Timberwolves get Butler from Bulls
The long-anticipated reunion between Jimmy Butler and Tom Thibodeau is on.
The Chicago Bulls traded Butler, a threetime all-star, and the 16th overall pick Thursday night to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 overall pick.
The trade brings together the former Marquette star and Wolves coach and president Thibodeau, who coached the Bulls for five seasons before being fired in 2015. Butler gives Thibodeau the tough-minded scorer and hard-nosed defender that he has been searching for to complement a promising young core.
The Wolves paid a big price: Besides surrendering the lottery pick, they gave up a rising star in LaVine, who is coming off of a torn ACL and Dunn, last year’s No. 5 overall pick.
Butler played for Thibodeau for four seasons in Chicago, developing from an unheralded, latefirst round draft pick into a perennial all-star.
Now 35-year-old Dwyane Wade could become a buyout candidate as the Bulls go into rebuilding mode.
Fultz picked first: The Philadelphia 76ers got the player they wanted and Lonzo Ball the team he wanted.
The 76ers selected guard Markelle Fultz with the No. 1 pick and the Lakers followed by taking Ball.
Fultz averaged 23.2 points last season, tops among freshmen, and added 5.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game, the only Division I player to reach those stats.
Fultz, who played just 25 games in college, said it was always his dream to be the top pick and wasn’t bothered that Boston traded the chance to take him.
“In high school I told my trainer Keith I wanted to be the No. 1 player in the country and the No. 1 draft pick, so it was a goal I set out there, and that’s what I was striving for,” Fultz said.
Ball then got the wish he and his father, LaVar, wanted all along by staying in Los Angeles, where he starred last season at UCLA. LaVar Ball had said his son would only play for the Lakers, and it was clear that would happen when Lonzo got a phone call with the Lakers on the clock.
“Tonight was supposed to be a good night. Definitely was, and now I’m just focused on playing,” Lonzo Ball said.
Kentucky stars go fast: Kentucky won the lottery.
There were three Wildcats selected in the first 14 picks. Sacramento took guard De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick. Charlotte grabbed guard Malik Monk with the 11th pick and center Bam Adebayo was the last lottery pick going 14th to Miami.
Duke had two players in the top 14, and nobody else placed more than one.
Twelve of the first 14 picks were one-and-doners.
Se nior skip day: So much for staying in school.
Colorado guard Derrick White was the first senior selected. He was picked 29th by the San Antonio Spurs.
Another senior, guard J osh Hart of Villanova, went to the Los Angeles Lakers with the 30th and final pick of the first round.
Knicks tab French guard: Phil Jackson again looked overseas for the answer to the New York Knicks’ woes.
The Knicks president selected Frank Ntilikina with the No. 8 pick, hoping to pair the athletic French guard with frustrated Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis as New York’s team looks to end years of futility.
New York has several point guards to choose from. Instead, the mercurial Jackson, chose to take an 18-year-old mostly unknown to a U.S. audience.
Ntilikina, was born in Belgium and started playing professionally as a 15-year-old for Strasbourg’s under-21 club before debuting two seasons ago for their senior team in the French Pro A league.
Several fans screamed “Fire, Phil!” as Ntilikina held a No. 17 jersey on stage.
The waiting game: No pick. No picker.
Unable to pull off a trade or move into the first round of the draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t add any significant player or fill a major hole in their front office.
A stumbling start to the off-season staggers on.
Dan Gilbert’s search to replace departed general manager David Griffin remains unresolved as talks with former NBA star Chauncey Billups. Gilbert has not yet extended a contract proposal to Billups to head the team’s front office.
Gilbert met on consecutive days earlier this week with Billups, who aspires to be an NBA executive and is at the top of Cleveland’s wish list.