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SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Zillgitt breaks down the Minnesota Timberwolves trading Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers.
USA TODAY
Minnesota Timberwolves team owner and printing company billionaire Glen Taylor, shown here in 2014, grew frustrated with the Jimmy Butler saga that clouded the start of the 2018-19 season.(Photo: Ann Heisenfelt, AP)
Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor expressed regret and frustration in the way things unfolded with star wing Jimmy Butler, who the Wolves dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this week.
Taylor told the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press that the team “wasted” some time trying to persuade Butler to stay and that he spent too much time focusing on “things that were negative”
Butler was acquired by Minnesota in a 2017 trade that sent Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen to the Chicago Bulls. Taylor felt the trade made sense back then, but now finds himself scratching his head on what went wrong in a little over a year’s time.
“To me, I thought we were helpful to (Butler), because he said he wanted to get out of Chicago, so I thought we were helpful,” Taylor said. “We certainly gave Chicago some really good young players. (Butler) came here with expectations that he would help lead the team, not only with scoring, but with his experience that he would share with our young guys and we got behind that.”
The Timberwolves made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2004 but lost in five games in the first round against Houston.
Taylor also told the Minneapolis Star Tribune this week that he felt Butler “had an agenda” that led to the breakup and a “negative environment” within the team culture.
“It just appeared that they weren’t working together as a team or as a unit the way that they should’ve. I can’t exactly answer why,” Taylor said.
Taylor expressed optimism in the new assets — Robert Covington and Dario Saric — the Timberwolves received in the trade from the Sixers.
“Let’s see what we can do,” he said.
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