Jimmy Butler raised a lot of eyebrows this summer when he proclaimed his beliefs that he’s intrinsically a point guard.
Specifically, during Team USA’s annual summer camp and showcase, Butler expressed his desire to assume a greater bulk of the Chicago Bulls‘ ballhandling duties, revealing to the team’s legendary beat writer, Sam Smith, on Bulls.com, the following:
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"“First off, I think I am a point guard,” Butler said without joking. “So I’ve done a heck of a lot of ball screen work, ball handling, getting into the paint and still handling, floaters, all that stuff point guards do. If I get a chance, high pick and roll more. I want some triple doubles. I’ve got to get my handle right so I can pass and get it to guys where they can make shots. I told Fred. You ask what position I play, I say point guard.”"
Naturally, immediately after the quote surfaced, we couldn’t help ourselves but to over-analyze what it means for the ongoing, ever-evolving Jimmy Butler-Derrick Rose relationship dynamic.
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Ever since the Bulls were — in the eyes of many Chicago fans — prematurely knocked out of the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers last May, in which a passive-aggressive Rose took only four second-half shots in their final elimination game, many conspiracy theorists were quick to give their hot take on the duo’s off-court relationship and on-court synergy.
Whose team is it? Is Rose jealous of Butler’s meteoric rise to fame? Just some of the popular rhetoric floating around the ethernet.
It certainty didn’t help the twosome’s perceived rift when Butler’s agent, Happy Walters, explicitly cited in an interview last summer that Rose had to learn how to play alongside the refurbished, offensively-refined version of Jimmy — a version that earned the 6’7″ power guard his inaugural All-Star nod and the 2014-15 NBA Most Improved Player of the Year award.
Before his breakout season, however, Butler had exclusively served in 3-and-D capacity. Nicknamed “Jimmy Buckets,” his moniker was somewhat of an oxymoron, as the Tomball, Texas, native had struggled mightily to get “buckets” for the first three seasons of his career.
However, Butler took an unforeseen leap last year, particularly on the offensive end of the floor, turning into a high-usage, ultra-efficient scoring wing seemingly overnight.
Chief among his improvements, Butler became a much more effective catch-and-shoot 3-point gunner, making approximately 39.5 percent on 2.4 attempts per game (which accounted for 17.3 percent of his total field goal tries) last year, per NBA.com’s SportVU Data.
In comparison, Jimmy only converted on 30.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot beyond the arc attempts the season beforehand.
The sheer threat of his newfound consistent outside stroke opened the entire floor up for Butler, who is inherently a relentless slasher at heart. Not surprisingly, he posted career-highs in free throw rate and TS% (true shooting percentage).
Pippen Ain't Easy
While Jimmy Buckets made a significant leap in terms of his overall scoring ability, he was very much still a straight-line driver who specialized in penetrating against closeouts and cutting off of the Bulls’ battalion of highly-skilled, passing bigs — most notably, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah.
He could break his man down at the top of the key with his advanced pull-up game, and could also negotiate a side pick-and-roll in a pinch, but most of his possessions still derived from simply catching-and-attacking. In fact, over 69.4 percent of his shot attempts last year were taken with less than one dribble.
Butler was very efficient, though, when given the opportunity to initiate. Although only 15.1 percent of his touches came as the pick-and-roll ballhandler in 2014-15, he produced 0.89 PPP (points per possession) in such instances, which ranked within the top-80 percentile.
In addition, Jimmy drew a shooting foul on 20.8 percent of the times he turned the corner off of a screen.
With Fred Hoiberg taking over the head coaching duties this season, two things are for certain: (1) the Bulls will assuredly run a more free-flowing offense (this means more Nikola Mirotic at the four and less of the cluster-inducing Noah-Gasol frontcourt pairing), and (2) an introduction to a more balanced minutes allocation approach (this means no more leading the league in minutes for Butler).
Fred Hoiberg said that he'll put Jimmy Butler in a position to be a "playmaker" for the Bulls this upcoming season.
— Sapere Aude (@PrimaScriptura) September 30, 2015
In the case of the former factor, Butler could — especially, with Rose out with his most recent malady — experience a material upsurge in ballhandling opportunities.
If the first few preseason games are of indication, Jimmy has proven he doesn’t bluff; he has looked awfully impressive running high pick-and-rolls. His handle has improved by leaps and bounds since entering the league — and while it isn’t at a starting point guard level — it is competent enough to get a good look almost every time down.
Explicitly, Butler has showcased a myriad of ways in which he can attack the D, whether splitting the hard hedge with explosiveness and vision, or snaking the pick and stopping on a dime for a pull-up J when the opposing big drops back.
More impressively, Jimmy has shown the propensity, thus far, of keeping his head up and hitting his cutters when he sucks the D in with his dribble-drive game.
And while Butler lacks the inborn feel to probe the defense off of the pick-and-roll and pick it apart by whipping cross-court passes to the weakside corner shooter, Jimmy has a knack of making the right play; thereby, limiting his live ball turnovers.
Perhaps, most imperatively, serving as a 1(b) ballhandler of sorts, ala James Harden and Dwyane Wade, will free Butler up to do what he is innately best at — slashing to the hoop and drawing an inordinate amount of fouls.
Considering Butler scored 18.6 points per 36 minutes last season on a usage rate meandering around the 21.6 percent range (which interestingly, ranked last among 20-plus point scorers in the association by nearly 5 percent last season), putting Jimmy Buckets in a more free-wheeling, pace-and-space friendly offensive environment, in concoction with an uptick in touches — opportunities that will aid in his quest to generate free throws and points at the rim — could catapult in him into the 23-25 point per game stratosphere on 60+ TS%; which would put Butler in elite company as a wing.
A lingering question remains, though: whether their off-court disdain is an ill-kept secret or merely just a media-fabricated rumor, will Rose come to a personal decision to eradicate some his ball dominant ways, and learn how to complement the new face of the franchise, Jimmy Butler?
Next: Grooming The King Of The North: Assessing Andrew Wiggins' Summer
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