Caron Butler traded to Bucks for Ish Smith and Kratsov

[InsideOut]

http://journaltimes.com/sports/basketball/racinesportszone-sports-junkies-on-caron-butler-trade/youtube_8a5c46a2-10e5-11e3-95ef-001a4bcf887a.html

Sidenote in the story, Woelfel says Monta & Jennings didn't talk to each other last year at all. Said he talked to a player on the team who was in the league 15 years (which had to be Pryzbilla) said it was the worst locker room he'd ever seen. Dalembert, Gooden, Monta, Jennings were all major problems and then we've heard previous stories about Sanders stepping up to Monta in the playoffs so it was just a nightmare.

Caron Butler was brought in as an enforcer on the court and more an enforcer in the locker room. Gonna be a great veteran presence chemistry glue guy. I am liking this move more and more.

I remember years ago when Hammond was getting rid of guys like Mo and we were being told it was about improving the locker room. So now here we are 5+ years later and we're being told we have the worst locker room ever and we're making moves to improve it?! I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.

[HurricaneKid]

What's funny is this roster is pretty darn good if we just had one alpha guy who could break down D's and distribute. Imagine putting Chris Paul in this lineup. We would immediately be a 50+ win team and probably the second best team in the East.

Here is the starting lineup of the Nets, the presumed #4 seed in the East:

PG: DWill
SG: Joe Johnson
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Garnett
C: Brook Lopez

Bench:
Kirilenko
Jason Terry
Blatche

Tell me how in the world, even with CP# or similar, we could compete with this team?? And its doubtful they win 2 playoff series.

Easy: Johnson, Pierce and Garnett are old and declining, and Johnson is one of (if not THE) most overrated player in the league. Garnett still has a lot in the tank but they're already talking about him only playing every other night out of fear his body will break down. Plus, is he even fast enough to guard the PF spot on a nightly basis any more? Brook Lopez is still overrated in my book, regardless of the numbers. But, I said the same thing about Hibbert until last year, so I'm willing to be wrong about this. Terry is also much older and crappier than the Terry from his Dallas days.

Still, they look way better than us, but the ostensible value of these players based on name recognition doesn't jibe with reality. And I think they're pretty comparable to the Knicks, even with those moves. Maybe this is the year where DWill stops playing like a *insert insult*, though, I guess. But if you give us CP3, who knows. Way too hypothetical for me.

We agree on a great deal of this. The point wasn't that NJ is so incredible. It was more to highlight the chasm between our current standing and that of a second round team. There is a lot more stratification in the talent accumulation than there has been in the East for a while and in order to ever even come close to the second round we need to draft elite talent. This would have been the year to do it. But it is evident that its not going to happen. I mean look at teams that were competing in the East just two years ago. Philly was a 2nd round team, blew up their team and are clearly on a better path with better younger talent than we have. Orlando brought in Vucevic, Harkless, Tobias, Oladipo and have a bright future. We keep pretending to compete and in the rare case we actually make the playoffs our opponents literally rest elite players against us. In the playoffs.

According to scouts there were no franchise players in last years draft and there are 7-8 of them in next year's. So we aim for the 8-9th pick. Its the Bucks way.

[EastSideBucksFan]

It is refreshing to hear that a guy is excited to come here.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/GeryWoelfel/status/373214881970806785[/tweet]

[EastSideBucksFan]

“I’m very excited. Ecstatic. Can’t wait,’’ Butler said in a phone interview. “I never thought in a million years this was going to happen. I’m thoroughly excited.’

Butler, the former Park High School star, has high hopes for Milwaukee.

“I think we’re going to be good, I really think we are,’’ Butler said. “Adding myself to a team that has a dynamic scorer in O.J. Mayo, to a team that has a talented young point guard in (Brandon) Knight and has good big men like (Larry) Sanders and (Ersan) Ilyasova and other guys like Gary Neal … we can be really good.

“The Bucks really wanted me. Before the trade, they asked what I thought about the situation and I told them that I thought it would be great to return home for me and my family. I thought it would be an ideal situation for me.’’

http://journaltimes.com/sports/basketba ... 963f4.html

[Chapter29]

Just when we thought the Bucks are headed in the right direction they trade for an old washed up vet. At least we did not give up anything this time.

And he's an expiring.

I don't see the big deal here.

We got a guy who can still start in the NBA. We will rely on him until our young kids at SF are ready. If Middleton or Giannis outplay him then he will lose PT. Defino wont be ready and I would much prefer to watch Butler play over Delfino.

Adding Butler does make us a better team.

[LUKE23]

Yeah, the locker room improvement supposedly began when Bone was hired. Remember? It's funny how little progress we have made after five seasons.

[blazza18]

Yeah, the locker room improvement supposedly began when Bone was hired. Remember? It's funny how little progress we have made after five seasons.

Nonsense! We have made the playoffs twice

[James1980]

“The Bucks really wanted me. Before the trade, they asked what I thought about the situation and I told them that I thought it would be great to return home for me and my family. I thought it would be an ideal situation for me.’’

The Bucks talked to him before the trade, isn't that tampering?

[ampd]

“The Bucks really wanted me. Before the trade, they asked what I thought about the situation and I told them that I thought it would be great to return home for me and my family. I thought it would be an ideal situation for me.’’

The Bucks talked to him before the trade, isn't that tampering?

Not if the Suns were ok with it

[Max Green]

There wasn't any reports of locker room problems until Skiles decided to alienate Bogut after he returned from injury which also coincided with Ridnour/Thomas/Stackhouse departing and Hammond bringing in Gooden/Maggette /Dooling to replace them.

Hammond was ultimately responsible because he brought those guys in, but Skiles deserves some blame for how he handled the situation, including quitting on the team a third into the season after sabotaging it.

[EastSideBucksFan]

There wasn't any reports of locker room problems until Skiles decided to alienate Bogut after he returned from injury which also coincided with Ridnour/Thomas/Stackhouse departing and Hammond bringing in Gooden/Maggette /Dooling to replace them.

Hammond was ultimately responsible because he brought those guys in, but Skiles deserves some blame for how he handled the situation, including quitting on the team a third into the season after sabotaging it.

Skiles deserves a ton of blame. He lobbied for all those guys and vouched he could control them.

Notice we haven't brought in one bad locker room guy since Skiles was jettisoned.

Unless you want to include Ayon.

[Max Green]

“I’m very excited. Ecstatic. Can’t wait,’’ Butler said in a phone interview. “I never thought in a million years this was going to happen. I’m thoroughly excited.’

Butler, the former Park High School star, has high hopes for Milwaukee.

“I think we’re going to be good, I really think we are,’’ Butler said. “Adding myself to a team that has a dynamic scorer in O.J. Mayo, to a team that has a talented young point guard in (Brandon) Knight and has good big men like (Larry) Sanders and (Ersan) Ilyasova and other guys like Gary Neal … we can be really good.

“The Bucks really wanted me. Before the trade, they asked what I thought about the situation and I told them that I thought it would be great to return home for me and my family. I thought it would be an ideal situation for me.’’

http://journaltimes.com/sports/basketba ... 963f4.html

Thanks for posting. As you said it's nice to read that he's excited for finally come home and play. Should be a good veteran presence for our young guys.

[CanadaBucks]

Same argument from the same people after every trade.

On both sides

[DanoMac]

The worst locker room in Pryzbilla's career? That's absolutely outstanding.

You have to be some kind of circus to be a worse locker room then the 04-05 Portland team Pryz was on. DMiles, Ruben Patterson, the crazy version of Zach Randolph, Damon Stoudamire, Sebastian Telfair, and a 29-53 record to cap it all off. I'm impressed.

[WiscoKing13]

All the people saying we "didn't give up anything" are gigantically undervaluing the value of cap space during the season. That is especially true in the new CBA.

Lets look at teams who are over the lux http://storytellerscontracts.com/
Bos- a million over, probably not going to shell out assets to get under
BRK-Could care less about getting under
CHI-Again aren't going to do anything to get under
Lakers-Thats a maybe at best and Gasol for 15 mil in expirings could get it done
MIA-Hell no
NYK-No
OKC-No

Yea not really seeing a reason to keep cap space at this point in the off season.

[InsideOut]

Same argument from the same people after every trade.

On both sides

And the side that says the trade won't lead to any meaningful positive change have been pretty much correct every single time. Not that it is any great feat when it comes to Bucks trades.

[Baddy Chuck]

Same argument from the same people after every trade.

On both sides

And the side that says the trade won't lead to any meaningful positive change have been pretty much correct every single time. Not that it is any great feat when it comes to Bucks trades.

But we were wrong with that John Salmons trade 5 years ago, hah!

[raferfenix]

I can see why our team would prefer Butler to Delfino or Neal.

Maybe Hammond goes for one of his patented 'admitting failure early' moves that look so good if you ignore that he caused the problem in the first place.

[randy84]

Awesome pickup! The off-season plan is proceeding nicely.

On a serious note. I didn't read the whole thread so pardon me if it has already been mentioned, but everyone involved in the Tobias trade is now off the team. In less than a year! That is complete ineptitude.

[InsideOut]

On both sides

And the side that says the trade won't lead to any meaningful positive change have been pretty much correct every single time. Not that it is any great feat when it comes to Bucks trades.

But we were wrong with that John Salmons trade 5 years ago, hah!

Yup, we were wrong for 30 games but correct in the long run. When you look at 30 game sample sizes even Salmons can look like an all-NBA SG.