Comparing The Chicago Bulls Roster With Cleveland

Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James vs. Jimmy Butler

LeBron James is listed as a SF and Jimmy Butler is listed as a SG, but that doesn’t keep them from being paired up in this head-to-head match-up. These two players are currently the top dogs for their respective ball clubs and were arguably the most exciting individual match-up from the 2015 postseason.

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Measuring in at a whopping 6’8″, 250 lbs, James has a distinct size advantage over just about anyone that attempts to match up with him. Butler comes in about an inch shorter and 30 lbs lighter (6’7″, 220 lbs).

Here are their 2014-15 regular season stats to further compare the two:

James – PPG (25.3) APG (7.4) RPG (6.0)

Butler – PPG (20.0) APG (3.3) RPG (5.8)

It doesn’t take a whole lot of time to recognize that despite Butler’s vast improvements last season, James was still a convincing margin ahead of Butler. However, this match-up became more intriguing when the pair went head-to-head in the second round last May.

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Butler, known for his tenacious defense, took on the challenge of chasing James around for the entire series. While James still had a strong enough performance to help his team overcome the Bulls in six games, Jimmy Butler made him look somewhat human.

Here are the accumulative stats for each player from the series:

James – Points (157) FG (61-153) 3’s (3-28) FT (32-40) REB (66) ST (10) TO (27)

Butler – Points (126) FG (44-108) 3’s (13-35) FT (25-29) REB (34) ST (14) TO (7)

James had more points, rebounds and assists, but he also had twenty more TO’s, four less steals, shot a slightly worse percentage from the field (39.86 to 40.74 percent), and shot a much worse three-point percentage (10.71 to 37.14 percent). Butler ended up averaging five less points per game (21 to 26.16), but he also shot 45 less shots from the field and seven less from the free throw line.

Regardless, these stats do still show that James is the better player. What these stats do not show is the fact that Butler guarded James the entire series, while James often took on slightly easier defensive assignments such as Mike Dunleavy and Joakim Noah (all in the name of versatility of course).

In conclusion, LeBron James will be the better player for the 2015-16 season, but if Jimmy Butler can have another year of progression, he could further shrink the gap between himself and James.

Next: Kyrie vs. Rose