Butler requests trade -- Butler traded to Philly 11/10 update

[salamander]

YES!!! WE GOT 3 NOBODIES AND A BAG OF CHIPS, I mean 2nd rounder!!!

Now we have 0 players on the team who are great players. KAT is a bust who is good, not great.
He has zero potential to be great at this point IMO. No one else on this team is even good.

This franchise is a joke and I hope it leaves our state. Get B-ball out of MN.

You have the nerdiest sig Ive ever seen.

Yeah, probably true.

[salamander]

YES!!! WE GOT 3 NOBODIES AND A BAG OF CHIPS, I mean 2nd rounder!!!

Now we have 0 players on the team who are great players. KAT is a bust who is good, not great.
He has zero potential to be great at this point IMO. No one else on this team is even good.

This franchise is a joke and I hope it leaves our state. Get B-ball out of MN.

We sure wont miss your 7 total posts in Wolves Chat.

So long.

Make that 9.

[Dickface McSlapnuts]

Jimmy sabotaging his favorite coaches career and saying it didn’t work? And that he has respect for Thibs?!? What a POS loser. Wow. Guy is so full of himself and unaware of the implications of his actions it’s downright scary.

[digitalwolf]

Jon Krawczynski
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@JonKrawczynski
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Butler: "It was hard going through that with Thibs. But he knew what it was. I have so much respect for him. It just didn't work out. I still wish them the best."

Jimmy Butler’s final words of his introductory presser being Thibs and the Wolves “are the enemy now”

[HeHateMe]

Jimmy sabotaging his favorite coaches career and saying it didn’t work? And that he has respect for Thibs?!? What a POS loser. Wow. Guy is so full of himself and unaware of the implications of his actions it’s downright scary.

Hoping for Melo to show up in Philly. That group could be toxic!

[SHAFA]

I mean... if you wanted a Prince themed jersey and are a cheap ass... the Butler ones are on clearance before they even wear the jerseys

https://www.lids.com/nba-city-collectio ... mberwolves

Thinking about that whole thing, I think the correct move would've been to not even bother making one for Butler. If he still happened to be here when they debuted, well, sorry DickFace, you play in the normal jersey like the reject you are.

[SHAFA]

anyone get the athletic?

https://theathletic.com/652214/2018/11/ ... h-forward/

As​ the​ dust​ starts to settle​ from​ a two-month​ storm created by​ Jimmy​ Butler’s​ trade request, Timberwolves owner​ Glen Taylor is taking​​ stock of the entire saga.

In an interview with The Athletic, Taylor says he is pleased with the package the Wolves were able to get from Philadelphia for Butler despite the difficult bargaining position they were in, was hopeful that Butler would have avoided some of the public displays of disenchantment as the process played out and finished by saying he will be watching to see how the new-look team performs before making any decisions on the future of president and coach Tom Thibodeau.

“Like most coaches, he’ll be measured on the success of the team,” Taylor said on Tuesday. “Not one game, but what we can do overall, or just the improvement. If we can see improvement every day, that would be a very positive thing. Those are his expectations and that would be mine too.

“Now it’s the (looking toward the) future. We’re looking forward. He’s supposed to be a coach with veteran knowledge. Hopefully he can bring that experience to this group of players and we win a lot more than we lose.”

Taylor says he has asked Thibodeau to focus solely on coaching for the time being during a period of roster transition after the Wolves traded the main component of Thibodeau’s rebuilding plan. GM Scott Layden will handle most of the executive duties, but there have been no official changes to the front office structure.

“The two of them have been partners all along,” Taylor said. “I think Scott needed to spend a lot of time on these transactions, calling people and doing that. And he did that. I think it was very helpful.

“But I think the two of them have a very good relationship and I don’t think it’s really important how the details are handled, but that the end result is very important that the two of them agree on it.”

Thibodeau has been under public pressure during the messy divorce with Butler, booed heavily by the home crowd at every game this season. He has taken all of that in stride, even grinning each time he hears the fan angst when his name is introduced.

He has said all along that he will do what’s best for the team and doesn’t concern himself with criticism from fans or media. Butler ran roughshod over the organization during this process, and there was growing concern in the organization that it could be setting a bad precedent for young cornerstones Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.

The Wolves beat the Brooklyn Nets on Monday in their first game without Butler, snapping a five-game losing streak, all of which came on the road. They have four more games on this homestand, and Taylor said he believes Thibodeau can recover from any damage inflicted to his ability to lead the team after Butler took control of the situation.

“I think it’s in his interest to make sure that doesn’t happen, and if it has happened in a small way or big way, that he goes back and he’ll have the chance to go back and say things have changed now and these are my expectations,” Taylor said. “It certainly made a bump in the road, no matter how you look at it. When you have a situation that lingered like ours with a player who was taking advantage of the situation, it is something you have to adjust to. But I think he can do it.”

As for the process itself, Taylor said they lost some control of the situation when Butler’s trade request became public after a meeting in September just before training camp. He said he wished Butler would have kept things quiet and allowed them to work behind the scenes to get a deal done.

When reminded that Butler has said publicly in an interview with ESPN that he let Thibodeau know of his disenchantment four days after the season ended, Taylor said that differed from the version of events of which he was aware.

“I can only respond to my direct knowledge, and that is that the coach told me that … he called me after the meeting the very next day and said Jimmy wants to be traded,” Taylor said. “That’s the first time I had heard about that.”

Taylor also believes that one of the main reasons the process dragged on as long as it did was because of Thibodeau’s close relationship with Butler. Thibodeau knew how important Butler was to the team’s success and therefore wanted to make every effort possible to make it work before pulling the plug.

“It was hard for the coach to see an end to this relationship,” Taylor said. “I think he felt responsible that he should work hard to try to get Jimmy to change his mind, to stay with us, to meet the goals that we all agreed upon and that was to have a successful year this year and he would coach it, Jimmy would help in the leadership needs of the team and get us deep in the playoffs. I don’t fault the coach at all for having those desires and hopes.

“But of course as you saw, that strung out the timetable because a lot of effort on his part was put in to trying to work with Jimmy. It’s probably from my viewpoint as being a step away from it, I felt that this was probably not going to work out.”

Early on in the process, the Wolves believed that most teams were not making their best offers because they could see the pressure was on Minnesota to make a move. Taylor, Thibodeau and Layden decided to start the season with Butler and give it 10 games to try to see if other teams got more aggressive with their offers after slow starts, Taylor said.

In the meantime, the hope was that Butler would play hard, the team would ignore the outside noise and the Wolves would win.

“It didn’t work out as I had hoped it would,” Taylor said. “I was hoping there would be just more of a normal play, a normal competition by our team and that we would play out the 10 games and have a new chance to negotiate a deal. I’m sorry it didn’t work out to what I had hoped. It certainly could’ve been better.”

He said Butler wasn’t always a problem, but he could tell that the attention brought on by the situation was bringing down the entire team.

“I certainly wished that he would follow what I would call his behavior of being a leader on the team and doing positive things in the locker room, doing positive things out on the floor. I know in a number of cases he did do that, and I appreciate that,” Taylor said. “But my expectations of Jimmy were quite high. When we had these disruptions, rightly or wrongly, it appeared to have affected the team in a negative way.”

The team started a five-game West Coast trip on Nov. 2, and Taylor was cautiously thinking two or three wins was realistic. Then the team went 0-5, with Butler resting in Portland on the front end of a back-to-back and making it known that his frustrations were not going away as the team finished up in Sacramento on Friday.

It was during last week, Taylor said, that the three decision-makers finally came to agreement that Butler needed to be moved.

“It was obvious to all of us that we had tried everything else that was possible,” Taylor said. “Nothing seemed to be working. As a matter of fact, things were tilting to the negative side and we needed to get it done.

“We all knew we were on a sort of timetable. Maybe a date wasn’t exactly set. But it was a relatively soon date that final decision needed to be made. I didn’t see any difference in Tom’s or Scott’s opinion on that.”

There were several offers on the table, Taylor said, and they chose Philadelphia’s offer of Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick for Butler and Justin Patton.

“I think in this case we were able to do two things that are very important,” Taylor said. “No. 1, we brought in some guys that could help us immediately, and I think that’s important.

“Secondly, we don’t have to look at it as just this year. I think because of their age and because of their contracts we can look at them as some fellows that can help us into the future. And that to me is very important.”

The three former Sixers held their introductory press conference on Tuesday afternoon and could be in uniform as early as Wednesday night against New Orleans.

“It’s a new opportunity for us,” Covington said. “We can’t wait to get on the court, put on that jersey, and put on for this city. We heard so many good things about the fans, the city as far as food and all the different venues they have here, so just getting out and getting accustomed to the city is what we’re looking forward to.”

Taylor views it as something of a fresh start as well. He hopes fans will see that the organization has addressed the negativity and will start coming back to Target Center. He hopes that Towns and Wiggins gravitate to being the featured players again and he believes that Thibodeau will show he can lead the team after his main guy turned his back on him.

The season started with expectations of making the playoffs. And that hasn’t changed, even after a 5-9 start.

“I would say to him, ‘All right, no matter what, this is a new start,'” Taylor said. “Let’s start off with our goal of getting into the playoffs. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. But this is not one that’s impossible to get out of.

“Yes, it’s going to be difficult. Being difficult should be exciting for our fans, especially if we’re coming from behind and nipping away. That should be very exciting. That’s my expectations of (Thibodeau), that he sets it up so that our fans can see that, gosh, if these guys keep playing the way we are, we’re going to find ourselves right back into the playoffs.”

[LordNu]

I mean... if you wanted a Prince themed jersey and are a cheap ass... the Butler ones are on clearance before they even wear the jerseys

https://www.lids.com/nba-city-collectio ... mberwolves

I may get it...

I was actually thinking of getting Rose's name, but then I read the Rose thread about his personal life and thought it may not be the best choice for what people may insinuate. Quite a conundrum.

KAT is probably the right choice.

P.S. 166! the next frontier!!

Now let's get to 666!

[YBBR]

Let me tell you about my boy, Anthony Tolliver...

[digitalwolf]

Let me tell you about my boy, Anthony Tolliver...

Tolliver, now Covington and Saric.....major upgrade in shooting from last season. I don't expect Rose to keep it up, but even he's bombing from deep like crazy. But AT is like a mini Taj out there.....hustles, does all the little things, but instead of defense being his trade, guy is a shooter. I'm excited to move forward.

[Moses Scurry]

And why in the end this was probably the right deal...

“I think in this case we were able to do two things that are very important,” Taylor said. “No. 1, we brought in some guys that could help us immediately, and I think that’s important.

“Secondly, we don’t have to look at it as just this year. I think because of their age and because of their contracts we can look at them as some fellows that can help us into the future. And that to me is very important.”

They are young, good and on good contracts. It's like the trifecta.

[Moses Scurry]

The main reason Jimmy could press for a trade is that the Bird rights follow him. He's not losing anything if he forces a trade. How could the system be re-worked so that the only team that has bird rights would be the drafting team and it wouldn't follow the player. The only issue would be the guy could have done everything in his power (think KG) but he still could get traded due to incompetence of the organization and then he loses those bird rights.

Could you maybe trade a player with and without bird rights? Philly, we'll trade you Butler without bird rights for X or with bird rights for Y.

I dunno, just spit-balling.

[kilkenny]

Looking forward to Butler raving about Joel Embiid and how much better he is than KAT. I guess he's already started.

[flexbuffchest]

Jimmy sabotaging his favorite coaches career and saying it didn’t work? And that he has respect for Thibs?!? What a POS loser. Wow. Guy is so full of himself and unaware of the implications of his actions it’s downright scary.

I'm sure the Butler-Thibs relationship is more that Jimmy knows he can control Thibs and that Thibs will let him do whatever he wants without any repercussions more than the two being genuine friends.

[flexbuffchest]

Looking forward to Butler raving about Joel Embiid and how much better he is than KAT. I guess he's already started.

Where?

[zeitgeist]

And why in the end this was probably the right deal...

“I think in this case we were able to do two things that are very important,” Taylor said. “No. 1, we brought in some guys that could help us immediately, and I think that’s important.

“Secondly, we don’t have to look at it as just this year. I think because of their age and because of their contracts we can look at them as some fellows that can help us into the future. And that to me is very important.”

They are young, good and on good contracts. It's like the trifecta.

Precisely. Good players on good contracts, you can't ask for much more than that.

[Corre Ricky Corre]

[whiskerbiscuit]

I think you can argue that RoCo is a better fit with this team than Jimmy, even if Jimmy wasn't a douche.

Jimmy replicates Wiggins' skills. What you need to pair with KAT and Wiggs is a 3 & D guy. Not to mention RoCo was FIRST TEAM all defense last year!

PS why is that 1st team thing not brought up more often? I honestly didnt know it until they briefly touched on it on the broadcast last night.

For sure. Butler and wig are redundant and butler made Wiggins take a back seat. He was never going to develop with butler around. He still might not, but it was a certainty with butler on the team.

The only way Wiggins would be worth half of his contract is if we got rid of butler even if he wasn't a total bitch.

[HeHateMe]

I think you can argue that RoCo is a better fit with this team than Jimmy, even if Jimmy wasn't a douche.

Jimmy replicates Wiggins' skills. What you need to pair with KAT and Wiggs is a 3 & D guy. Not to mention RoCo was FIRST TEAM all defense last year!

PS why is that 1st team thing not brought up more often? I honestly didnt know it until they briefly touched on it on the broadcast last night.

You know Covington is a good player when you can picture him next to several wings we've had recently... LaVine, Wiggins, Butler, Okogie, etc and Covington would fit in well with all of them. It was interesting just watching the first quarter and you're telling yourself... OK, this is a little different.. you don't really run offensive sets for this guy. The Wolves have guys who can beat their guy one on one.... Towns, Rose, Teague, Wiggins.. now you need the shooters to surround them.

[bubu dubu.]

Butler already stirring the pot in Philly.

[minnemike]

Jimmy sabotaging his favorite coaches career and saying it didn’t work? And that he has respect for Thibs?!? What a POS loser. Wow. Guy is so full of himself and unaware of the implications of his actions it’s downright scary.

I'm sure the Butler-Thibs relationship is more that Jimmy knows he can control Thibs and that Thibs will let him do whatever he wants without any repercussions more than the two being genuine friends.

Yep... it's like Darth Vader betraying Darth Sidious.... Once a student and now mortal enemies. All that asshole Thibs stuff as the mean teacher pushing him hard every day emerges from the subconscious. Some of it good , creating the player he is, but inevitable for there to be left over loathing for being the asshole pushing him to become the monster he now is. lol

[morneaumvp]

Butler already stirring the pot in Philly.

[minnemike]

I think you can argue that RoCo is a better fit with this team than Jimmy, even if Jimmy wasn't a douche.

Jimmy replicates Wiggins' skills. What you need to pair with KAT and Wiggs is a 3 & D guy. Not to mention RoCo was FIRST TEAM all defense last year!

PS why is that 1st team thing not brought up more often? I honestly didnt know it until they briefly touched on it on the broadcast last night.

You know Covington is a good player when you can picture him next to several wings we've had recently... LaVine, Wiggins, Butler, Okogie, etc and Covington would fit in well with all of them. It was interesting just watching the first quarter and you're telling yourself... OK, this is a little different.. you don't really run offensive sets for this guy. The Wolves have guys who can beat their guy one on one.... Towns, Rose, Teague, Wiggins.. now you need the shooters to surround them.

Yep - first half, that ball movement! Golden State Lite! They actually looked like a functional well balanced team for like the first time ever.

[Billy Ray]

Butler already stirring the pot in Philly.

I've had no problems with Butler, because I has assumed Wolves said no super-max for you. Now I'm not sure it isn't deeper than that.

[morneaumvp]

Butler already stirring the pot in Philly.

I've had no problems with Butler, because I has assumed Wolves said no super-max for you. Now I'm not sure it isn't deeper than that.

Thibs made the right call trading for him, but I am glad we are done with the media headlines

[flexbuffchest]

Butler already stirring the pot in Philly.

I like how Jimmy snuck in that he was homeless as if that is relevant at all.

[zeitgeist]

Jimmy didn't sneak in anything, it's not something he said.

[sh1mmyya]

I'm all for hating Jimmy, but Broussard is a hack. Would not shock me if that was completely made up.

[bubu dubu.]

Jimmy didn't sneak in anything, it's not something he said.

Of course he didn't. When he wants something to get out, he has his buddies do it.

[Moses Scurry]

Philly deserves this. Stern did nothing with them blatantly tanking. If the Wolves did the same exact thing, fines would have been levied and draft picks would have been taken.