Pippen Ain't Easy
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Jimmy Butler Proving His Value to Bulls

By Jay Knodell

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Jimmy Butler has picked a good time to be playing his best basketball. With exactly two weeks to get a contract extension hammered out without becoming a restricted free agent next summer, Butler is proving that he can be more than just a defender and is increasing his value with each passing game. Whether or not an agreement is reached remains to be seen but if the fourth-year guard out of Marquette continues his uptick in productivity on the offensive end the Bulls will have one hell of a shooting guard for at least one more season.

The reasons for his stellar play so far have been fairly obvious. First of all, he’s healthy. Butler was plagued by knee, foot, ankle, and rib injuries throughout last season, hindering his game. It seemed like every time he recovered from one ailment another injury occurred. A lot of that had to do with the high number of minutes he played night in and night out. His minutes should go down some this year, but it won’t be a noticeable drop off. The Bulls have plenty of depth in the frontcourt, but the small forward and shooting guard spots are pretty thin. Kirk Hinrich and possibly even Doug McDermott will see time at shooting guard, but second-year swingman Tony Snell seems to have fallen completely out of the rotation leaving Butler the only true shooting guard option. For now though, Butler is healthy and in great shape after coming into camp leaner and lighter. Unless he gets injured he’ll see the court more than anyone, giving him ample opportunity to produce and further heighten his value on the open market.

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Butler is also reaping the benefits of having more talent around him. Derrick Rose, particularly as he eases himself back into things, is a willing and able passer on the fast break. Butler is using those opportunities to get easy buckets in transition so far in the preseason. The Bulls will look to run more this year and the duo of Rose and Butler will be a handful in the open court. Rose also generates a lot of attention from defenders in the halfcourt, taking more pressure off of his backcourt running mate.

In addition to Rose being back, the Bulls finally have a true low post presence in Pau Gasol. The offense is still a work in progress, but the threat of Gasol down low has produced terrific floor spacing at times. He draws a lot of attention with the rock in his hands, and with better shooters surrounding the perimeter, lanes are opening up for Butler to attack. Butler moves well without the ball, and Gasol has found him cutting to the basket on more than one occasion already. With Gasol, Noah, and Rose looking for him his high percentage shots are sure to increase.

Most of the credit needs to go to Butler, though. He’s playing to his strengths and realizes his limitations. Last year Butler had the worst shooting year of his short career. He connected on just under 40% of his field goal attempts. Due to Rose’s injury and the trade of Luol Deng, Butler was thrust into a more prominent role offensively and it just didn’t fit him. He wasn’t the type of player that an offense could lean on, and was unable to create good shots for himself consistently. He was settling for jump shots, resulting in a huge rise in three-point attempts. He took 240 three-pointers in just 67 games, and hit only 28% of them. Take a look at his shot chart from last season. All the blue around the perimeter isn’t good.

Before last night, where he attempted four, Butler had taken only one three-pointer in four games. Instead, he’s taking more mid-range shots and hitting them well. His shot looks more fluid, the result of hard work during the offseason. Also, his ball handling seems to be improved and he’s attacking the basket much more than last year. He shot 16 free throws last night, and has averaged 8.6 per game during Chicago’s five games so far.

It’s unknown yet whether or not Butler has improved to the point that the team can lean on him for scoring, but the reality is that they won’t have to. They don’t need him to stretch the floor with perimeter shots. Chicago has shooters now. They won’t need him to catch the ball with 5 seconds left on the shot clock and get off a good shot. They have Rose for that. They need him to attack the basket off the dribble or by moving without the ball, run the floor with Rose, and be able to hit a mid-range shot consistently. Check, check, and check so far.

Butler’s ability to defend the likes of conference foes Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, and most importantly LeBron James already boosts his value substantially. Consistent, efficient, offense is the difference between the 4-year $32 million contract given to Avery Bradley and the max contracts handed out to Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons. All the pieces are in place for Butler to have a big year. Chicago’s front office better get a deal done before his stock rises too high to be able to keep him.

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