The Houston Rockets Are Not Fucking Around
(ESPN) – The Houston Rockets are making a renewed bid to acquire Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Jimmy Butler, including four future first-round draft picks in their most recent offer, league sources told ESPN.
The Timberwolves have continued to solicit offers on Butler since the start of the regular season, the sources said.
Houston’s push represents a desire to sacrifice some long-term roster flexibility and go all-in with a legitimate third star to partner with All-NBA guards James Harden and Chris Paul in pursuit of a championship.
The Rockets’ offer constitutes the maximum number of first-round picks allowable in a deal, factoring in league rules that necessitate no first-rounders can be conveyed in successive years, and no pick can be traded farther out than seven seasons.
The lottery protections on picks in this proposed deal would be limited.
Discussions on the players involved in the Minnesota-Houston talks remain fluid, league sources said.
WOJ!!!
Little bad news/good news situation for the Rockets. Bad news, James Harden is out with a pulled hammy. Good news, it looks like they are about to bring in a motivated Top 15 player when healthy Jimmy Butler. I mean this isn’t quite a BKN/BOS level deal, but it’s the closest we’ve gotten since. The thing about Daryl Morey is that he always goes for it. Guys has gigantic testicles and is not afraid to push his chips into the center of the table and be aggressive. Obviously what those lottery protections end up being is huge, but I think we ll agree that for the next 4-5 years the Rockets will probably be pretty good. Now in terms of what players they would have to shift, take a look at their roster
They have to come up with nearly $20M unless there is a third team involved or something. Anyways, if you’re the Rockets, in my opinion you have to go this route. Your window is NOW. You feel like you can beat GS based on how last year went. Adding a healthy motivated Jimmy Butler, who is from Houston, makes them better on paper than last year’s team. That’s a team that in theory could compete with this version of Golden State and why the Rockets are being so aggressive. Make no mistake, that’s a hefty price, but if Butler signs long term this summer it’s worth it for them.
I just keep thinking back to what their new owner said about this whole thing
“We would love to see Jimmy come home to Houston. It’s not a financial decision, it’s an assets decision on our part. We’ve got a great basketball team. We think we’re as good as anybody in the league. We’re not going to give up unreasonable assets, to break up this team, to get Jimmy Butler. But we would love to have him.”
That was literally two weeks ago. Is he able to pull this off with just draft picks and filler because MIN realizes they have no market? Fascinating. Personally I hope this happens because A) It means he’s staying out West B) We have a new super team C) It’s a legit chance for Butler to back up how good he thinks he is.
That’s my favorite part. Just like with CP3 last year, if Butler goes to HOU he’s on the first contender of his career. How does he look? Can he win a ring as the third option? Will he accept that role? So many unreal storylines if this happens, so I’m going to need Thibs to sack up and say yes.