Krapinsky wrote:urinesane wrote:The Gobert trade isn't even the worst trade in Wolves history, let alone sports history.
The Wolves gave up 3 LOTTERY picks (LaVine #13, Dunn #5, Markannen #7) to get 69 regular season games out of Butler where they were like .595 winning % in games he played. With 5 playoff games and 1 playoff game win.
Gobert has nearly surpassed that amount of wins already and has brought the same amount of playoff appearances, playoff games, and playoff wins for 4 FRP (that will almost certainly all be outside of the lottery), some vets on short contracts, and a rookie center.
I'll take the 2nd one considering the first deal also cratered the entire franchise and set them back years (and made them a lottery team again).
I though this was a funny way of looking at it. Butler was here for a short while, sure, but he still had trade value when we forced his way out and we traded him. That trade was unfortunate, because Thibs got a crap deal from Philadelphia when there with better offers out there (just without the win-now veterans that Thibs wanted back).
At this point does Gobert even have positive value? Would someone absorb his contract into cap space and give us a first round pick back? I would hope so, but I'm not sure about that.
We traded the above to get a Butler 74 game rental and Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a 2nd round pick. There may have been better deals out there, but it doesn't matter, that's what happened. Same with arguing about what lower price we could have acquired Rudy for, they don't matter because they didn't happen. We have to judge all of this based on what happened (and what happens in the future in regards to the Gobert part).
Does Gobert have positive value? Come on now, I understand people get wrapped up in perceptions vs reality, but there are plenty of teams that understand Gobert's value on a team (and that it's very positive).
Will teams say that publicly? Hell no. There's no incentive for other teams to raise/maintain the perceived value for a player, but there is massive incentive to diminish their perceived value. If you talk smack through "sources" you may actually get rubes to believe that Rudy has negative value and you can possibly then get him for pennies on the dollar.
Would other teams have spent as much to acquire him? Probably not, but that doesn't mean he wasn't worth getting (even if they overpaid). Just because something isn't worth $1,000 that doesn't mean it's suddenly worth -$100. The perceived value/price of something is not set in stone, and the goal here isn't to acquire assets at a discount to sell at a markup later. The goal was to get someone that makes an impact on this team winning and becoming a consistent winner. They accomplished that with Rudy, it cost A LOT, but I'd rather take a known quantity like Gobert, than hoping that Kessler, 3 role players, and 4 FRP turn us into a consistent winner.
Rudy Gobert on the Wolves isn't Russell Westbrook on the Lakers. Just because he wasn't DPOY doesn't mean that all of a sudden he has negative value. Without Gobert last season, this team does not make the playoffs, period. Running it back would have been fine with me, but if KAT had gone down for 50+ games with that roster, we would have been a lottery team (which would have been much worse for this team/franchise).
Unless Gobert suddenly becomes a selfish **** and demands out, there's no way this trade will be worse than the Butler one ended up being for the franchise. FRP are overrated, Gobert is an impact player, just not in the ways that make for the most entertaining basketball to the majority of NBA fans. He moves the needle when it comes to winning and most importantly raises the floor of the team, so that outside of major injury issues, they will be competitive and playing meaningful games after the All-Star break (which way too few Wolves teams have done in our history).