Stephen A Smith: "Harden and Butler have been communicating"

i'm just trying to understand what leverage we would have to get Butler via sign and trade because it's not like we can sign him outright.

 

All he needs is one team with cap room (and it doesn't have to be Houston) to use as a threat. This isn't a new strategy. If Philly believes Butler is headed to the Lakers or Clippers while they get nothing back in return, I'm pretty confident they'd prefer Eric Gordon than losing him for zero compensation. Because assuming they keep Tobias (and they gave up a lot of assets for him), they wouldn't even have much cap room of their own.

The Rockets stayed above the cap while trading for Chris Paul two years ago under a very similar arrangement.

With that said, I do agree that Butler is a longshot. Not only can Philly offer the most money, but it's also a really good team. So I tend to believe that he'll ultimately stay. But there's absolutely a very real path for him to get here -- it just depends what he wants to do.

 

I THINK THAT WAS SARCASM.
Well, I certainly hope it was.

 

the leverage is that the Mavs, Nets, Clippers and Knicks and more can offer him a full max and he walks for nothing.

 

Based on what? We won the most games in franchise history and took the most talented team ever assembled to 7. If by “cannot work” you mean
CP3 is always either be hurt or underperform, then yes. I agree.

 

He meant the communication and synergy between those 2 could have been worlds better but hell yeah, the first year wasn't bad at all.

 

Related to nothing -- if I took a shot every time I heard/read this phrase, I'd be dead.

 

thanks for clearing that up.

 

I guess a roster of

Beverley
Harden
Butler
Tucker
Capela or 3pt shooting 5.

6th man Gordon/Midlevel player

is better than CP3, Harden and Butler. Butler can create in the 4th Q just as he did with Philly.

You have 3 enforcers in Beverley, Tucker and Butler to surround Harden with.

And you could flip Capela for a 3 pt shooting 5.

Too bad CP3 cannot be moved.

'3-4 Egos is one too much.'

 

But is false? Perspective is hard for some people to understand.

 

Which is my point that It has worked. CP3 b****ing is like showing up the last day of a group project and complaining when you didn’t do crap.
Now in reality I hope this was a bad year for Chris, fact is we need both guys to be in contention and that hasn’t changed.

 

With Butler, I don't think that's the right perspective. The issue is whether he likes it in Philly and feels like he is duly appreciated.

I don't know the answer to either of those.

 

It's not false. I'm just tired of hearing the phrase.

 

I feel you, but sadly that's the NBA world we live in now. Thanks Lebron.
What get's me if the unrealistic expectations of fans. I go into the most seasons hope full we can win and believing in our team 100% but also have a full understanding of how hard it is to win a championship in any competitive sport. Now throw in all the injuries and players not playing to their level and your margin for error is nothing. Teams like the Warriors and Raptors have enough talent to overcome that. We don't have that luxury.

 

When is the deadline for him to make a decision? Horford already made his.

 

You would only be dead if those shots were long twos. No one round here would kill you if they were 3s or layups

 

He already made a decision to opt out ("barring unforeseen circumstances") but June 29

 

If Smith is saying Butler to Houston might happen then it definitely isn’t. Smith is popular because he’s loud and entertaining, not because he’s smart and accurate.

 

Probably because Paul is making fun of his moobs.