Daily NBA Fix: Jimmy Butler’s Rise Couldn’t Come At A Better Time
By Ben Gibson
The Derrick Rose era is effectively over for the Chicago Bulls, but Jimmy Butler becoming a star couldn’t happen at a better time.
Unfortunately hearing about Derrick Rose getting an MRI has become routine for NBA fans and a sad ritual for the Chicago Bulls. At 27 years old it doesn’t seem right that one of the league’s most exciting players from several years ago can’t be his old self as his body won’t allow it more than anything else. But unfortunately, injuries are now what defines Rose’s career.
For Bulls fans, however, there is one thing going right for them, and that’s Jimmy Butler.
Last night, right to the tune of 42 points, 40 of which came in the second half against the Toronto Raptors, Butler proved it once again. His 40 second half points broke Michael Jordan‘s record of 39, and of course any NBA player, much less one in Chicago. They weren’t useless either as the Bulls won 115-113.
We got to know Butler last season rather well as he became an All-Star in his third season in the NBA. As precaution and injuries kept Rose off the floor for about a third of the season, Butler has plenty of time and space to assert himself as a fixture of the Bulls in the years to come.
With averages of 20 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, it was clear Butler was the Chicago Bulls’ next star as long as they paid him in the offseason, which they did. He’s averaging 21.8 points per game so far this season, so that’s looking like a sound investment.
It is sad to say, but effectively this is now Jimmy Butler’s team, or, at least, it will be soon. Rose’s health is stopping him from contributing at a high level, despite his best efforts. Rose may be working to be a better leader, but the locker room appears to be fractured this season. And Butler is one of the forces driving coach Fred Hoiberg to be harder on the team according to the Sporting News’ Sean Deveney.
"“I think that team has big-time problems in the locker room,” one league source familiar with the situation told Sporting News. “There is no camaraderie. There’s no chemistry. I wouldn’t say it is fighting all the time or hatred or whatever. It’s just, you stay in your corner, and I will stay in mine. I don’t think there is any one trade or anything they can make that fixes that.”There was hope before the season that new coach Fred Hoiberg would be able to come in, replace the taskmaster style of Tom Thibodeau, get more young players involved and jumpstart the dreary locker room that way.That hasn’t worked out. Hoiberg has Chicago on much the same trajectory Thibodeau did — the Bulls are on pace for 49 wins — but internally, the team remains skewered. Star guard Jimmy Butler criticized Hoiberg on Saturday after the team’s loss to the Knicks.“I also believe we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times,” Butler told reporters. “I’m sorry. I know that Fred’s a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included. You got to do what you’re supposed to do when you’re out there playing basketball.”"
The better Butler plays, the less of a grip Rose will have on the franchise, and that may ultimately lead to his departure. It is something we all seem reluctant to acknowledge, but the Rose the NBA fell in love with is gone. The Bulls need a new young star to fill that void and that’s what Butler is doing.
What happens with the Rose and the franchise is yet to be seen, but Butler’s rise couldn’t have come at a better time.
Sweet Lou Scores 30
In regards to more dysfunctional franchises, the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers played last night.
However, it was the Suns that looked the most dysfunctional of the two as the Lakers won 97-77. Lou Williams led the charge with 30 points for Los Angeles, a career-high for him. That actually surprised me because I assumed he had scored more than that on the many occasions he went off in Toronto.
More hoops habit: NBA Power Rankings
Suns owner Robert Sarver can blame “millennial culture” all he wants, but they just have a bad team right now.