Pippen Ain’t Easy Roundtable: Discussing the Biggest Chicago Bulls Stories Heading Into December
Where does Jimmy Butler rank among fellow NBA stars?
MP: Jimmy Butler had an awesome November, averaging 27.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. Where would you rank him amongst fellow NBA stars?
AK: As I mentioned, Jimmy G. Buckets is a borderline top-10 NBA player right now. Which makes it all the more frustrating that the Bulls beat out nobody but themselves for that $15 million Rajon Rondo contract with a totally pointless $3 million player option for next season. They are taking a $15 million flyer on a backup point guard who can’t shoot or defend and doesn’t like to pass unless it’s for a direct assist.
But yeah, these are the top 10 players in the NBA in my estimation:
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Kawhi Leonard
4. Stephen Curry
5. Russell Westbrook
6. Blake Griffin
7. Chris Paul
8. James Harden
9. Kyle Lowry
10. Jimmy Butler
A note on Anthony Davis: he’s a great player, and he’s saddled with a mess of a team outside of Jrue Holiday. But I’m going with the guy on the 10-6 team over the guy on the 7-12 team, sorry AD.
MW: Fantastic question. Right now, he’s a top-10 player in the Association. The key words are “right now”, but he is.
Here are the categories that Jimmy Butler ranks inside the top 10: Free throws made and attempted, points per game, player efficiency rating, offensive rating, offensive win shares, win shares per 48 minutes, box plus-minus, value over replacement player … shall I keep going?
There’s no telling how long Butler’s rise to superstardom goes. He’s been a star, but he’s becoming a superstar this season. Will it last? For the Bulls’ sake, it needs to if they want any chance at putting playoff revenue in Jerry Reinsdorf’s pocket.
(The simple answer for discussion sake: He’s better than Klay Thompson and Paul George. Not Kawhi Leonard though, because Kawhi is an alien.)
HK: Butler is playing like a top ten player this year, and I think the stat we should really look at is what he’s done to his free throw attempts per game. Butler is getting to the line 9.4 times per game, up almost two attempts per game from last season and good for fifth in the NBA. Like everybody else, I was a little worried during the summer that Jimmy would have to take a back seat yet again to another ball-dominant star, this time with Dwyane Wade. So far, though, Jimmy has the highest usage rate on the team, and the world is as it should be.
RP: Right now, Jimmy is definitely in the top-12, and a case could be made for a spot in the top-10. You have your superstars in LeBron, Durant and Curry, followed by the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul and Anthony Davis. Who’s to say Jimmy couldn’t fall into the next tier of players? He’s having a better season than Paul George so far, he’s a much better all-around player than Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard. Butler falls to eighth in my Uhh, I Really Hope I Didn’t Forget Anybody NBA Player Power Rankings.