Phoenix will be a top 5 team in the West.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Whatever. They were a 4. They dropped to 8. Apparently Jimmy was more key. He led the league in minutes and the Timberwolves’ real plus/minus net rating was +7.8, roughly equivalent to the No. 3 ranked Raptors. Without him, the Timberwolves’ rating plunged to -8.7, roughly equivalent to the No. 29 ranked Kings.

LTG doesn't know what plus-minus is.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Pat Riley apparently isn't a fan of Thibs these days. This is from a talk show host with ties to the Heat regarding the proposed trade for JB...

There’s been a couple of different incarnations of this deal. The first one, the Heat didn’t want to take back Gorgui Dieng. Then, the next incarnation of the deal was ‘OK forget it, let’s just do it straight up, just for Jimmy on your end.’ They finally relented on Josh Richardson. They were giving them Josh Richardson, then Dion Waiters was going to be the cap filler and then a protected first-round pick.

The medicals were exchanged, which generally in the NBA means this is a done deal. And then, Thibs called back and wanted more picks. And Pat Riley literally — I was told — called him a motherbleeper and hung up the phone.

The article which the above came from doesn't foresee it ending well for Thibs either.
https://sports.yahoo.com/report-pat-riley-called-tom-thibodeau-motherf-hung-jimmy-butler-talks-034719927.html

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Sounds like a Jimmy plant or Riley trying to work an unpopular guy through the media.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

This one is even worse than your Bulls take. Starting to think you just don't how many teams are in the NBA.

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I think Phoenix being good has a better chance of happening than Trae Young being a great player.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Not much of an NBA fan....I'll gladly defer to those of you who follow, but I find this whole saga interesting.

It seems everyone agrees on Butler's place on the list of NBA talent. If he took the bottom of the roster and destroyed the other top 5 in a scrimmage....that says a whole lot about the roster and the organization. If they don't want to pay him, that's their right but damn....they must have a lot overpaid garbage on the team if that's the case...and yeah, I can understand why Jimmy would be pissed.

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Top 8 to 12 in the NBA. And correct on all your analysis.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Agreed. Some season in the future, Phoenix will be among the top 5 seeds in the West; possibly even before we're all dead.

Jeff Van Gundy on Zach Lowe's pod today; they were in concurrence on Lebron's Lakers making the playoffs and had the top 4 seeds in the West as:

1. Warriors
2/3. Rockets/Utah or Utah/Rockets
4. Denver

Van Gundy also high on the Clippers, for some reason; thought they had a good chance to make the playoffs.

Hard to predict the West completely until the Butler situation sorts out.

Didn't check for it but the whole "3 seed" thing is negligible because the difference between 3 and 9 was about 2-3 games. Other teams had injuries too. Thibs Was a problem.too.

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12 games over .500 with Jimmy, 1 game under without him. Dems da facts.

Tough part of the schedule occurred conveniently while he was hurt.

Same guy that bombed against Boston the year before.

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KG dropping gems.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/kevin-garn ... 58222.html

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Still a Top 15 player

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

New development in the buckets watch. Houston desperate it appears.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2508 ... mmy-butler

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That would be a Glen Taylor deal and it would be EXTREMELY dumb. Everyone should quit immediately if he does something like that. KG would be proven right.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

There are probably lottery protections attached to the deal.

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Which would make it worse. Thibs isn't a good front office guy but Glen Taylor is the worst.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Woj said on SC just now there would be no lottery protections on the picks.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Thibs should trade Butler before the deadline if wants to get anything of value for him.

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I agree. The Richardson deal with Miami is so much better than 10 year lottery tickets.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Boston has not looked impressive at all this year.

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Minnesota should absolutely go back to Miami and get them to bid against this deal. It's better than the Heat's last offer, but Miami could beat it with Richardson and 2 firsts or Richardson, Bam or McGruder, and a pick.

I'm seeing a fair number of people make comparisons to the infamous Celtics-Nets trade, but Houston's offer is nowhere near that class. The most likely return is a couple of role players and a couple of late round nobodies spread over 7 years. I think Morey is the most overrated executive in the league, but I believe he'd wheel and deal enough to keep Houston from sniffing the lottery even that far into the future.

Power struggle. Kyrie probably won't be back

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

If they make this deal the cap hit for them will decimate the franchise. Seems like their new owner is a "money is no object" sort of guy but they are looking at 3 supermax deals potentially as there is no way they could allow Butler to walk after investing so much for him.

Paul and Butler will terrible deals by year 3 and vitually unable to be traded at that point.

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I've gotta say too reading reactions to the Houston proposal has once again illustrated for me how weird a significant chunk of the Minnesota fanbase is. I realize that being too enthusiastic about tanking applies across the board to internet NBA fans, but it's genuinely bizarre to me seeing reactions that suggest trading Butler for a wasted season and longshot lottery tickets will make the Wolves "fun to watch" or "worth rooting for again." These are often the same people who appeared more enthusiastic about Rubio making the playoffs than their own team ending a 14 year drought and have been writing long essays after performances like the Toronto game to explain how Towns playing poorly is all Butler and Thibodeau's fault.

There is a lot of stupidity. They deserve Glen Taylor.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I think they are afraid of losing him for nothing and they also probably aren't all that confident in Thibs's ability to get a better deal. If Butler isn't traded or gets traded for nothing then Thibs should be fired. Will be but if he in the off chance isn't then he should be for engineering this debacle.

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