2017 NBA Lottery recap: Not as entertaining as you think
Let’s entertain ourselves with some Jimmy Butler deals instead.
The NBA Draft Lottery is fun. Basketball fans go in waiting for some unexpected outcome, though we are given the odds before hand. This year held special intrigue because the current draft class is almost universally looked at the most franchise-altering class in since 2003. For Bulls fans, this lottery holds a different type of significance.
With three of the NBA’s most popular and longstanding franchises acquiring the top three picks in the 2017 Draft, there is no telling what could happen. While the top three players on the board are outstanding, there is the obvious elephant in the room that the Chicago Bulls were in the advanced stages of trade talks with the Boston Celtics surrounding All-Star Jimmy Butler. And that was before the draft order was finalized. Now that all three of these franchises are looking to aggressively push forward in their rebuild, it is conceivable that all three of these teams contact Chicago about Butler. And here is where I would rate these three very real possibilities on the “GarPax Interest Meter”. And remember people, this does not represent what I would want to do, it represents what Gar Forman and John Paxson would do based off of my 14 years of surviving the Bulls front office.
No. 3 Pick — Philadelphia 76ers
The trade: Jimmy Butler for the third overall pick, Jahlil Okafor, Gerald Henderson and Nik Stauskas
Sixers Rationale: In the first scenario, Bryan Colangelo decides it is finally times to make a move that will help define his legacy as a general manager. The Sixers have “Trusted the Process” for years now. After four straight seasons in which they failed to win 30 games, almost everyone can agree the fans of Philadelphia are hungry for the postseason. With Ben Simmons coming back from injury for what figures to be a monster “rookie” season and Joel Embiid returning to health, now would be the perfect time for Colangelo to add a veteran to that young core. A starting five that features Simmons, Embiid and Butler would be ideal in today’s switch-heavy defenses, and their physicality on the glass would cause some damage in the Eastern Conference.
Bulls Rationale: Jahlil Okafor’s name was mentioned so much in trade rumors leading up to the deadline that many Bulls fans (myself included) assumed the trade was finalized. But alas, Okafor did not become a Bull. With our current personnel, the move would’ve been short-sighted anyway, but never discount the possibility of GarPax revisiting a bad idea. Trading Butler with years left on his deal makes the Sixers a pesky team, but the Bulls’ own rebuild would be accelerated greatly. Okafor’s singular skill is low-post scoring, and the Bulls could benefit from that skill set, but only in small doses since he is a negative everywhere else. Stauskas and Henderson provide (possible) shooting but are there more as throw-ins than anything else. The main reason this deal is interesting is because the Bulls would dictate the flow of the draft. With Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball presumably going first and second, the Bulls could go in a number of directions. I believe they would select Kansas forward Josh Jackson. Jackson is in the mold of Butler/Kawhi Leonard, only he possesses tantalizing playmaking skills.
No. 2 Pick — Los Angeles Lakers
The trade: Jimmy Butler for the second overall pick, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson
In this trade scenario, Los Angeles Lakers general manger Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson decide to make a move so bold that LaVar Ball is speechless. As rumors continue to grow of the Indiana Pacers trading Paul George for the second pick, Pelinka and Johnson shock the world and decide to trade the second overall pick in the draft for Jimmy Butler. Johnson decides D’angelo Russell is a developing star and Brandon Ingram is untouchable, so Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle come to Bulls as young pieces to make the trade worthwhile and to clear roster space for the Lakers.
Lakers Rationale: Jimmy Butler has been linked to the Lakers before. He has a well-known friendship with actor Mark Wahlberg, he is signed to the Jordan brand and he has been open about his feelings of being a superstar player and a leader. If Johnson feels that Butler is the man to lead the Lakers back to the promised land, they have a treasure trove of assets to get the deal done. Second-year head coach Luke Walton could really start to get creative with his offensive sets with Russell at point and Butler and Ingram on the wings. With Butler’s guidance the group’s overall defensive intensity would slowly increase, and Ingram specifically could benefit from the guidance of an ace defender.
Bulls Rationale: Gar Forman is famous for the phrase “younger and more athletic” at this point in his career. His oft-quoted promise for the Bulls’ future stands as a defining moment in his legacy. He did the exact opposite of that when the team acquired Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade, but this would actually be a step towards becoming young and athletic. Clarkson is 24, Randle is 22 and they both are scratching the surface of what they could become.
Clarkson is already an explosive scorer, and he is made for a role as a combo-guard scorer off the bench. Walton moved him to that role this season and Clarkson averaged a shade under 15 points per game on 44.5 percent shooting. Randle is an explosive point-forward who averaged 4.5 assists per 36 minutes this season. If he develops better low-post footwork he would be an unstoppable player on offense, and his defense won’t be a huge issue if he can continue to rebound well. The crown jewel of this deal would be the Bulls acquiring the second pick, and with it, Lonzo Ball. He would immediately make people think Hoiberg is a better coach than he is because of the ease with which he would operate in Hoiberg’s pace-and-space attack. Ball specifically would be lethal off of the drag-screens that Hoiberg likes his bigs to set in semi-transition.
No. 1 Pick — Boston Celtics
In the trade that has already gained the most real-life traction, Celtics GM Danny Ainge proves that no one can or ever will “out-Ainge” Ainge. He is the master of the one-sided traded. The fact that the Celtics are the first seed in the Eastern Conference and have the top pick and a possible No. 1 pick next year is lost on no one. It makes me sick even typing the previous sentence, and it makes all other GMs nauseated reading it.
Celtics Rationale: Ainge and the rest of the world will get to see how close Boston really is to closing the gap between themselves and the LeBron James-led Cavaliers over this current Eastern Conference Finals. And if this series is even somewhat close, don’t be shocked if Ainge is aggressive in getting a Jimy Butler deal finished on draft day, and with way worse terms for the Bulls now that everyone knows the C’s have the No. 1 pick.
The trade: Jimmy Butler for the first overall pick, Kelly Olynyk, and Jonas Jerebko
Bulls Rationale: The Bulls front office decides Nikola Mirotic is not worth re-signing because of his spotty shooting. Ainge tells GarPax that he can’t give up any of his physical defenders if he hopes to beat LeBron. He then proceeds to convince GarPax that Olynyk’s knockout, Game 7 performance (26 points, five rebounds, four assists) against the Washington Wizards in the East semis was indicative of his potential. With that, the Bulls decide Olynyk and Jerebko (career 35 percent 3-point shooter) are the perfect package of stretch-fours to pair with new Bulls franchise point guard Markelle Fultz.
Fultz is the real deal. I’ve only watched a few (full) Washington basketball games, and the scouting reports are spot on. When you watch Lonzo Ball play, it’s amazing because he makes everything so exciting and he makes everyone around him better. But when you watch Fultz play, all you notice is….almost nothing, but not in a bad way, if that makes sense? To elaborate, Fultz plays with an incredibly calm demeanor no matter the score and he is ridiculously good at choosing when he should try to score versus getting his teammates involved. He plays with the pace of a veteran, and I saw flashes of young Chris Paul when I watched him. That’s the main takeaway on Fultz. Even if everything goes wrong and he doesn’t become the superstar that so many believe he will become, it feels as if at worse he will be great starting point guard for at least a decade.
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