Sources: Butler will be Moreys main target this summer, and he feels fairly confident it will happen

Speculation on your part??

 

In the article it says a big market team is looking to trade for Love if they strike out. We’ve been tied to him before and we are star hunting.

 

Horford? What are they going to run a two center lineup?

 

Agreed but this guy. Has been money multiple times. He’s the laker cyberx. National media is now picking up on some of it too and reporting the same.

 

I want Jimmy as much as next guy but if he wanted to come here, wouldn't it be to win? And if winning was why he came, why wouldn't he opt in to not hard cap the team so we could be more flexible? Money was ultimately similar (over long term).

That just tells me he's not coming. I hope im wrong but sometimes these things are in plain sight. He wrote on Wade's post and I don't think it was miscalculated.

Again, I hope im wrong.

 

Getting Love without being subjected hard cap is ideal. It would be Moreys best plan B ever. Imagine if we could somehow land Brown and Love with Capela and Gordon going out. We would still have the MLE and flexibility going forward ​

 

Rockets were right to figure out that the 76ers would be willing to S&T Butler.

Rockets *confidence* on Butler probably hinged on the intelligence that the 76ers would do a S&T.

It is a shame the confidence didn't stem from BUTLER wanting to be in Houston as the TOP PRIORITY. This thing will fall apart because of this.

Riley will find a way to move the contracts. He will close this. There is nothing Morey can do. This is all about Butler's wants. UNLESS Morey can have an out of this world meeting with Butler to effectively change his mind and put Houston in the pole position.

 

Sure, but the key part is getting BROWN. And I don't think we do.

 

Richardson is definitely more preferable than Gordon, much younger, similar level of player, much better contract too...on Winslow i don't know, still much younger, much better contract, but i'd say less good as a player as today.

Regardless yep, that would pretty much be their roster, and i agree with you, he's not going to compete for the chip there, also cause i don't see who they could bring in via free agency or trade, at least for a year so, if he's going there it's going to be a Lebron 2.0 situation.

 

As I’ve said and many reports indicate butler is the main target, mutual feeling on both sides.

If that doesn’t pan out rockets are defiantly still looking to upgrade and get a solid player

 

@Codman is pretty confident about JB coming if it’s boston. I’m sticking with him on this vs the hoards of Celtics fans on Twitter who overvalue their assets.

 

I am with you on Codman, but that is one player I disagree that will be moved, simply because Ainge overvalues his guys. Just don't see it.

 

Morey probably got the word that the 76ers would be willing to work on a S&T... that doesn't mean he doesn't know if Butler wants to come here or not. He might want to! There's no way of knowing Butler's preference, for now. If he is serious about getting a ring, Miami is not gonna be a real option. He may have his doubts about Houston's ability to compete, but he for sure knows Miami has close to 0% chances of winning it all for the next years.

 

The year after they would have 15-18 million in cap space depending on if they get rid of Winslow or Richardson. But it’s a weak fa class. Year after they’re off waiters/Johnson/waiters. But then they’d have a 33 year old butler... Miami is such a weird team to me. Not going after the youth movement would not be ideal. They could wait for the contracts to dump and keep all. Young core of Winslow/Richardson/Bam/herro/Jones. Keep picks and wait. Why dump the core stay in lux tax this year for a middling team but to each their own.

Either way I think the rox are ok if we don’t get them. We’re still talking about harden here with money keeping flexibility. Not a bad recipe to keep.

 

I bet in Butler's mind his rank is
1) LA (compete + lifestyle)
2) Miami (lifestyle)
3) Houston (compete)

Galveston beaches just aren't doing it for Butler.

 

It's possible for Miami to pull of a sign and trade for Butler but doing so would be more difficult for them than it would be for the Rockets due to their cap situation.

Any team that signs and trades for Butler must be under apron ($138.3M) at the completion of the trade. Additionally, that team will be hard capped for the remainder of the season and can't exceed the apron for any reason.

Currently Miami has 13 players under contract at a total salary of $140.3M. Additionally they drafted Tyler Herro in the first round of the draft and he's hitting their team salary with a cap hold of $3.6M.

If Miami renounces all of their rights to all free agents other than Herro, then their total salary is $143.9M. If they were to trade Herro's rights and take back no salary then they are at $140.3M.

So, at a minimum, they have to send out at least $2M more in salary than what they get back with Butler. The starting salary for a Max deal for Butler would be $32.7M which means that they'd have to be sending out at least $34.7M in salary.

Additionally, the old BYC rules still apply when you sign and trade a player. That means that for Trade purposes, Philly is only allowed to count Butler at the the greater of his old salary ($19.8M) or half of his new salary. In this case, Butler only counts $20M to Philly while still counting at $32.7M to the team that receives him.

Now Miami has to send out at least $34.7M and Philly can only take back $20M of that salary. A third team would have to be involved.

If you look at Miami's salaries, it's a weird mix. Their most valuable trade assets are young guys : Richardson $10M, Winslow $13M, and Adebayo $3.4M.

Let's say that Miami is willing to trade Herro and deal Richardson for Butler. He could go to Philly but they'd still need to include an additional $24.7M in salary to a third team. This is where it gets difficult.

Dragic makes $19.2, Ryan Anderson $21.2M, James Johnson $15.3M, Waiters $12.1M and Olynyk $12.67M. Is a third team going to use their cap space to accept those guys? If so, is that team going to give you a draft pick in return? A first rounder? Or would Miami have to include picks or young players to dump those deals?

Even if they are willing to trade Richardson, it's not trivial for them to include the remaining $24.7M in salary.
In Houston's case, Capela is a positive asset who can bring a first round pick in return and that pick can be sent to Philly. Houston also has all of it's future 1st round picks so it has the ability to include up to 4 of their own 1st round picks in a deal.

Miami owes their 2021 first rounder to the Clippers. Because of that they aren't allowed to trade their own 2020 or 2022 pick right now without first aquiring an additional first round pick. So right now, the earliest first rounder Miami could include to either Philly or a third team is in 2023. Maybe Miami gets a future 1st for Herro

As I said, it's possible for Miami to do a deal but it's going to be more difficult for them to pull off and it will hurt more.

 

Very well laid out. I believe Riley will find a way. It will hurt them more, but they are desperate to do it.

On Ryan Anderson, didn't he amend his contract to make it partially NG for this season and does that factor in here?

Suns could move Richardson as a positive asset. Probably find a team for Dragic. Olynyk might be a positive to some team.

 

Has there been any posts from @cyberx @Codman @ch44 since the new broke about Butler meeting with Miami?

 

I can agree with that, but let's say he prioritizes winning. We would then be second on his list and if the Lakers get another FA, we would be frontrunners for once. I'm not even bringing up the Tomball conection...