The Bulls front office is just absurdly bad. I honestly hope the rumors that the younger Reinsdorf is going to clean it up. We'll see. Cannot believe they included the #16th pick with Butler.
I agree. The only purpose their trade serves is to assure that the Bulls will be really bad for the next several years and hope to get high draft picks in future drafts.
Nobody wants to watch a bad team, but even more so, nobody wants to watch a bad team with no real stars. Jimmy Butler was the only true star on the Bulls team, and the players they got in return are nowhere near enough compensation for a player of his level.
In addition, they simply sold their 2nd round pick, a pretty good player in Jordan Bell, to the Golden State Warriors.
Here is what the Bulls and Timberwolves got in the Jimmy Butler trade:
The Bulls sent to Minnesota:
Jimmy Butler, 6'7" shooting guard, three time NBA All-Star, 3-time NBA All-Defensive team- last year he averaged 23.9 ppg (14th in the NBA), 6.2 rpg, 5.5 assists per game, 1.9 steals per game (5th best in NBA), shot 45.5% overall, 36.7% from three, and 86.5% on FTs.
The #16 pick that turned out to be
Justin Patton, a 7' center from Creighton, who was believed to be one of the top two centers in the draft.
From Minnesota, the Bulls got:
The #7 pick, which they turned into 7' Finnish player
Lauri Markkanen, who played one season at University of Arizona and averaged 15.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and shot 42% from three.
Kris Dunn, a 6'4" point guard who was the 5th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, but his rookie numbers were surprisingly bad. He averaged just 3.8 ppg, and an abysmal 2.4 assists per game as an NBA point guard! His shooting was also woefully bad. He shot 37.7% overall, just 28.8% from three, and only 61.0% on free throws. His rookie season was extremely disappointing to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and their fans were not too sad to see him go.
Zach LaVine, a 6'5" shooting guard who was the 13th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. In 3 NBA seasons, his average is 13.7 ppg, though he was averaging 18.9 ppg last season through the first 47 games when he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his left knee. He had a surgical reconstruction 10 days later, and is now rehabbing with hopes for a comeback. Incidentally, this is the exact same injury (torn ACL left knee) that Derrick Rose suffered in the 2012 playoffs, from which he never recovered to anywhere close to his 2011 MVP level of play.
So for one of the top stars in the NBA, the Bulls got a couple former 1st round draft picks, one that was a major disappointment (Dunn), and the other who is coming back from a serious ACL tear, and is not expected to be fully recovered by the start of next season (LaVine), plus Euro big man Lauri Markkanen.
