With the Bulls’ two alphas uncertain if they stick around, trading Jimmy Butler to the Sacramento Kings could get Fred Hoiberg a project package of center Willie Cauley-Stein, guards Arron Afflalo and Malachi Richardson, plus the protected top 10 pick.
This might be the best trade idea for Jimmy Butler bar none. He has been acting up again and has visibly ignored Fred Hoiberg’s instructions in the Atlanta game to call a timeout in the closing seconds. It’s Jimmy Hollywood attitude all over again folks.
Dwyane Wade might not stay and go to another contending team next year and he intimated as much.
Rajon Rondo has been treated badly as a scapegoat for the Bulls’ weak closing teams and only a pivotal role helping Nikola Mirotic, Doug McDermott and Paul Zipser find their offense for a strong playoff run may convince him to stick around as a pro.
Despite the Bulls previous history of not moving players during the February trade deadline, it may be good to get a former lottery pick who may end up playing at the same level as his Kentucky teammate, Karl Anthony-Towns once he wears a Bulls uniform. That player is Willie Cauley-Stein of the Sacramento Kings.
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The Sacramento Kings first-round draft pick in 2017 may turn into a top 10 lottery pick that may be more valuable than any other given the class of super freshmen like Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz and Jayson Tatum. Although Gar Forman can trade with the Boston Celtics for the Nets’ probable No. 1 pick, they don’t get any decent vets back to fill out the salary match for Butler.
With the Kings, Chicago can get not only the Kings lottery pick and Cauley-Stein but Gar Forman also gets veteran guard Aaron Afflalo and draft project Malachi Richardson, another shooting guard with strong upside.
The rigid Dave Joerger system built around human-tank DeMarcus Cousins may never allow Cauley-Stein a chance to play the post with big minutes. He will always be in the shadow of Boogie as a backup or a power forward support tandem.
Cousins may need a backstopper like Butler for a dreaded two-pronged offense-defense duo that fits Joerger’s coaching style and help him carry the Kings to the playoffs. Or not.
In any case, the trade is hugely advantageous to the Bulls as far as upgrading personnel with a young and athletic center with almost two years NBA experience.
If Fred Hoiberg also gets his wish and grabs Ricky Rubio and Shabazz Muhammad for Taj Gibson, Isaiah Canaan, and Jerian Grant, the complete overhaul will be better than a rebuild because the team can still run on Rubio getting McDermott, Mirotic, Zipser, and Cristiano Felicio. And with Rondo and Cauley-Stein reunited on the Bulls, we get to see why Rondo was brought in in the first place for eye test confirmation.
Imagine Rondo having Cauley-Stein along with McDermott and Mirotic on the break or in a halfcourt set instead of Jimmy Butler.
The additional guys make up for the loss of Wade next year, and Gar Forman or John Paxson can trust on a Milwaukee Bucks-kind of high octane offense with six tall bigs scoring. Arron Afflalo provides veteran surety at the combo guard spot while Richardson and Denzel Valentine become the backcourt shooters.
More importantly, the Bulls can keep Rondo and keep the promise to give him a strong running offense instead of a slowdown crawl with Butler.
Watching Butler continue to hold back other Chicago players from turbocharging the offense by hogging most of the shots in ISO sets for the past two years has grated far too long and we want to see better. He can’t even be Mister Clutch for missing three out of his last four shots in the Atlanta game.
Let’s see Forman’s skill at putting players together.
While Jimmy is playing in a Bulls uniform, we only get to see Jimmy take all the shots with Wade alpha.
But if Gar pulls the trigger on the trade idea for Cauley-Stein, Afflalo and Richardson as the Jimmy exchange prize, everyone might be surprised how good that team will actually look on court.
