Chicago Bulls Blurbs: The All-Star Edition
Jimmy Butler is the lone All-Star representative for the Chicago Bulls during the NBA’s All-Star weekend, but there’s still plenty of good Bulls content across the web. Let’s take a look at some of it.
For the first time in his career, Jimmy Butler will represent the Chicago Bulls as not only an All-Star representative, but a starter in Sunday night’s game. The 27-year-old will make his third straight appearance in the exhibition game in New Orleans, but the first as a starter.
Butler, who has been the subject of trade rumors with the deadline just days away this coming week, is having the best season of his career.
Not only is Butler averaging 24.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and five assists per game for the Bulls, he’s fourth in free throw attempts and makes, tied for eighth in total steals, seventh in win shares and 12th in player efficiency rating.
If it wasn’t for Butler’s stellar play during the first portion of the season, the Bulls wouldn’t be sitting seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and in the playoff picture. That may seem completely obvious, but it’s the truth. The Bulls would be quite bad (worse than they are) without Butler on the floor.
Having said that, a bulk of the content surrounding the Bulls across the internet lately has been about Butler himself (along with a few other subjects).
Here’s a look at this weekend’s Chicago Bulls Blurbs, featuring some of the best Bulls pieces you’ll find across the web.
More Bulls: Part II of our Not-So-Early draft big board for the Bulls
Jimmy Butler is rising over a bunch of bull – (@DamianTrillard)
Seerat Sohi isn’t just a Pippen Ain’t Easy alumna, she’s an amazing basketball writer and a fantastic Twitter follow.
Her long-form piece for ESPN on Jimmy Butler’s rise to superstardom this weekend was personally one of my favorite reads and included not only great quotes from Butler himself, but some nuggets you probably didn’t know about Butler’s early-life struggles.
It’s worth your time.
Dream (team) backcourt? Jimmy Butler says he’d love to play with Kyrie Irving – (@hungarianjordan)
When he’s not lashing into Fred Hoiberg for his poor play designs for offensive plays out of timeouts for the Bulls, Stephen Noh is writing some of our favorite Bulls pieces you’ll find. He’s a frequent member of our Bulls Blurbs gatherings and for good reason.
This weekend, he’s down in New Orleans reporting for The Athletic Chicago and talked to Jimmy Butler for a bit. Other than speaking to Butler about why Kyrie Irving thinks the world is flat, he also got Butler to talk about how much he enjoys playing with Irving. (Sneaky recruiting tactic? Maybe?)
Jerian Grant is developing into just what the Bulls need – (@OldManBikshorn)
In non-Butler talks, Jacob Bikshorn at SB Nation‘s Blog a Bull wrote a piece about Gar Forman and John Paxson‘s favorite prospect from the 2015 NBA Draft: Jerian Grant.
It’s been a struggle for the entire Bulls depth chart at the point guard position this season, but Grant is probably the best option for the Bulls next to Butler as a lead guard. Jacob explains what he’s done well lately and what he can still improve on to be the promising guard Forman and Paxson expected him to be coming out of Notre Dame.
Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union won’t ‘stick to sports’ — nor should they – (@TeddyGreenstein)
Among the Chicago-based beat guys and columnists down in New Orleans this weekend is Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. He spoke with Dwyane Wade and Wade’s lovely wife Gabrielle Union on an array of subjects, with most of them coming off the court.
Wade’s impact in the communities and being vocal about social injustice has been noticeable and it’s been great to see. There’s no “sticking to sports” with the Wade family and they shouldn’t have to.
The Chicago Bulls are turning into the ImprobaBulls – (@xvanwilderx)
My partner-in-crime here at PAE, Daniel Coughlin, has created a new term for the 2016-17 Chicago Bulls: the ImprobaBulls.
Next: Jimmy Butler on trade rumors: 'Nothing I can do about it'
Why? He explains in this piece that the Bulls simply do things that they shouldn’t, whether it’s good or bad. The running joke with the Bulls (one of the many) is that they simply don’t make any sense. He’s not wrong.