That’s not what I said at all. What I said is Jimmy Butler can be an elite 3 & D guy if he wants. However, considering his status as an elite player in a contract year, good luck convincing him to take a lesser role than he’s accustomed to. I don’t question whether Butler can handle Tucker’s role. I question whether he would want to. That’s a huge sacrifice for someone that has been the number 1 option on teams for years now, and especially with him angling for a max contract next offseason. Someone like P.J. Tucker is perfectly content being an elite 3 & D role player on a championship team, it’s much harder for an elite player in his prime like Butler to make such a sacrifice.
If Morey lets PJ go in favor of draft compensation and pick protection I will slap him across the face
Melo's in a contract year. Next summer will be his last shot at getting any kind of big multi-year contract. He's buying in and willingly taking a lesser role. Yeah, I know Butler's aiming for max and Melo won't be, but the ego and contract situations are similar.
Losing two VERY IMPORTANT rotation players for a one year rental is NOT smart. The Rockets better pray they win the championship this year because when Butler leaves the Rockets are screwed!
so being the #2 option on offense while being our best defender is a huge sacrifice? how would you rank butlers offense last year anyway?
Woj says that some of the leaks may be coming from teams that are talking with the Rockets and Heat, not necessarily the Rockets and Heat themselves. Says alot of teams have "compared notes" which has limited Minnesota's leverage
What is their other option? To stand pat and just hope this group can beat the Warriors? It seems like Gordon isn't willing to extend. Tucker can be replaced.
true but when you consider the age of chris paul, the rockets might be screwed anyway if they keep the same team. golden state has added cousins so its not realistic to think this team can beat them as is. cousins or KD might leave next year, but cp3 will be what? 36? those youngins in boston and philly will be primed to take over the league. if we get butler and don't win, i would still respect the move. the front office is at least making a real effort to do anything they can to win.
There has to be a good synergy/balance between the front office and the players. LeBron has spent his career undermining coaches and his front office with the way he shares team issues to the press. He thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room and won’t trust others to do their job. You need a GM like Morey that can work magic with building a roster, but at the same time, he needs to take the pulse of his best players and truly value their input. In this case, both Harden and CP3 believe Tucker is essential to beating the Warriors, and consider him a basketball brother. When you add in the analytics prove Tucker’s worth to the team, that should be enough for Morey to say, thanks, but no thanks, when it comes to including Tucker in a trade.
There is always next year is not going to cut it. Morey should be commended for going all in. I know Harden and CP3 appreciate it.
If Gordon's gone, that opens up a lot of opportunities. Butler took 15.6 shots/game last year. Gordon took 14.1 shots/game last year. Butler took 21.3 shots/100 possessions last season. Gordon took 22.2 shots/100 possessions last season. Butler's usage last year was 24.9. Gordon's usage was 24.7. Gordon consumed a lot of possessions and put up lots of shots when he was on the floor. Butler wouldn't be running the offense but he'd still be getting his touches and shots.
Butler could be the 2nd scoring option here, if CP3 is willing to sacrifice his shots even more than he did last season. As for Butler’s offense, he averaged 22 a game on 45% from the floor and high 80’s from the line. He’s no slouch on that end either.
But in both cases, you're assuming you actually know how these guys think. You assume that LeBron thinks he's the smartest guy in the room and that Morey doesn't already give careful consideration to what his star players think about other players. That second one is just plain wrong. All indications are that Morey very much values CP3's and Harden's input. Morey signed Green based on Harden's recommendation and brought in Ennis at least partially based on PJ's. I'm sure CP3 was asked what he thought about signing Melo before we pulled the trigger
you’re talking as if Butler is accustomed to a 30% usage rate and 20 shots a night His usage rate was barely higher than Ego’s last season (24.9 in comparison to 24.7), and he only took 15.6 shots a game. His career high in shot attempts is only 16.5 a game, and this is with him playing between 37 and 39 mpg since he blew up from role player to star. Butler can’t get his 15-16 shots a night and 25% usage rate here in Houston? Ego did more off-ball work and spotting up than Jimmy, but he’s also not on Jimmy’s level as a facilitator/creator
I didn’t say stand pat. Did you not read my statement when I said TWO rotation players? Losing one I understand. Giving up both Tucker and Gordon for a 1 year rental is just stupid when you know Butler is bolting after this year.
As you said, the situations are not exactly analogous. First, this is Melo’s last shot to prove he can move the needle on a championship team. People blame him for OKC’s failures last season. If he can’t right the ship in Houston, he’s done getting meaningful minutes on a contender. With Butler, teams saw how he led Minnesota, a perennial also-ran, to the playoffs and a 17-game improvement last year. He’s getting his max deal unless he gets seriously hurt and he doesn’t need to sacrifice to prove anything to other GMs.
