Adrian Fedkiw
Apparently the Chicago Bulls gave the Philadelphia 76ers a ring and dangled Jimmy Butler, but the Sixers declined. Stephen A. Smith announced on ESPN’s First Take Monday that the Bulls offered the 27-year-old All-Star for the No. 3 overall pick earlier this summer.
So does that mean Boston wants Butler for the No. 3 pick?
Smith says so.
The Boston Celtics are planning on acquiring Jimmy Butler. They don’t know if they’ll be able to, but their hope is they’ll be able to use the No. 3 pick, get themselves Jimmy Butler, go into free agency, get Gordon Hayward, and then combine Butler with Hayward, keeping Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley and those boys in tow, and making a legitimate run at the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference crown knowing that they then get to come back the following year and likely get another first-round pick on top of the one that they will have.
Smith continued.
So that’s their belief right now for the Boston Celtics, the No. 3 pick, worst-case scenario that they find themselves in a position to draft somebody like a Josh Jackson out of Kansas, but the hope is that they’ll be able to use the No. 3 pick to get their hands on Jimmy Butler. They believe they’ve got a better shot than anybody at getting Gordon Hayward from Utah to come and play for his old college coach at Butler, Mr. Brad Stevens, and as a result, the combination of those two additions to the squad along with keeping the nucleus of their team intact will make them on par, at least in most folks’ eyes, to legitimately compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference crown again.
Acquiring Jimmy Butler makes a whole heck of a lot more sense for the Celtics than it does for the Sixers. Boston is ready to win right now, it just posted the best record in the Eastern Conference and made it to the conference finals before bowing out to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since he’s already 27, adding Butler to a young Sixers core that isn’t ready to win right now wasn’t worth the No. 3 pick. By the time Philly is ready, Butler might be 30 and on the decline of his career.
But for the Celtics, if they can snag Butler and pick up Gordon Hayward in free agency to team him up with his former Butler coach Brad Stevens, they might be able to give the Cavs a run for their money in the Eastern Conference.
You can watch the entire segment below.
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