Unleash the Butler-Mirotic pairing
When Jimmy Butler plays with Nikola Mirotic, Chicago has a net rating of 11.8. That is by far the highest rating of any pairing of Bulls players with more than 500 minutes played together.
The reasoning is simple: there’s more space on the floor to operate.
When Butler plays with Mirotic, 23 percent of the team’s points come from 3s. When Butler plays without Mirotic, that number drops to 16 percent.
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That’s huge for a Chicago team that seems to avoid 3s at all costs. And even though Mirotic has shot 30 percent from behind the arc this season, teams still tend to hug him tight on the perimeter, opening up more room for Butler.
After being listed as inactive against the Boston Celtics, Mirotic returned to the active roster against the Hornets and posted a double-double, scoring 24 points on five 3s and snagged 11 rebounds.
His first 3-pointer of the game came after guess who, Jimmy Butler, drove to the hoop. All five of Charlotte’s defenders focused their attention on Butler, who then found Mirotic wide open in the opposite corner.
If Hoiberg truly wants to try and play some pace and space basketball, this is a good place to start.