Take a look at the 2017 NBA Draft Winners and Losers; Timberwolves win out, Knicks avoid something dumb, Celtics lack big move!

The Timberwolves level up, the Pacers remain in a holding pattern with their best player, and the Knicks avoid doing something dumb.

We will take a look at the 2017 NBA Draft winners and losers, but we need to break down a little draft trading first. Jimmy Butler got what he wanted, Paul George didn’t, Markelle Fultz went first, and LaVar Ball got his 2017 Draft wish.

Losers: Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls have to go down as one of the worst franchise moves in NBA history with their trade of Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler, end of the first round player, developed into a two-way All-Star by the end of the rookie contract. Drafting him made the Front Office look like a genius move, and it was an excellent work ethic choice during the Tom Thibodeau era. Jimmy Butler is a franchise guy that has made three straight All-Star appearances. It doesn’t matter that he hade a personality conflict with coach Fred Hoiberg and his younger teammates. Butler is a work ethic guy, and the younger guys weren’t working as hard as he wanted. He was the best thing of the horrible 2016-17 NBA Season.

Instead of giving him the franchise treatment that he had earned, the Chicago Bulls front office low-balled him on his rookie extension offer. They had him in trade talks for almost two years. They fired Tom Thibodeau and hired Fred Hoiberg. The front office didn’t try to build around Butler, but they signed Rondo and Wade who are two players past their primes.

Ultimately, the front office traded Butler for some unproven young players in Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and Lauri Markkanen.

Zach LaVine is a scoring guard that has great potential, but couldn’t guard a soul with his bad knee (knee surgery).

Kris Dunn was a twenty-three-year-old point guard that was very disappointing in his rookie season.

Lauri Markkanen is a seven-foot shooter that hasn’t proved that he can do anything, but shoot the basketball.

Winners: Minnesota Timberwolves

Tom Thibodeau gets his future superstar with a great work ethic combined with Karl-Anthony Town’s great rookie season. The Minnesota Timberwolves have a lot of momentum going into the new season. Minnesota has a great star duo, and Butler’s arrival will help the Minnesota defense which was twenty-six in the league.

Butler will serve as a role model for Andrew Wiggens who has only emerged as a scoring threat, but he hasn’t made progress on his rebounding, team defense, or playmaking. His life will be easier with Jimmy Butler on his team, and hopefully, he will make a major leap next year. The Timberwolves are in a prime spot to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

Winners: Sacramento Kings

Vlade Divac and the Front Office has been Losers for a while on draft day and today they are 2017 NBA Draft Winners. They have drafted no name players, players at the same position and horrible trades.

The Kings landed De’Aaron Fox who was their top target and probably the best player in the draft. They didn’t have to do much to get him as the draft went how most people thought except for the flip-flop of Jackson and Tatum. Fox is a leader with charisma and on top of that is a freak athlete that will be the face of the franchise.

The Kings also filled in their need of a small forward with the number ten pick by trading five slots back and picking up an extra first round pick. They selected Justin Jackson, one of the more NBA-ready forwards in the class as they move toward losing Rudy Gay.

The Kings used their last first round pick to take a chance on Harry Giles. Two years ago, Harry Giles was probably the number one prospect in this draft, but two knee injuries and poor play at Duke caused him to fall out of the lottery. They took a chance with a draft pick that they didn’t have at the beginning of the night.

Sacramento is still a couple more drafts away, but this roster got better tonight. This team will be one to watch at the Las Vegas Summer League.

Losers: Boston Celtics

I think that Boston should have traded the number three pick for Jimmy Butler. Danny Ainge is asking the fan base to be patient when they got killed in the Eastern Conference finals. Ainge didn’t get to introduce Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball to the fan base, and he missed out on Butler. They might land Gordon Hayward or Blake Griffin in free agency, but Tatum will have to live up to HUGE expectations during his rookie season.

Winner: Golden State

The Golden State Warriors didn’t have a pick, so they did the next best thing. They bought a pick for 3.5 million dollars to get Jordan Bell, Pac-12 Defensive player of the year, who led Oregon to the Final Four. They got a developing shot-blocking option in the frontcourt who can be groomed by their stars. This Front Office and Ownership team are light years away from the competition right now.

Losers: Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons

Both teams needed to shed some salary, and neither did that. The Blazers started the night with three picks and went down to two picks. They got Zach Collins and Kaleb Swanigan. Collins might have been a good pick, but neither impressed me. They got Jusuf Nurkic during the midseason so where is he after a late season injury?

The Pistons took a player in Luke Kennard that isn’t that great of a shooter and plays no defense. Your head coach is Stan Van Gundy that prides himself on defense. Not a great fit.

My final analysis on the 2017 NBA Draft Winners is that Minnesota looks great for next year. I do like Jason Tatum in Boston, but I thought that they could get an impact player in a trade. I would love to hear your thoughts on the 2017 NBA Draft Winners.

Check out what we posted before the 2017 NBA Draft Winners:

Look at the 13 Best Prospects in the 2017 NBA Draft

Check out our friends at Bball Breakdown:

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