It's not that Butler is so awesome but that he is much better then Howard.
I don't know if he's "much" better.
And Haywood is an underrated center who is far superior to Dampier.
Far superior? You mean a guy who in his 10th year, and contract year, averages 2 points more and 2 boards more. Not sure if that's "far superior". But Dampier and Haywood have something in common though, they both conveniently had strong seasons in contract years.
I'm really not sure why Portland would want to rent a player for now less than 30 games, that will probably want more $$ (due to bird years) than what they could end up paying for him for next year IF they wanted him bad enough.
Plus, he'd end up being a backup next year and it's not a given he'd be the backup 5 anyways, if Joel can come back healthy.
He might improve them, but it doesn't necessarily mean his #'s are going to translate.
I think Dallas upgraded two positions with one trade.
The thing is, Gooden's #'s will probably be replaced by Dampiers production and Haywoods will probably be what Dampier gets now.
So that's a wash.
And Butler, who is a much higher scorer (rank wise) in Washington, probably won't be the #2 option in Dallas. And what his average will be, will probably be about 14-15, and Marions will go down to probably under 10 (due to a drop in minutes).
So basically, imho, the #'s that Butler and Haywood bring to Dallas, added to Marion and Dampier, won't be any different than the #'s that Dallas had with Gooden and Howard playing those roles.
Their bench took a hit with Gooden leaving but you can't get something for nothing unless you are the Lakers or Celtics.
I don't think this will help Dallas nearly as much as people think it will. If they had gotten Butler for Gooden alone, sure.