Wolves should not trade for Jimmy Butler

Recently, the Minnesota Timberwolves have expressed interest in a deal for Chicago Bulls small forward Jimmy Butler and has made pick No. 5 available in a deal. However, Chicago has said that it wants forward Andrew Wiggins in any deal involving Butler. If Chicago wants Wiggins and No. 5, if I were Minnesota, I would hang up. Butler is a good player, but I don’t see him worth a top five pick and one of the best young players in the game.

I can see why new coach Tom Thibodeau wants to trade for Butler. He is one of the top 15-20 players in the NBA and plays tremendous defense, and defense has been lacking for the Timberwolves for the last number of years. He knows Thibodeau’s system well, having played for him for the first four years of his NBA career.

Now, I would think about a deal for Zach LaVine and No. 5, but not Wiggins and No. 5. Wiggins is a great Robin next to Karl-Anthony Towns’ Batman. Wiggins and Butler are very similar players. Wiggins does not play the kind of defense that Butler does, but he has the potential to do so. However, even with a deal with LaVine and No. 5, it would be troubling since Wiggins, Butler and Rubio all cannot shoot the ball well. Because Rubio and Butler are not good shooters, they would not work well together. At least Wiggins’ athleticism suits Rubio’s game well despite the fact that he shoots a low percentage from deep. The Timberwolves would be better off using the No. 5 pick on a shooter like Kentucky’s Jamal Murray or Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and keeping LaVine.

Butler also has an injury history. He has only played more than 67 games once and that was his second season when he only started 20 games and only played 26 minutes per game. I don’t think it is worth trading a player like Wiggins as well as a top pick to get a player who won’t even play 70 games in a season, regardless of how good of a player Butler is. If he is this broken down in his 20s, it will only get worse as he gets to 30 and beyond.

Minnesota needs shooting in the worst way. The Timberwolves were 25th in the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage at 33.8 percent and were second to last in 3-point field goals made. Butler would not help that at all, as he just shot 31 percent from behind the 3-point line. Minnesota would be better off drafting one of the draft’s sharp shooters, either Murray or Hield.

Now, I do not believe that Butler will be a Timberwolf. Darren Wolfson does not think Butler will move anywhere, especially to the Timberwolves. He does not see Chicago wanting to help out Thibodeau. If there was a team he may go to, it would probably be Boston, but I doubt he goes there unless they are blown away.