Jimmy Butler is hoping to stay in Chicago. The swingman made that clear after Tuesday's first practice as the Bulls' front office and Butler's agent, Happy Walters, continue to try to hammer out an extension before the Oct. 31 deadline. "I want to be here," Butler said. "I think the Bulls want me here. So however long it takes, as long as we get it worked out. Basketball is my main focus, not really the contract situation." Butler, selected 30th overall by the Bulls in the 2011 draft out of Marquette, would become a restricted free agent at the end of the season if an extension is not worked out. "They definitely are [working on it]," he said. "I think we're really good right now, moving in the right direction. But that's between them. I just got to be with my teammates and whatever I do between myself and that basket will handle that a lot easier." Read more http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/stor...gman-jimmy-butler-hopeful-stay-team-long-term
I'd be willing to vote for outlawing all articles that say "X (player) says he'd like to stay in Y (city)." This would still allow a player to declare that he has no interest in playing for a given franchise. Though extremely rare, these stories are far more interesting.
My gut reaction is that he might look at TGibson and say to himself, "now there's a guy who's a pretty good player who got paid more than he deserves, so can I!" Or that he might look at JNoah and say to himself, "damn, there's a guy who fucked up by signing an extension and locked himself in at a bargain price."
Well, there's the obvious one that Butler could get hurt this season and never make a big money contract. Right now, the Bulls are the only team that can make Butler rich. Also, the Bulls can offer Butler 7.5% raises while the rest of the teams are limited to 4.5% raises.
Right now, no other team can do anything to secure Butler's financial future other than the Bulls. There are no competing offers. IMO, the Bulls have been pretty good at this game. With the exception of DRose to whom they offered the absolute max, they tend to make an offer that is enticing, but not a no-brainer. In the recent past, Hinrich, Noah, Rose and Gibson have accepted the team's extension offers. Gordon and Deng rejected their extension offers. Players like Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha and James Johnson were not offered extensions and were subsequently traded. The Bulls will make Butler an offer that recognizes the fact that the team is taking the risk of an injury that would adversely affect Butler's long-term value. Butler can accept that offer or assume the injury risk and essentially bet on himself to not only stay healthy, but also exceed on-court expectations. Though some fans have trouble with this process, as I see it, there are no good guys or bad guys.
The subject was Butler's current situation, that is the extension available only from the a first-round pick's current team after his 3rd season. If you want to bring up something else, I respectfully suggest you either provide a segue or start a new thread.
It was your history that was the segue. You didn't mention Omer's situation. It is relevant because if he's not signed to an extension in the next 27 days, it will be the "bring your best offer" scenario. Bank on it.
Oh, you were talking about Asik. Well, in his case, there was no extension opportunity because he wasn't on a first-round rookie contract. When I was a little kid, my parents made it clear to me that I couldn't always get what I wanted. This understanding helped me deal with the Asik situation...kind of.
It wasn't just Omer who got the "bring us your best offer" treatment. The point is you can't ignore what they've historically done as if they won't continue to do so. It's the same people doing the screwing, so to speak.
Sorry I brought it up. Stupid on my part. Let me be a little more candid. I'm not convinced that there's anything special about Butler. I think he's best suited to being an off-the-bench swingman. If DRose is going to return to glory, he needs to be surrounded by shooters...ideally, elite shooters. Last season, Butler wasn't even close to being an average shooter. I like Butler, but if some other team wants to pay him I sure as hell wouldn't get into a bidding war. If the Bulls offer him an extension for anything more than $6mil/season, I believe they overpaid. I'm actually hoping that they don't sign an extension with Butler this offseason. If Butler can show he has real offensive chops, great...pay the man. If not, let some other team overpay for Bruce Bowen Redux.
I actually agree with you for the most part about Butler. However, he does one thing that is really important and that is hard to replace. Wing defense. I read a really good article a few months ago that went into detail about how the elite NBA teams need only two very good defenders: one wing, and C. Jimmy's value is defense at the wing. Thibs must agree because he played Jimmy big minutes even though he sucked (for the most part) at everything but defense.
Butler not only defends the wing well, he is a very low turnover guy. So was Deng. Coaches hate turnovers in general, but they absolutely hate turnovers by non-scorers. Still, if as you say, Butler's primary value is as a wing defender, I have to believe that they can get that kind of player for a much lower price than some are willing to pay Butler. I sincerely hope that Butler shows me that he's a special sort of player this season. I'd love to join the chorus of fans who want to see him re-signed. However, right now I'm at MLE money for him.
If not Butler, who? It's easy to say stuff like "he can be replaced" but not so easy to do the replacing. Unless you already have Jimmy and it's Lu that's being replaced. I mean JButler and LDeng.
