According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, there is a growing feeling around Jimmy Butler‘s camp that the three-time All-Star won’t be moved at this year’s deadline. Sources told Cowley that while the Bulls have taken multiple inquiries on Butler, they haven’t been pursuing trade talks.
Cowley observed that Butler trusts GM Gar Forman enough to believe he won’t be traded. The Celtics have consistently been connected with Butler in trade rumors- Isaiah Thomas cooed over Butler’s skill-set during the All-Star break- but the Bulls’ front office is hesitant to forfeit their chances at a playoff run.
The Bulls currently occupy the seven seed in the Eastern Conference with a 28-29 record. As Cowley points out, entering sell-mode this season would eliminate any chance of retaining Dwyane Wade over the offseason.
While the Bulls are unlikely to deal their most prized asset, other rotation pieces- Rajon Rondo, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson– could still be on the move. Earlier this month, Doug McDermott and Robin Lopez were mentioned in trade talks as well.
terrible decision. i wish bulls front office would realize that the fans would be more excited about a full rebuild than this product.
I wish the captain of the all ugly team Foreman would leave and take that piece of work Paxon with him.
What excites you about a full rebuild? Watching Terrible basketball for several years? Drafting some more high lottery picks like Marcus Fizer, Eddy Curry, Tyrus Thomas, Tyson Chandler? Total rebuild is a waste of time.
Hoiberg is holding this roster back so much. His lineups and rotations are terrible. Mirotic should have started instead of Gibson, so there is no spacing and shooting. Their starting lineup is probably the worst shooting starting lineup in the NBA.
Mcdourmet and Mirotic have looked awful under Hoiberg. Mcdourmet might be a bust, but Mirotic played great over seas and his rookie year under Thibs.
Call up the Suns and Boston and start the bidding war. Both want a star and both have a plethora of assets to make It happen
If rumors are true and the bulls could get two young players and a talented vet from the lakers why wouldn’t they take it. Bulls arent going to win anytime soon. So why not rebuild.
Who? Nance, Ingram, and Williams?
Who are these “two young players and a talented vet”? Nance can’t headline a deal. Russell would likely be off the table (I imagine the Lakers would prefer to keep him if they’re making a win-now move in Butler). So Randle and Ingram? Trading Randle probably sets the Lakers back as well unless the Bulls threw in Gibson or Lopez (further increasing the cost). And the Lakers don’t have a first round pick to offer to boot.
Base on what I read Ingram and Russell are off the table but a trade could have guys like Lou randle and Clarkson
That’s a terrible trade. A career 6th man, a very poor man’s Draymond Green, and an average combo guard. Randle has the upside there and it’s not much higher unless he really takes a Draymond Green-esque type of leap, which would then make him more valuable and probably make the Lakers unwilling to trade him.
It’s amazing how bulls fans flip flop so much like they do. I’m a Bulls fan, but I hold steadfast in the fact that the FO should be able to build around JB rather then wipe the slate clean.
That can’t be the answer for everything!?
There are players available NOW that if the FO was good they could go out and get. (IE the collective others).
Franchise wait for ever for a player of JB’s quality and contract to come along. Tearing down in order to put hopes in some rookie who can blow his leg like Rose did they suddenly your team is back to square one???
No thanks. Do your damn job FO and build around JB. Keep Wade, because why not and scrap everyone else!
Exactly, no need to trade Butler just to go out and try to find a player just like him. You need stars to win championships, and Jimmy is one. Your only chance of getting one back in this trade is to draft one with a pick, and they will be either 19 or 20 years old, and who knows the pick could be a bust.
So many people act like the Bulls should just trade Jimmy and then everything would be fine. I remember those teams in the late 90’s-early 2000’s. They were rough to watch with plenty of high lottery picks on the team. I will take the current product over that all day.
Also, I feel most Bulls fans really like Jimmy, the others are just mad because he took over for Rose. People still say they should sign Rose after this season(even though it would never happen). Derrick Rose is nothing more than an above average bench player at this point in his career.
If the front office could do their jobs, Jimmy and the Bulls should have more than enough to be right their the Wizards and Celtics. Reinsdorf should fire GarPax way before they are aloud to trade a player like Jimmy.
The thing is, the only asset the Bulls can get any quality return on is Butler. Butler isn’t getting any younger either, it’ll be awhile to build a contender out of this mess. You’re not getting any good picks or young guys out of Mirotic or McDermott. Lopez and Gibson could maybe pull a late fist. Other than that this whole roster is garbage. Trade Butler for picks and promising players and there’s a future.
Jimmy butler is 27, far from being washed up. The bulls cap situation is great, they own all their future first round draft picks, and have a young roster other than a few people. People act like the sky is falling. Bulls are the 7th just like ock, should the thunder trade Westbrook? Also, valentine, Portis, zipser, grant, mirotic, mcdourmet are all 25 and younger not unheard of for those players to improve in the next couple seasons.
Most people wanting butler traded is fans wanting him to join their team, or bitter bulls fans who are still pissed jimmy out played d rose out of town.
if you havent noticed, this team doesnt gel well. it has stunted player development and the coach in place is questionable at best. so yeah, instead of treading water and getting 6-8 seeds, a first round exit and mid first round picks, we should rebuild.
No terrible rotations and terrible coaching has stunted player development. The only player to get better under hoiberg during these two years is Jimmy and maybe Felicio. That is it.
The better route is to keep Jimmy and try to trade or sign some better players. No one just drafting/rebuilds into a championship team. Its takes trades and free agent signings. Bulls are in a great cap situation. I do not want to watch garbage basketball for the next five years to just end up right back here where we started.
Look how long the 76ers, Timberwolves, Kings, etc have been. Look at the Timberwolves now. They had three great talents Wiggins, KAT, and Lavine, and look at their record? More talented roster than the Bulls maybe, but way worse record.
The only thing rebuilding assures you is having a terrible record.
Danny Ainge was already cheap. Then signing Al Horford without giving up anything really put his chimsey *** in the driver’s seat.
Since the Sixers already have LA17or18, SAC19 and OKC20, I wish Bryan Claimjumper would just blow the door’s open with Okafor, PHI/SAC17, PHI18, PHI19 and PHI20, Timothe Luwawu-C, Furkan Korkmaz, Richaun Holmes, Nik Stauakas, expiring contracts. Whatever!!!
Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Joel/Noel. The last part of “The Process” was always to package the accumulated picks and trade for a star, no?
That collection of scraps is not getting Jimmy Butler. You are talking more like PHI2017,PHI 2018, Saric, Noel, and maybe Covington.
OH HELL NAW
“Here’s all of my scraps, please give me your star.” Butler would also be a terrible fit next Simmons, Noel, and Embiid (who is spacing the floor? It’s laughable that Jimmy Butler would actually be the best shooter of those four). Plus, those Philly picks instantly become less valuable if you take the stance that sending Butler to Philly makes them a playoff contender. If Noel and/or Saric aren’t on the table (assuming Embiid and Simmons are also off the table), you’d probably have to construct a deal around Okafor, one of the Sacramento picks, Covington, maybe Luwawu, and possible another future pick (if not the other Sacramento pick).
This is not what I want to hear. Maybe it’s a negotiation tactic.
Trade Jimmy Butler to Phoenix for a pick and one of their millions of guards, or send him to Boston for the Brooklyn pick and Rozier or another pick and Crowder or Bradley or Smart
Give me your best asset for our fourth- that is not going to get jimmy.
A more appropriate title for this article is, “Bulls Front Office Content With Its Financial Position.”
Bulls fans should realize this organization is out to sell tickets and create revenue. Period. Stop going to the games and watching this monstrosity of a team on tv.
“This organization is out to sell tickets and create revenue.” Do you realize how stupid that sounds? That’s literally every team. No team goes into the season with the mindset that they’re not going to sell tickets and that they want to have more expenses than revenues. Lower revenues equal lower money available to spend (aside from what the actual cap is). There’s no incentive to put a good team on the court if there is no revenue coming in.
Do you realize how stupid you sound? I realize this is the internet, but you need to focus on context when you read. I said the Bulls are content with selling out their arena every night, meaning they aren’t interested in pursuing a championship. They don’t feel pressure to make substantial changes, which means they’re not willing to move backwards to move forward. That’s why I said Bulls fans should STOP GOING TO BULLS GAMES AND STOP WATCHING THEM ON TV.
So yes, Bulls fans should stop going to games and watching games. Revenues go down. How do you expect the team to put out a good roster? If the fans aren’t going to watch a mediocre team, what incentive is there for the team to take a step back (aka rebuild)?
Fans show up to watch a good product. If the product is not good, fans should stay away.It’s simple economics.
There is no excuse for prolonged mediocrity in a big market city with a devoted fanbase like Chicago. And yet, the Bulls’ front office has done everything in their power to remain a .500 ball club with no chance in hell of winning a championship for the last decade. No significant trades and only two significant FA signings since MJ played there. That is pathetic. If you were actually a thinking fan with some knowledge of the Bulls and their recent history, this discussion would be unnecessary. Put the pom-poms down and some knowledge.
In a given season there are maybe 5 teams who have a legitimate shot at winning an NBA title. Should the other 25 team’s fans just stay away and not go to any games?
If you want to see prolonged Mediocrity look at the New York Knicks. That is not the Bulls, they have only missed the playoffs two times in the last decade. That is pretty impressive when their max player (Rose) missed significant time over that span. The terrible luck with Rose’s injuries wiped away any chance at a championship. That is not the front offices fault. Sure, GarPax is not great, but they have had some bad luck, but still been able to put a watchable product on the floor which is commendable. I am not interested in rebuilding and watching garbage basketball. Look at the teams that are truly rebuilding: Suns, Lakers, Kings, 76ers, Wolves, etc. How many years have these teams been playing garbage basketball? Are any of them close to winning a championship? How many of their lottery picks will become bust?
Okay, two things about your ridiculous argument: 1) Yes, if the organization puts maintaining the status quo above rebuilding a mediocre roster after several years of disappointment, the fans should punish the owner/front office financially. That is capitalism. To do otherwise, to be some sort of mindless automaton only promotes risk and change aversion from your team. 2) I don’t give a damn what fans of other teams should or shouldn’t do. I only care about what the Bulls are doing, and from my vantage point they’re holding on to these veteran players far longer than they should for all the wrong reasons.
Nothing ridiculous about my argument. Please enlighten me what rebuilding guarantees other than loosing a lot of games.
And what veterans are the bulls holding on too? Taj, rondo? It’s pretty obvious the team is trying to retool with bottoming out and being a terrible team for five years in a row.
I’m not really sure why tanking has become so envogue in the NBA. The wolves, suns, lakers, kings look no closer to a championship to me than the bulls.
Honestly you just come off as a delusional and pessimistic fan. Like fans are ever going to boycott a professional team. I bet the kings will still have plenty of fans at their games same with the Knicks. And they are as disfunctional as they get.
Don’t be a clown. The Bulls version of “re-tooling” is doing absolutely nothing. Learn what status quo and risk aversion means because I’m tired of repeating myself. The Bulls are headed nowhere fast, the sooner Krause accepts that, the sooner they can rebuild a move on for the future (see White Sox).
Chi receives – 18′ Nets #1,
18′ Celtics #1
19′ Clippers #1
Amir Johnson
Terry Rozier
Rights to 2016 # 16 overall pick
Gershon Yabusele
Celtics receive – Jimmy Butler
MCW
What in this trade sticks out as highly valuable, that you are getting a top ten player in his prime on a team friendly deal? Its about quality too not just quantity. In my opinion it would take Brown, 17 Nets pick, 18 Nets pick, and then either smart, crowder, or bradley.
thats why this trade is in stalemate. Celtics will not give up both nets pick plus brown plus one of our top D guards. its way too much.
Brown will be the future jimmy butler. the package JayHoops offered is more likely. except they would have to upgrade terry rozier to either crowder, Bradley, smart. That should get it done.
How about…
Chicago receives: Okafor, Amir Johnson, Brooklyn 2017, Boston 2017, LAL 2017, Philly 2018 (top 10 protected)
Boston receives: Butler, Gibson, J. Grant
Philly receives: Crowder, Smart, J. Brown, McDermott, and Valentine
Philly is getting so much for just Okafor a chance at the Lakers pick and a chance for their pick next year. Smart and Brown is easily too much for what they’re giving up.
Bad move. He’s not a leader, has an enormous ego, is a clubhouse cancer, and isn’t a true #1 superstar. This is the guy who proclaimed he “liked drama.” Really, dude??
Unfortunately, his ego will never allow him to play #2 (which is what he is) to a true #1. And no, at this stage in the game, Wade doesn’t count. He isn’t a #1, either.
If Jimmy isn’t a true number 1, then there are only about 5-8 true number ones in the league. Thus leaving many teams without a “true #1”.
Jimmy’s stats this year are better overall than D-Rose MVP season, So yes Jimmy is a true #1. This current roster without Jimmy is close to Nets bad, and yet he has them in a playoff position. Put Lebron, Westbrook, Harden, etc instead of Jimmy and the Bulls are at best a handful of games better if that.
Garbage organization from the top down. I would love for them to trade everything and start from scratch, but I wouldn’t trust GarPax to do it. Complete morons.
Gotta keep Butler. He really is good enough to build a team around. What about this…
Trade Gibson and either Grant or Valentine to the Jazz for Favors (who are shopping him right now anyways). Then trade Mirotic to the Suns for Knight. Then trade Lopez to a team that is really lacking in interior D and rebounding (Boston), for a young guard that can shoot (Rozier/Young).
Now you have Knight, Wade, Butler, Portis, Favors with McDermott, Rozier/Young, and Felicio off the bench. Let’s not forget they can probably get something of value for Carter Williams AND there actually might be a team out there that would take Rondo for either his experience (Cleveland) or for his expiring contract (any team trying to make cap space).
That solves some of their shooting and youth/athleticism issues and really gives them something to build around.
Damn, being a GM is easy. I should have been doing this a long time ago.