re: Jimmy butler to Minnesota

This guy also thinks Durant is legit 6'9" and LeBron is like 6'6"

Weird to come on here, and see people talking about the Wolves.

There's a few harsh realities that Wolves fans still need to face-- the Butler trade will help, but it will not cure everything that ails the Wolves.

Yes, it was a great value for what they gave up-- a scorer with untapped talent coming off a major knee injury, another disappointing 23 year old guard who struggled to find anything resembling a cohesive offensive skill demonstrated in an NBA game, and the #7 overall pick.

This isn't to say the Bulls can't find any value in the deal. LaVine is hard working kid, who already was ahead of the expectations that most Wolves fans had for him. I'll be sad to see him go.

The bright side is that Butler brings a veteran two way talent, on a team that desperately needs someone to stabilize wing defense. The pressure on Wiggins immediately decreases, in terms of no longer having to defend the other team's best wing night in and night out.

That said, the team played much better when they used Wiggins for long stretches at the 2 last year, after the Dunn injury. It was the next stage in what has been a too-slow development for Wolves fans-- better than the force-feeding of the ball for long stretches through Wiggins of two years go, but still less than you desire.

This will undoubtedly help; I still expect them to tackle that mid level free agent market for a shooting 4, for when they want to spread things out with KAT at the 5 .
The downside is that the offense will still be severely handicapped by the worst by-volume shooting player in NBA history, Ricky Rubio. No one who shoots at his volumes has ever been as bad, ever. EVER. He's slightly overrated as a defender, often picking up garbage steals and the like-- players convert shots on him at rates that just aren't in line with his 'plus defender' reputation.

His off/on splits are interesting to look at; yes, the Wolves get worse offensively when Rubio isn't playing, but that is true of about any lead guard in the league-- he sat at about 6 last year, and the other team was about 2 points better with him off-- essentially a flip of Dennis Schroder's effectiveness. Is anyone going to win anything major with a Dennis Schroder as their starting PG? No.

As long as Ricky Rubio is the starting PG, the Wolves will be extremely handicapped. His contract isn't terrible, and there's still likely to be a trade market for him, but they need to move on if they really want to make significant headway soon.

The priorities need to be getting to the playoffs, stabilizing the defense, figuring out if Wiggins is an outstanding 3rd wheel or a player who thinks he's a super max that they need to start planning an exit strategy around dumping.

Dieng is another tough case for this team; I think they have to carry him next year, unless someone is desperate for a 10/8 big who flashes, but isn't consistent-- his new salary numbers are going to make that a little hard at $14M, and with the cap flattening a little from where it was anticipated being at this point.

Anyway, it will be nice to see the Wolves get much better, fast. Last year, they seemed to blow more leads than any team in the league-- the 4th quarter was death on that team. Another year of maturity and Butler's leadership could mean the biggest W-L improvement in the NBA-- but it won't cure everything that ails them quite yet. If Hayward leaves Utah, the Wolves should be aiming to rise to that kind of a position-- a team that can either win or be competitive for a single postseason series.

Yep. He can be Ignored IMO. Dude don't even watch the games and just googles the numbers. Absolute worse kinda fan. He has the eye test ability of a 4 year old. Anybody can google the numbers Bubba. What do you see with your talent eval abilities?

Just wanted to get my gif reaction to this. GarPax have ruined me.

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Anybody can google his advanced stats.

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Which makes it inexplicable that you don't do that more often.

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You always stood out on MSB as a guy who came off as not really as much of a sports fan and more of a math dork kinda guy.

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I'm both.

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This thread confirms it.

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Well every thread confirms you're a hypocrit, and likely just a troll.

I'm prob better mathematician than you are but I realize that numbers don't explain everything. You gotta watch the games, you don't. You think you can get a complete eval on a guy by only looking at some advanced stats. That's where you really miss the boat and stick out like a sore thumb.

Regarding Kevin Durant's height, who do you trust, basketball reference or Kevin Durant?

Lmao you ppl do this all of the time you think when you're wrong you can just discredit where the info comes from even though you yourself get information constantly from the exact same site. It's comical the shite you losers try to pull.

Basketball reference, they go by combine measurements not somebody's word. Just shows what you are.