Rumors aside, basics of Butler's future with Bulls haven't changed
The storylines never seem to change for the Bulls these days. The same topics from two years ago are still being discussed.
Are the Golden State Warriors better than the '96 Bulls? (Depends if they play hand check or no-hand check).
Will LeBron James surpass Michael Jordan as the greatest NBA player of all time? (No, but No. 2 is nothing to be ashamed of).
Will the Bulls trade Jimmy Butler? (See below).
A wide variety of Butler rumors are making the rounds. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith claimed Monday the Bulls offered Butler to Philadelphia for the No. 3 overall draft pick, were turned down and now Butler is headed to Boston for that same pick (and matching salaries) before the Celtics try to add Utah's Gordon Hayward in free-agency.
Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski suggested Monday the Bulls have had talks with Minnesota about Butler. ESPN's Marc Stein chipped in with a tweet about Cleveland trying to rope additional teams into a Butler deal.
Other rumors insist the Bulls are not actively trying to trade Butler, but every team talks to every other team in the weeks before the draft, so all kinds of offers are thrown out there and very little sticks.
Keeping a few known facts in mind, I'd say it's still very unlikely the Bulls trade Butler this summer. Of course, anything is possible, but here's what we know:
• The Bulls want to build a winner, but their primary goal is to keep the United Center full, so Jerry Reinsdorf's limited partners can continue cashing those profit-sharing checks every year.
Competitive teams and marketable stars sell tickets, so it stands to reason the Bulls' best chance to reach those goals is to try to build around Butler. It's certainly possible to go from a .500 team to 50-plus wins. The Bulls did it themselves in 2010-11, and Houston was another good example last season.
• Trading Butler almost certainly means a total rebuild. Dwyane Wade most likely wouldn't come back. The Bulls would have plenty of cap space, but no stars would be lining up to join a rebuilding situation.
When this season ended, Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson flat-out said the team doesn't want a ground-up rebuild. Reinsdorf, Paxson and the Bulls don't want a replay of the 1998-2004 rebuilding disaster. A team like Indiana, with a star player in Paul George who wants to leave, may have no other choice. The Bulls do have a choice.
• Trading a top-15 NBA player for the No. 3 pick in this year's draft is not fair compensation. This is shaping up to be a pretty good draft, but it's hard to see anyone in this group turning around a franchise.
A ground-up rebuild is tough duty. Philadelphia will have an intriguing nucleus of Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric and Joel Embiid, but how long will it take to start winning? Saric has played in 81 NBA games, Embiid 31 and the other two guys zero.
The feeling here is it would take an overwhelming offer to get the Bulls to move Butler. If Boston offered this year's No. 3, next year's Brooklyn pick and Avery Bradley, the Bulls would listen, but there's no reason to think the Celtics would make that offer. It's also tough to see a Minnesota scenario that didn't include either Karl Anthony Towns or Andrew Wiggins, plus a draft pick. As for Cleveland, it's not going to move James or Kyrie Irving, so it's hard to even conceive a workable trade.
Butler has two years left on a reasonable contract, and the Bulls could have lots of cap space next summer when Wade's deal ends. So the most likely scenario for the Bulls is trying to add assets in 2018, maybe sooner if Butler can convince management to chase some free agents this year.
But trading Butler for a draft pick still doesn't make sense for the Bulls.
• Twitter @McGrawDHBulls.