The 5 best Chicago Bulls players since Michael Jordan

4. Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler’s 2016-17 season is arguably the best season of any Bulls player since Jordan. Sure, he didn’t win an MVP or even a playoff series, but check out the stats versus Derrick Rose’s 2010-11 MVP campaign:

2016-17 Butler: 23.9 PPG, 5.5 APG, 6.2 RPG, 1.9 STL, 45.5 FG%, 36.7 3P%, 58.6 TS%
2010-11 Rose: 25.0 PPG, 7.7 APG, 4.1 RPG, 1.0 STL, 44.5 FG%, 33.2 3P%, 55.0 TS%

Plus, Butler attributed for more Win Shares (13.8) as per basketball-reference.com, than Rose (13.1) in a season when the Bulls 21 fewer games.

You could argue that stats aren’t everything. That Rose led a better Bulls team and took them deep into the playoffs, and that should count for something. To that I say: Yep, you’re right. That’s why Butler only comes in fourth on this list. Butler’s teams were always competitive, but never won more than 50 games. Those are some of the best Bulls teams since Jordan retired, but still not as good as Rose, which is why Rose ends up higher on this list.

Butler’s last three seasons in Chicago are among the best since 1998. He averaged at least 20 points per game in each year and made the last three All-Star games. The mantle was passed from Rose to Butler, but the Bulls front office–rightly or wrongly–never believed in Butler like they did in peak Rose.

For whatever reason, they decided they needed to rebuild despite their best player being only 27 years old. That didn’t stop an equally young Minnesota Timberwolves team from trading for Butler, and it may work out better for them.

Butler didn’t have the longevity of Hinrich and others on this list, but his last three seasons were among the best of any Bulls player since Jordan.