Chicago Bulls : Trading Jimmy Butler Is The Wrong Option
By Gary Gorski
Are the Chicago Bulls giving serious consideration to trading All-Star guard Jimmy Butler?
Trade rumors are swirling around Chicago Bulls two-time All-Star guard Jimmy Butler linking him as a potential trade option for both the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves, who own the third and fifth picks respectively in the upcoming NBA Draft.
With the Bulls coming off a disappointing 42-40 season and missing the playoffs, the apparent logic is that trading Butler will be the catalyst of a Bulls rebuild. However, the reality is Jimmy Butler should be the centerpiece of any rebuilding going on in Chicago.
The NBA is a star-based league and the Bulls have a star coming into his prime. At only 26 years old, Butler is one of only eight NBA players this season who averaged more than 20 points, four assists, four rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
Jimmy Butler ranked 20th this season in Win Shares and 15th in VORP and he has the frame and defensive mindset to guard any wing player. The bottom line is Butler is not easily replaced.
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| Totals | Per Game | Shooting | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Season | Age | Tm | G | MP | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS | FG% | 2P% | 3P% | FT% | TS% | WS |
| 1 | Stephen Curry | 2015-16 | 27 | GSW | 79 | 34.2 | 5.4 | 6.7 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 3.3 | 30.1 | .504 | .566 | .454 | .908 | .669 | 17.9 |
| 2 | Russell Westbrook | 2015-16 | 27 | OKC | 80 | 34.4 | 7.8 | 10.4 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 23.5 | .454 | .503 | .296 | .812 | .554 | 14.0 |
| 3 | James Harden | 2015-16 | 26 | HOU | 82 | 38.1 | 6.1 | 7.5 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 4.6 | 29.0 | .439 | .494 | .359 | .860 | .598 | 13.3 |
| 4 | Kyle Lowry | 2015-16 | 29 | TOR | 77 | 37.0 | 4.7 | 6.4 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 21.2 | .427 | .461 | .388 | .811 | .578 | 11.6 |
| 5 | Kemba Walker | 2015-16 | 25 | CHO | 81 | 35.6 | 4.4 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 20.9 | .427 | .459 | .371 | .847 | .554 | 9.9 |
| 6 | Paul George | 2015-16 | 25 | IND | 81 | 34.8 | 7.0 | 4.1 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 23.1 | .418 | .447 | .371 | .860 | .557 | 9.2 |
| 7 | Jimmy Butler | 2015-16 | 26 | CHI | 67 | 36.9 | 5.3 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 20.9 | .454 | .489 | .312 | .832 | .562 | 9.1 |
| 8 | Eric Bledsoe | 2015-16 | 26 | PHO | 31 | 34.2 | 4.0 | 6.1 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 20.4 | .453 | .482 | .372 | .802 | .557 | 2.5 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/14/2016.
This will be an offseason of change certainly for Chicago.
Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah may find themselves on different teams and given their poor season something certainly does have to change, but unless the Bulls get a simply amazing offer, a sum-of-the-parts deal involving an early pick and some role players for Jimmy Butler is not going to make the Bulls better now or in the future.
The Bulls need to realize they’re well on their way to a quick and successful rebuild. Butler is the only long-term contract of consequence on the team and he’s already a proven All-Star and worth his salary.
Young players like Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott showed continued improvement throughout this season and there were calls all season long to “Free Bobby Portis,” who looks like he could be a steal of the 2015 Draft after averaging 7.0 points with 5.4 rebounds per game in just less than 18 minutes per night.
The one name I didn’t mention above is Derrick Rose. If the Bulls really want to shake things up this offseason, perhaps it is the former MVP who should be on the trade block. In addition to being plagued by injuries he just has not been effective overall.
Rose sported a TS% of .479 this season – good for 384th in the league with only a 0.4 WS (356th in the league) and a VORP of minus-0.7, placing him nearly at the bottom of the league.
In addition to that Rose will be a free agent after the 2016-17 season, meaning a team only has to commit one year to him and his money will not be a long-term concern for the Bulls even if they are unable to trade him.
The Bulls couldn’t expect to get a similar value for Rose as they could for Butler, but it does not seem that there are any rumored offers out there where the Bulls would be getting a fair value for Jimmy Butler anyway.
In addition, Chicago owns the 14th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and could have the ability to select Vanderbilt’s Wade Baldwin. Standing 6’4” with a nearly 7-foot wingspan, Baldwin could combine with Jimmy Butler to provide a fierce backcourt for years to come.
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The Bulls have a unique opportunity to have the combination of an All-Star in his prime, plenty of good, contributing and cheap young talent, a big-name city and a pile of free cash to lure free agents to make this team a contender once again, but it all starts by building around Jimmy Butler.