Jimmy Butler trade rumors

[JeremyG]

[Superbone]

Thanks, Stephen. So easy. Give up Bradley Beal. Why didn't we think of that?!

[AmareIsGod]

Thanks, Stephen. So easy. Give up Bradley Beal. Why didn't we think of that?!

Right? I know the Suns are doing all they can to hold on to Beal and not make him part of a trade since he's so valuable to our success but man... Miami is dying to get him. We might just have to give him up to get Butler

[Mori Chu]

I hadn't paid much attention to Memphis as a Butler destination, but I guess there is potential interest.

[specialsauce]

That's cute that Memphis thinks they can get future Sun HIMMOTHY BUTLER

[Kryptonic]

That's cute that Memphis thinks they can get future Sun HIMMOTHY BUTLER

You ordered your himmothy jersey yet? I question your loyalty if you don’t have it ordered yet.

[Cap]

IMO the reason the NBA ratings are down isn't because of players taking rest nights, nor because of the proliferation of 3s, nor the lack of a new generational American-born star, or any of that nonsense. The lack of fan interest comes down to one single thing, one crucial flaw:

The games don't matter.

With an 82-game season, each individual game carries very little weight, so there's no real point in watching. It's just like baseball in that way; they have 162 games or whatever they have, so each one means jack squat. Football by contrast, each week the game means a heck of a lot, it's appointment viewing. It's not inherent in the sport; college basketball has around 30 games a year and those seem to really matter.

I don't really think it is fixable; they would never change to, say, a 40-game season, so it is just going to continue the way it is.

It has been an 82 game season since long before they started getting on national TV in the first place. That’s not the reason ratings are dropping.

What are your thoughts on why ratings are dropping?

I think the greatly increased rate of player movement is part of it. Teams can’t get a sense of identity. Who are the Suns? Who knows? Changes from year to year. Devin Booker and whoever else is there this season. It’s a lot harder to name the starting lineups or top players of the league’s 30 teams than it used to be, and I’m not talking about all the foreign names. There is also no sense of attachment of the players to their team or community; they’re all just itinerant mercenaries now.

[JeremyG]

IMO the reason the NBA ratings are down isn't because of players taking rest nights, nor because of the proliferation of 3s, nor the lack of a new generational American-born star, or any of that nonsense. The lack of fan interest comes down to one single thing, one crucial flaw:

The games don't matter.

With an 82-game season, each individual game carries very little weight, so there's no real point in watching. It's just like baseball in that way; they have 162 games or whatever they have, so each one means jack squat. Football by contrast, each week the game means a heck of a lot, it's appointment viewing. It's not inherent in the sport; college basketball has around 30 games a year and those seem to really matter.

I don't really think it is fixable; they would never change to, say, a 40-game season, so it is just going to continue the way it is.

It has been an 82 game season since long before they started getting on national TV in the first place. That’s not the reason ratings are dropping.

What are your thoughts on why ratings are dropping?

I think the greatly increased rate of player movement is part of it. Teams can’t get a sense of identity. Who are the Suns? Who knows? Changes from year to year. Devin Booker and whoever else is there this season. It’s a lot harder to name the starting lineups of the league’s 30 teams than it used to be, and I’m not talking about all the foreign names. There is also no sense of attachment of the players to their team or community; they’re all just itinerant mercenaries now.

Hmm…just thinking about it briefly, though, I don’t know if the Suns have ever had the same starting lineup for more than one year in a row.

EDIT: I guess they did recently actually from 2020-22?

[Cap]

IMO the reason the NBA ratings are down isn't because of players taking rest nights, nor because of the proliferation of 3s, nor the lack of a new generational American-born star, or any of that nonsense. The lack of fan interest comes down to one single thing, one crucial flaw:

The games don't matter.

With an 82-game season, each individual game carries very little weight, so there's no real point in watching. It's just like baseball in that way; they have 162 games or whatever they have, so each one means jack squat. Football by contrast, each week the game means a heck of a lot, it's appointment viewing. It's not inherent in the sport; college basketball has around 30 games a year and those seem to really matter.

I don't really think it is fixable; they would never change to, say, a 40-game season, so it is just going to continue the way it is.

It has been an 82 game season since long before they started getting on national TV in the first place. That’s not the reason ratings are dropping.

What are your thoughts on why ratings are dropping?

I think the greatly increased rate of player movement is part of it. Teams can’t get a sense of identity. Who are the Suns? Who knows? Changes from year to year. Devin Booker and whoever else is there this season. It’s a lot harder to name the starting lineups of the league’s 30 teams than it used to be, and I’m not talking about all the foreign names. There is also no sense of attachment of the players to their team or community; they’re all just itinerant mercenaries now.

Hmm…just thinking about it briefly, though, I don’t know if the Suns have ever had the same starting lineup for more than one year in a row.

EDIT: I guess they did recently actually from 2020-22?

Pretty darn close if not all five. We had KJ/Hornacek/Chambers/West with Majerle off the bench for four years straight. Majerle remained for another three years after that, KJ for five, Chambers for one, West for two IIRC… We were the KJ/Horny/Majerle/Chambers show for four years then the KJ/Barkley show for another four years (with Majerle and Chambers and West for part of it). That was very different from today.

[Uncle_Gene]

I like Jimmy Butler, but the Suns do NOT need him.

[Cap]

BTW, I don’t think KD has nearly as much trade value as everybody assumes. He has Book, Beal, and Tyus Jones with him, and still can’t carry his team above .500? Doesn’t make him look like a winner, and he’s old. We’re going to gave a hard time getting two potentially good picks plus good players for that.

BTW, does anybody expect Ishbia to make moves that will get us both a better team and a better future, or are we abandoning the whole “Ishbia won’t let us get bad” thing?

I hope we’re abandoning it, because Ishbia has already let us get bad. Anybody really feel secure about us getting past the play-ins? We could be a lottery team this year.

[TOO]

BTW, I don’t think KD has nearly as much trade value as everybody assumes. He has Book, Beal, and Tyus Jones with him, and still can’t carry his team above .500? Doesn’t make him look like a winner, and he’s old. We’re going to gave a hard time getting two potentially good picks plus good players for that.

Yep.

Booker is the only thing that will bring a haul.

[SunsRIt]

I think people are really sick of the officiating. Many of the rules aren’t really clear anymore. What’s a travel? Carrying the ball is completely out of hand. The face of the league for the last 20 years flops like he gets hit by Derrick Henry after every other play. The refs base calls on what team they are favoring and which players are the stars. Yes this team sucks, but it seems like the officials have been against this them for more than 20 years. Also the 3 point shooting is getting ridiculous. The Celtics shot 57 threes a couple nights ago. Yeah, that’s fun to watch. The game is stagnant.

[Cap]

Might be time to start moving the three point line out.

[Kryptonic]

I think people are really sick of the officiating. Many of the rules aren’t really clear anymore. What’s a travel? Carrying the ball is completely out of hand. The face of the league for the last 20 years flops like he gets hit by Derrick Henry after every other play. The refs base calls on what team they are favoring and which players are the stars. Yes this team sucks, but it seems like the officials have been against this them for more than 20 years. Also the 3 point shooting is getting ridiculous. The Celtics shot 57 threes a couple nights ago. Yeah, that’s fun to watch. The game is stagnant.

Excellent points. Love it.
I used to bitch like crazy too about the traveling and how it’s not even enforced anymore. To me, it all began with the f’ing euro-step. Can you tell you hit a nerve?! lol

[specialsauce]

That's cute that Memphis thinks they can get future Sun HIMMOTHY BUTLER

You ordered your himmothy jersey yet? I question your loyalty if you don’t have it ordered yet.

Ya but I can't wear it because I already hung it up on the ceiling in my house retired that bitch immediately GOAT

[ShelC]

BTW, I don’t think KD has nearly as much trade value as everybody assumes. He has Book, Beal, and Tyus Jones with him, and still can’t carry his team above .500? Doesn’t make him look like a winner, and he’s old. We’re going to gave a hard time getting two potentially good picks plus good players for that.

On a team where all he has to do is score, he's fine. He needs a strong coach with a strong leader on the floor who can get him shots. That's Ime and FVV. KD himself is not a leader, he's really a superstar roleplayer who needs to just show up and score. The Rockets are a good situation for him. The Nuggets could work, maybe the Clippers. Not saying the Nuggets or Clippers are realistic trade targets, just that they have the structure and roster to take advantage of his skills.

[INFORMER]

BTW, I don’t think KD has nearly as much trade value as everybody assumes. He has Book, Beal, and Tyus Jones with him, and still can’t carry his team above .500? Doesn’t make him look like a winner, and he’s old. We’re going to gave a hard time getting two potentially good picks plus good players for that.

Yep.

Booker is the only thing that will bring a haul.

That's what I am thinking too. There isn't going to be much of a market for KD. Only a contender would value you him, and most of the teams trying to contend don't have cap situation to even trade for him. I think Denver is probably the only viable option. They would probably offer MPJ, Nnaji, and one of their young players, plus a pick. That's probably as good as it is going to get.

But I think the Suns could get a massive haul from Detroit or Indiana for Booker.

[ShelC]

If you trade Book, you're going to be forced to trade KD anyway because he won't want to be here and teams will know it.

[specialsauce]

I think people are really sick of the officiating. Many of the rules aren’t really clear anymore. What’s a travel? Carrying the ball is completely out of hand. The face of the league for the last 20 years flops like he gets hit by Derrick Henry after every other play. The refs base calls on what team they are favoring and which players are the stars. Yes this team sucks, but it seems like the officials have been against this them for more than 20 years. Also the 3 point shooting is getting ridiculous. The Celtics shot 57 threes a couple nights ago. Yeah, that’s fun to watch. The game is stagnant.

I don't enjoy watching basketball nearly as much as I used to. There's no defense. No dynamic offenses. It's just an all star game with whoever being hot from 3 kicking ass and dropping 150 points. There's no real competition. It's boring.