I'll be surprised if it's a legit pick. Probably one of those conditional top 59 protected 2nd rounders. Good move for the Suns either way. The Bucks look like the Pacers from 5 years ago.
The Suns traded Jared Dudley and a 2nd round pick for Eric Bledsoe and whatever they got for Butler. Nice move.
Looks like the Suns are going to waive Beasley(?) The Suns have agreed to trade Butler, a Racine, Wis., native, to the Milwaukee Bucks for point guard Ish Smith and center Slava Kravtsov about seven weeks after they acquired Butler and hailed him as a veteran influence for the youthful Suns and part of the future. The Suns gain $5.65 million of cap space for any potential in-season trades but also save that money to make an expected costly waiver of Michael Beasley more palatable. Beasley would be owed $9 million of guaranteed salary. Butler, 33, will make $8 million this season on an expriring contract but the Bucks could absorb most of that with $7.5 million of cap space. Smith, who has played 121 games for six teams, will make a guaranteed $985,000 this season with a 2014-15 team option at the same salary. Kravtsov, who logged 25 games in Detroit as a rookie last season, is on an expiring deal for a guaranteed $1.5 million. ... It is not clear what the Suns have planned for Smith 25, and Kravtsov, 26, a Ukranian native like Suns first-round pick Alex Len. Some roster decisions are ahead for the Suns with 17 players under guaranteed contracts once Len signs. They can carry a maximum of 15 players on the regular-season roster but the futures of Beasley (expected waiver) and Channing Frye (resolution of heart issue follow-ups) remain in the air.
He'll clear the waivers since no one will want his full contract. After that, he can sign where ever he wants. He'll probably end up somewhere on minimum salary, like Blatche. If he finds a team at all.
I sincerely doubt there is a team dumb enough to claim him off waivers. Most likely clears waivers, and a contending team like maybe Miami, NYK, BKN, or the Lakers will pick him up for the vet. minimum. Some of these teams desperately need young talent. Beasley has his warts, but nobody will deny that he doesn't have talent. Someone will take a gamble on him and they might very well get decent play from him this year.
He might do well on Brooklyn, with all the veteran talent there (although they have a rookie head coach).. I doubt Miami picks him up, since he already played there and they're set on the wing spots. Beasley seems like the kind of guy the Knicks would get. They have a lot of forwards, but nothing they do surprises me anymore. I'd love to see Beasley starting for the Lakers.
Why do you say that? I'm not saying that Covington's chances of making the final 15-man roster are great, but they're certainly not infinitesimally small. He was quickly signed after the draft by the Rockets, who obviously coveted him as a prospect; and Covington actually played well in summer league. No undrafted rookie has ever been given so much guaranteed money right out of school under Daryl Morey's tenure as Rockets GM. Covington's rookie salary is fully guaranteed, and his second year salary is partially guaranteed for $150k. Greg Smith got slightly more guaranteed money, but only after Smith dominated the D-League for half a season (his original contract when he was in training camp with Houston was for peanuts). Yes, the total guarantee is miniscule in the grand scheme of things, and the $150k cap hit the Rockets would have to take in 2014-15 is likely inconsequential given that they don't expect to have any real cap room to speak of. But writing this guy off completely is unwise IMHO.
I can appreciate this argument for why he might stick on the team. At the same time, it's a bit annoying to see his name thrown out there as if it was an acquisition of any consequence, like it was here in comparing the Rockets offseason signings to the Bucks'. Howard was an acquisition of consequence. It was nice to get Garcia back after he did well. But Caron Butler is probably bigger than any of the others the Rockets have picked up.
Trade grade Milwaukee: B With the summer winding down, the Bucks found themselves with $7.5 million in cap space and a need at small forward. Milwaukee already signed Carlos Delfino as a free agent, but Delfino may miss some time early after having offseason foot surgery, and the team's other options at the position were 18-year-old rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo and second-year newcomer Khris Middleton. Butler gives them a much more experienced player at the position, and with improved 3-point shooting, he's become a quality role player for a team that hopes to contend. Add in the fact that he's a native of nearby Racine, Wis., and this was a good fit for Milwaukee. Because Butler is in the final season of his contract, adding his salary won't affect their cap situation going forward. Phoenix: B On a rebuilding Suns team, Butler doesn't make much sense. A move was inevitable at some point; if Phoenix was unable to trade Butler by the deadline, he surely would have been bought out of his contract and freed to join a contender. While the Suns didn't get much of value in this trade -- Smith and Kravtsov are unlikely to play in Phoenix -- the move puts them a little more than $5 million below the salary cap. New general manager Ryan McDonough will have that space available to take on a contract from a team trying to shed payroll at the deadline and willing to give up assets in return. For example, the Suns could swallow Steve Blake's $4 million salary to lessen the Lakers' luxury-tax bill. Because Butler was only going to block Phoenix from giving younger players an opportunity on the wing, the real cost of this deal is merely forgoing the chance to trade Butler to a contender for a draft pick midseason. As a result, we can't completely evaluate the trade until we see how the Suns use their cap space. If they manage to net a first-round pick or equivalent prospect, retroactively bump this grade up to an A.
I think Butler was brought into sell tickets. Interestingly enough, he would have been a good fit with Ellis (IMO)
