Portland is better because of other players they've added...not Whiteside. Whiteside is a downgrade from Nurkic who would be their starting C if he were healthy.
West top 8 is going to be a dog fight Lakers Clippers (if they get Kawhi) Rockets Warriors Blazers Jazz Nuggets OKC I think those are the playoff teams when it's all said and done
He's not going to those places over a $1.7 mil difference in salary - he would lose that money on state taxes alone(unless ironically he came to Houston). Searching for $1.7m in trade value is something the team is doing to make their star happy so they can offer him the full max but if no one helps them out, it doesn't change the deal if that is where Jimmy B truly wants to go. If nothing else, Pat Riley leaves a suitcase of unmarked bills on Jimmy's doorstep overnight to cover the difference under the table. No way in hell this kills the deal and if it does, that says a lot about what is important above all else to Butler.
Just wait, Wade/lebron/bosh are going to run it back... Wait nevermind. Hahah, seriously though, good point, if this is all Miami is doing well... I guess it's good they're in the East (they can probably maybe make the playoffs).
They lost Aminu, Harkless and Curry though...so, overall i don't see that much of an upgrade tbh, Whiteside just doesn't care about winning, dude got paid and now he's just chillin. But they are in a position to make a big move if they want later, that's for sure.
They actually have a ton of capspace next summer to build around Butler. Dragic ($19 million) Harkless ($11 million) Leonard ($11 million) James Johnson ($15 million) Ryan Anderson ($21 million) are all coming off the books next summer.
Yes. Open up some cap space over the next two seasons and either trade their young players for a disgruntled star OR sign a max free agent to team with Butler and their young role players. That is what Butler wanted.
Yuck. Also, next year’s free agent class sucks. It has Draymond Green (he’s not the 2nd best player on a championship team), Millsap, DeRozan, Lowry and Andre Drummond as headliners with Jaylen Brown, Pascal Siakam and Ben Simmons as restricted free agents. You might be able to pry Brown away from Boston with a max offer, but Ainge could easily decide to match.
Maybe Whiteside will play since it's a contract year... But you're probably right, probably a repeat of Bynum and a few other players, he got paid crazy big and is pretty set assuming he doesn't have his money mismanaged.
