when I became a proper Cavs fan. Future looked so bright, and Cedric Henderson looked like a big time 2nd round steal before he somehow managed to get progressively worse every year in the league.

Phoenix Suns fire GM Ryan McDonough

Thanks to Robert Sarver, we now get a chance to have a real life answer to this question: Which is better? Firing your head coach three games into the regular season or firing your GM the week before the regular season.

Honestly, he should have been fired after the season. He's pissed away some of the Suns assets and made some awful top 10 picks (Len, Chriss, Bender). The only reason they have some talent is because he's done his own half-ass version of "the process" and stunk for 4 seasons. But, firing him now doesn't make a ton of sense. The feeling here in Phoenix was that Sarver gave him until the start of the season to field a better roster and the disaster that is the Suns PG spot finally pushed Sarver to the brink. We will see who his replacement is - hopefully the Suns won't repeat the "no experience" disaster hires of Hunter, Earl Watson and McDonough. But, given their track record, I would expect them to hire James Jones... :banghead:

Assuming no one thought Elfrid Payton was the answer he's basically being fired for not overpaying in draft picks (in a trade) or contracts (to an RFA) for a backup PG who might be good enough to start, on a team that won't make the playoffs & needs to focus on developing Ayton/Jackson & even Booker still, which is why having Booker play a little out of position at PG for parts of games this year wouldn't be the worst thing long term. It's even funnier considering the top guy rumored to be on the trade market (Bledsoe) and top UFA PG (IT) would likely not be interested in returning to Phoenix. But bad owners stay bad owners.

With Kyrie's comments about re-signing the Celtics are likely more open to trading Rozier now, so if the new Suns committee wants to send us an unprotected 2019 or 2020 first maybe we can work something out ;)

I think it's more that he basically gave away Brandon Knight and did nothing to bring in another point guard in FA or trade. Knight is nothing special, but he atleast has the potential to be a stop-gap guard. What's funny is the Knight situation is probably what cost him his job. He gave IT away to Boston so that he could use the Lakers pick to obtain Knight. Then, he gave Knight a big extension right before he blew out his knee. I think if the Suns did any of the following, he still has a job:

1. Kept Knight (and sold Sarver on him for this year)
2. Signed Fred VanVleet, Avery Bradley, Tony Parker, Yogi Ferrell or any other pro PG available for between $2 mil and $9 mil (on a 2-year deal).
3. Traded for Beverly, Schroder, Lowry, Kemba Walker, George Hill or one of the litany of available PGs.

Instead, McDonough decided to start the season with some combo of Shaq Harrison, Isaiah Canaan and the 20-year old french pick (Okobo). With the investment the Suns have in their front court (Ayton, Jackson, Ariza, Warren, Bender and Bridges), I don't think Sarver liked the poo poo platter at point to compliment Booker. Ryan was pretty much on his last gasp after the past two offseasons that saw the team get worse. I think he was content on keeping this ponzi scheme going as long as he could - but Phoenix was getting sick of missing the playoffs for 7 straight seasons and wanted to see the team start improving. I know it's hard to believe, but 8 years ago the Suns were the 4th most winning team in NBA history. Losing for almost a decade is tough for this fanbase.

Thinking about dumping around $5000 into some team total futures. Any suggestions?

Not the Timberwolves, that's for sure. :(

Where do we stand on Jimmy Butler now?

Reading about the antics today and initially thought what an ass, but the more I read it sounds sort of awesome. I like that rather than just sitting out, he went..dominated, and was vocal about it. I mean, it is a great story but I don't know if the reasoning behind it is valid at all.

Is this guy a diva? Or is he just completely hellbent on competing and has zero patience for people not like that? Or both?

Both?

I mean isn't he the guy who:

1. did not want to go through the pains of rebuilding with the Bulls and was enough of a malcontent that they had to trade him.

2. went to a team with two overall #1 picks and could not get them past the first round as leader guy and is once again trying to force his way out of town.

3. is reportedly trying to make his way to a team with very little chance of winning (Heat or Clippers) but can pay him the max immediately and would be better for his brand.

I am not saying that the above is a fair representation of Butler. I am saying it could be. I am also saying a guy like Paul George (fellow all NBA'er in 2018) got ripped for less.

Supposedly there was an NBA practice where Andrew Bynum shot the ball at the wrong basket every single time

I'm a bigtime Wolves fan, and Jimmy Butler was the greatest thing to happen to this team since the KG/Marbury era. Sad to see it end this way.

If we had a halfway competent owner, and a coach/GM who didn't go out of his way to be an ass, maybe we could have turned this roster into something. Now, we have to watch a promising team turn into the league laughing stock again. :banghead:

You put Butler on Miami and that team is the 4 or 5-seed in the east. So, I'm not sure having "very little chance of winning" is correct. I mean, they were a 6-seed last year without him and the Cavs should fall out. With the Clippers, I agree - but not with Miami. Adding Butler puts them right along side the Bucks and Pacers in the hunt for the 4-seed.

I meant winning the conference. Without his injury, he was in the hunt for a 4 seed with the Wolves last year and that was not good enough. Again, it goes back to my earlier question about what is the right situation for him.

I am not against him going to the Heat. But given his reported issues with some of his teammates, I do have to be realistic about the team he would be going to though. Is a team with Jimmy Butler and a paid Hassan Whiteside be that much different chemistry wise than a team with Butler and a paid KAT? Butler and a paid Dion Waiters combo vs Butler and Wiggins? I don't know.

This Jimmy Butler story is Amazing by the way.


Not quite as heartwarming as Jimmer scoring 41 points vs somebody's 3rd team.

Yeah, but in the East you have a chance. Put last year's Wolves in the East and they are the #3 seed (even with Butler's injury). Dragic, Butler, Whiteside and a few of their young forwards are a nice starting point for an East team - and that's not even factoring in Riley next offseason. People need to understand just how tilted the league is to the West right now. The Nuggets or Jazz would be a 2 or 3 seed in the East and they will be fighting for a playoff spot in the West. It's a different world with all the talent out west. If you look at the top 15 players, 12 are in the West (Lebron, Durant, Davis, Harden, Steph, Russ, Paul, Lillard, Jokic, George, Green, and your choice of KAT/Klay). Only Giannis, Embiid and maybe Kawhi (if he's healthy) would crack that list. Butler immediately becomes top 5 in East if he goes there. He wouldn't even be top 10 in the West.

Communication is key to so many things. Someone told Butler that champions had character & the poor dumb bastard thought they said "had to BE a character"

Hopefully today's stunt gets him suspended & cools interest in him from any sane organization, let the little bitch sit for a year with no cash and (probably more painful) no attention.

If karma is a real thing, he'll blow both knees walking across the street as a free agent looking for work.

My only problem with hating on Butler is that I suspect he's 100% right with his judgement on the rest of his Minny teammates. Butler isn't a top tier guy, but he wants to win, and I don't think guys like KAT/Wiggins in particular want it nearly as bad. You can criticize the way he goes about it (I personally love the fact that he beat the first team with himself and the 3rd team while berating them), but I think it comes from the right place.

If the trade request is coming from a place of getting out of the West and getting to the East for a better shot at getting to the Finals, then I retract all of my previous posts. But that does not explain his initial list and the current desire to include the Clippers as a preferred destination.

He did have the Clippers, but also had the Knicks and Nets. I'm guessing he just threw out two of the bigger markets (LA, New York/Brooklyn) to get some interest. He seemed open to Miami as well. Most of the teams he's been interested in have been out east - so I'm guessing that's where he would prefer.

If I'm a player in the 15-25 range (like Butler), I would do everything I can to go out East. He could easily be starting on the All Star team out East - whereas he probably wouldn't even make the team in the West.

Even if the Suns don't have a PG, wouldn't Butler make them a pretty good team? I feel like they have enough secondary type assets to make it work. They have a Miami pick I think. Plus some moveable contracts I'd assume?

Not really. He's a lot like Jackson and Warren - guys who can score but can't really hit 3s. They need more shooters with Booker or a point who can free him up. Plus, the Suns want to run and Butler tends to be a Melo-esque black hole on offense.

Jeff Teague is bad at being Fake News Guy.

Butler staying in Minnesota? Thibs wins, KAT/Glen Taylor lose...

I don't agree with how he's played the process out, but I'm with Groundhog in thinking the huge elephant in the room is that he's right about Wiggins and at this point it sounds like KAT as well.

I also don't buy for a second the idea that he called a players only meeting and explained that his only grievances were with management & not teammates, so we'll see how it plays out going forward. Either way, I don't think a consensus franchise cornerstone has had a quicker non-injury fall from grace than KAT in the last 3 months.

As opposed to the egocentric malcontent that doesn't seem to be able to get along with anyone wherever he goes?

Towns can ball.
Butler can ball but he's a cancer.

At this point Minny might be better served to unload him AND Thibs, since the only reason Butler appears to still be around to get his attention fix is because Thibs is desperate to hang on to his job. If that requires keeping a bitch like Butler, better to fire his ass too.

Thibs wins what exactly? He has a guy still there who does not want want to be there who is now the person running the organization. He also now has two "soft" guys on long term contracts on the team who may not be built for the rigors of the NBA. Oh yeah , and they are in the Western Conference.

What part of Butler's process is bothersome for people? I have no problem with his process if his goal is to

a) get out of Minnesota
b) get Wiggins and/or Towns out of Minnesota
c) Tell the T-Wolves in no uncertain terms that the mix of Butler, Towns and Wiggins is a complete disaster.

On Wiggins and Towns, are we sure the problem is them and not Thibs? Let's take this to the extreme. Are Wiggins and Towns as soft under the tutelage of Brad Stevens as they are perceived to be under Thibs?

You think the way he acted is acceptable?

I am far from a "stay in your lane" guy, but he has a contract with the team and is exceptionally well compensated. It sucks he hates his situation, but holding out, being critical of your teammates, then making a spectacle at practice and yelling at your GM are not the way a professional acts.

Thibs just wants to be fired because he's likely to be fired at the end of the year, so you might as well get it over with now so teams know if they fire their coach, they have a shot at him. With Butler, he's got a punchers chance. Without, they aren't anything special

Butler has one goal, a max contract. He's not getting it in Minnesota. Minnesota wa short sighted in trading for him if they were not willing or able to offer that contract.

KAT is fine, he'll be a top 10 player. Wiggins though shouldn't have gotten that contract. But with how hard it is to draw stars to Minnesota (or any smaller NBA market) they didn't have much choice but to take a chance.

"I have no problem with his process if his goal is to"

Note I did not give an goal of bending over backwards to make things work or to make things comfortable for anyone in the organization.

I will grant you the holding out is unprofessional. But the other stuff? I don't see it if that is they guy you bring in to add toughness, accountability and generally shake things up to the team. I will reckless speculate that Thibs had no issue with Butler's Kobe practice impersonation this week in the same way NFL coaches are not that upset about a training camp scuffle. I believe that is why he brought him in. Think about it. The same guy who held out, was critical of teammates, made a spectacle of practice and .was yelling at the GM came in the next day and called a players only meeting A meeting in which Butler either disparaged management (reportedly) or his teammates (speculation) again? The organization's response to the events the day before? Cancel practice.

Supposedly Riley had Butler for Waiters, Josh Richardson and a pick and Thibs called back asking for more. And Riley responded appropriately with 2 words

New York Knicks waive Joakim Noah

Get him in Thibs, GET HIM IN!:D