Caron Butler Traded to Bucks

[Phrazbit]

By the way... we are going to be really really bad this year. Our forward rotation looked like the worst in the league already and we just traded our best forward... by a wide margin. If Frye is out again (which is starting to seem likely) we're looking at a forward rotation of...

PF: Morris/Morris/Plumlee
SF: Tucker/Green

... Good lord. Tucker is probably the best of the group and as much as I like him, outside of his defense (which is awesome) he is not going to contribute much.

If Gortat gets traded early in the year we are going to be unbelievably bad. I might have to revise my "22 wins" prediction...

 

[slinslin]

I think Green will do reasonably well for us if we can play high tempo basketball.

Len/Plumlee
Morris/Morris
Green/Tucker
Dragic/Goodwin
Bledsoe/Marshall

I'd like to see a lot of Bledsoe/Goodwin/Green at the 1/2/3... however. I would like to see Dragic and Gortat be traded eventually simply because I want to say Bledsoe and Goodwin are our future backcourt - not Bledsoe and Dragic that is an experiment bound to fail in my opinion.

on the cut/trade list Beasley, Lee, Smith, Kravtsov, Frye, Gortat, Brown..

I'd say they release Frye if he cant play they will get a medical exemption, in our case more capspace I guess and might do another trade.

 

[Phrazbit]

Green is capable of some exciting plays but he is really really bad as a player. There is a reason he has spent half his career bouncing around between Russia, China and the D-League. Last year he was one of the worst rotation players in the league.

I dont know if I can think of a worse forward rotation... ever.

 

[Phrazbit]

I'm glad I'm not a Bucks fan. From their realgm board:

I want everyone to realize that of all the cap space we were able to have this offseason, we used $12.048537 mil on Carlos Delfino, Gary Neal, and Caron Butler.

$17.248537 mil on Delfino, Neal, Butler, and Zaza.

We used $30 mil on Delfino, Neal, Butler, Zaza, Ridnour, and Mayo. I can't recall a less effective use of $30 mil of cap space in the history of the NBA. And I have paid VERY close attention to how teams use cap space since 1994...

Thats pretty astounding. On top of that they've recently traded Bogut for Ellis, then let Ellis walk as a FA, and 21 year old big man Tobias Harris for JJ Redick... Harris averaged 17 and 8.5 for Orlando and the Bucks flipped JJ for two future 2nd round picks.

Unbelievable. Its a level of incompetence that would make Isiah Thomas blush. I'd like to officially nominate John Hammond for worst active GM in the league. He can clone dinosaurs but he sure can't run a franchise.

 

[slinslin]

Green has been a decent player in a faster tempo.

 

[SirStefan32]

Green has been a decent player in a faster tempo.

Green= Shannon Brown.

 

[KloD]

With the savings, will the Suns be in danger of meeting the 90% minimum spending?

 

[JS22]

Ugh no pick? I don't think Butler demanded a trade considering what he said about Beasley recently and the Suns.

I think this is about the Suns saving $$$. Robert Sarver must be behind this deal.

Butler could have been worth more than this at the deadline. At least a 1st round pick should have been thrown in.

Oh look. Another Sarver is cheap post. Even though the Suns have been in the upper tier of spending while he's been the owner. Now, does he spend his money wisely? ABSOLUTELY NOT. He is horrible in that regard.

This looks like a "flexibility" deal by McDonough to put the Suns in a position to make a big trade later on. And take on salary if needed. Not a huge fan of seeing Butler go. But I can understand the move.

 

[SirStefan32]

This is a brilliant move. You get rid of a good player who is on a one-year rental when you don't necessarily want to win many games, you get some financial flexibility so you can facilitate moves for other teams and get some assets (picks) in return, you free up playing time for youngsters, and you do the right thing for your player (move him to his hometown.) It's good to take care of your players. Free agents see that.

EDIT:
This will also make it easier to waive Beasley. You just saved $5M+, so flushing $6M down the crapper doesn't hurt quite as much.

 

[SirStefan32]

I'm glad I'm not a Bucks fan. From their realgm board:



Thats pretty astounding. On top of that they've recently traded Bogut for Ellis, then let Ellis walk as a FA, and 21 year old big man Tobias Harris for JJ Redick... Harris averaged 17 and 8.5 for Orlando and the Bucks flipped JJ for two future 2nd round picks.

Unbelievable. Its a level of incompetence that would make Isiah Thomas blush. I'd like to officially nominate John Hammond for worst active GM in the league. He can clone dinosaurs but he sure can't run a franchise.

I am pretty sure we can beat that. The summer of Hedo, Warrick, Frye, and Chilli.

 

[Mulli]

I am pretty sure we can beat that. The summer of Hedo, Warrick, Frye, and Chilli.

 

[Neo]

EDIT:
This will also make it easier to waive Beasley. You just saved $5M+, so flushing $6M down the crapper doesn't hurt quite as much.

Unless we make some more moves prior to opening day, waiving Beasley will be a necessity. We have 17 players under contract (counting Len who should sign soon) and are only allowed to have 15. Beasley and Frye are as good as gone.

 

[the_future23]

Ugh no pick? I don't think Butler demanded a trade considering what he said about Beasley recently and the Suns.

I think this is about the Suns saving $$$. Robert Sarver must be behind this deal.

Butler could have been worth more than this at the deadline. At least a 1st round pick should have been thrown in.

Good thing you're not a GM in the NBA. LOL at you thinking Caron Butler is worth a 1st round pick.

 

[leclerc]

Was actually looking forward to seeing Butler here. Oh well.

Ditto. I had the impression he'd be a good mentor and veteran leader for our young talent (feels good saying that this year!). Still, looks like a wise move by McD to gain some respectability for the club.

Can this here Kratsov dude play some PF minutes? I don't want to see The Morri get embarrassed each and every night...

 

[Cheesebeef]

I have a hard time understanding why anyone wouldn't like this trade.

we need to suck as much as possible next year with as much flexibility as possible. this moves keeps moving toward that goal.

 

[Mulli]

I have a hard time understanding why anyone wouldn't like this trade.

we need to suck as much as possible next year with as much flexibility as possible. this moves keeps moving toward that goal.

Seriously. Who hasn't done this with Madden or whatever the NBAa game is called: Look at the roster and think, okay who else do I need to get rid of so I can autoplay the season and get the first overall pick.

 

[Chaz]

I never thought Butler made much sense for this team but I was warming to the idea of him playing here this season. I have a feeling that this roster will be in flux all year.

If Milwaukee wanted him why didnt they push for him in the Bledsoe trade? Its just bizarre. Phoenix holds Butler for under 2 months, never pays him a dime and now we get value from him from a team involved in the trade where we got him in the 1st place. Pretty hilarious.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...-and-the-evolving-identity-of-the-salary-dump

Good speculation there about salary moves they have made that would have prevented them aquiring Butler earlier.

 

[Superbone]

And Caron Butler had a lifelong dream of playing for Milwaukee? Really??

If you grew up in Milwaukee, you probably would too.

 

[Mainstreet]

This is a brilliant move. You get rid of a good player who is on a one-year rental when you don't necessarily want to win many games, you get some financial flexibility so you can facilitate moves for other teams and get some assets (picks) in return, you free up playing time for youngsters, and you do the right thing for your player (move him to his hometown.) It's good to take care of your players. Free agents see that.

EDIT:
This will also make it easier to waive Beasley. You just saved $5M+, so flushing $6M down the crapper doesn't hurt quite as much.

I agree, this is a brilliant move since Butler does not fit into the Suns future long term. The Suns actually moved a significant contract in Butler to clear CAP room and create savings.

If one thinks about it, in past seasons the Suns would have had to throw in a pick to get another team to absorb Butler's contract. This gives the Suns savings to help payoff Beasley and be a player in making another trade work.

These are not the Suns that gave up that gave up two first round draft picks to move Kurt Thomas 12M contract. Actually McDonough is giving lessons in how to move a bad contract, likely Beasley.

 

[Errntknght]

I thought for sure we'd never move Butler and his salary with him. We got two pieces that will probably help a bit with tanking while with Caron there was always the chance that he'd be rejuvenated and win some games for us. Kravtsov is very similar to Plumlee but a couple of years older and an even worse shot. If we can shed Gortat we won't have a big that can score in the half court.

 

[elindholm]

"$12.048537 mil," LOL.

 

[elindholm]

I think the move is fine, but again it smacks of impatience on McDonough's part. Butler's trade value would only improve as the season went on. A team trying to position for a deep playoff run might have considered him a key missing piece. It seems likely that he could have fetched a first-round pick at some point. Today's trade makes the Suns worse -- okay, that's fine -- and saves them a bit of money, but the prospects are worthless, so it doesn't improve their future except by earning a few more lottery balls.

 

[sunsfan88]

I think the move is fine, but again it smacks of impatience on McDonough's part. Butler's trade value would only improve as the season went on. A team trying to position for a deep playoff run might have considered him a key missing piece. It seems likely that he could have fetched a first-round pick at some point. Today's trade makes the Suns worse -- okay, that's fine -- and saves them a bit of money, but the prospects are worthless, so it doesn't improve their future except by earning a few more lottery balls.

+1

 

[sunsfan88]

Good thing you're not a GM in the NBA. LOL at you thinking Caron Butler is worth a 1st round pick.

He could have got more minutes here, played better, put up some decent stats and some contender that perhaps had an injury or a need could have traded for him at the deadline offering a late 1st round pick.

Its not that far fetched at all.

 

[Phrazbit]

I think the move is fine, but again it smacks of impatience on McDonough's part. Butler's trade value would only improve as the season went on. A team trying to position for a deep playoff run might have considered him a key missing piece. It seems likely that he could have fetched a first-round pick at some point. Today's trade makes the Suns worse -- okay, that's fine -- and saves them a bit of money, but the prospects are worthless, so it doesn't improve their future except by earning a few more lottery balls.

This increases their flexibility to make trades during the year and there was no guarantee Butler was going to be worth anything during the season, but even assuming he DID play well enough to be appealing as a player to a contender... in order to pull off the trade some team would have to unload nearly 8 mil in salary and obviously that money would have to come from guys the other team thinks far less of than Butler or the trade wouldnt make sense in the first place. So instead of a couple million on these scrubs the Suns would have to take on ~8 million in scrubs who may or may not be expiring. And this all rests on the big IF of Butler being worth anything to begin with.

Milwaukee was one of the few teams that had the cap space to absorb that kind of contract. Now instead the Suns can are a team with a lot of wiggle room, which will make either facilitating trades or moving someone like Gortat easier to pull off.

Butler's numbers might not look awful yet but the Clippers were a lot less effective with him on the court than they were with Matt Barnes. He has been involved in two trades as a pure salary dump in this off season alone. IMO thats a pretty strong statement on his perceived worth around the league.

So... in summary, IMO even finding a viable destination would have been difficult and landing a 1st I think would be really unlikely unless the Suns were taking on some really unappealing contracts.