How Good is Jimmy Butler?

[troza]

What really scary about this, the Heat are only going to get better. Riley is like a dog with a bone, he will do whatever it takes to improve the roster.

If they get to and win the finals they will retool and bring in another talent to help win again.

He's built a team around Wade and Shaq, a team around LeBron, Wade, Bosh and now a team around Jimmy Butler.

For now, sure, but Miami will run out of money and valuable assets and when that day comes....Miami will be screwed.

Like they did when they went after Shaq and then missed on Lebron... oh wait...

When they lost their big 3 (Lebron to free agency, Wade to age and Bosh to injury) and since then they are bad... oh wait...

We all talked about the Spurs and we doubt that the Heat can actually beat the Lakers (although most of us want that... if they finish the Celtics this will be the first time I will be rooting for them in the finals, no matter if it is against the expected Lakers or the Nuggets) but they rebuilded 2 times after a finals trip and they went back already. It is an amazing job what they are doing (I would say that better than that just the Bulls small rebuild between 93 and 95... but we had the cheat code of bringing back Jordan).

We are still waiting for a chance to go back to the finals since 1998... and with longer rebuilds with less success.

The difference? Future and assets... there is always a chance to get them. When you win, when you have the right attitude you seek the good luck they are having.

[Southpaw]

Definitely better than Paul George.

[samwana]

Jimmy has an uncanny way of getting motivated players along with him and he finally has gotten some really good young guys to join the battle with him. This is what I wanted for Jimmy instead of old Wade. Him and Rondo would have been good with a bunch of motivated young players.

He needed a guy like Spo as coach, and that's what GarPax never managed to hire because of their overblown egotrips..

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[Southpaw]

Tonight, it's the huge defensive play down the stretch to close out. Jimmy is just a closer. Makes two big FT's to slam the door shut for good too. He just contributes in every facet of the game. Mr. 4th Q.

Wow. Miami with just one loss so far in the playoffs (and it was in OT) and now just two wins away from the freaking NBA Finals. Go Jimmy.

yup, multiple defensive plays in that 4th qtr that made a huge difference.

Read on Twitter

Yep, that tweet is a great way to describe Jimmy. He's just a winning player.

I think an underrated part of the Heat culture is Spo. He's been a great coach who always has his team playing great defense. He never got a lot of credit for their championships because they had the Big 3.

[MrFortune3]

What really scary about this, the Heat are only going to get better. Riley is like a dog with a bone, he will do whatever it takes to improve the roster.

If they get to and win the finals they will retool and bring in another talent to help win again.

He's built a team around Wade and Shaq, a team around LeBron, Wade, Bosh and now a team around Jimmy Butler.

For now, sure, but Miami will run out of money and valuable assets and when that day comes....Miami will be screwed.

That already happened, he turned those non valuable assets into Jimmy Butler and retooled around him.

[Ice Man]

Yep, that tweet is a great way to describe Jimmy. He's just a winning player.

If nothing else, he's an Embiid whisperer. The Sixers need to find somebody else like Jimmy who energizes and motivates Joel, who makes him happy. Either that or trade him.

[drosereturn]

Definitely better than Paul George.

Glad he proved me wrong when I thought playoff p was the better player in his indy days but my point still stands you cannot build him as a number 1 option and not many are.

With Miami, you dont see Butler doing a lot there and can win games scoring efficient 15pts 10 assist type games.
But here, he would have to score minimum 25 pts, and become one man lebron team to carry the load bc the Bulls would not have guys like Bam and Herro. Can they even make it to the 2nd round when bum Felicio and scoot Payne are your main reserves struggling to score 5pts per game? Or the 10pt scorer one of the worst streaky shooters in Dougie and Mirotic?

Butler is a great player if you have a number 1 and even number 2 but without these dominant players, your forcing him that just not his game. And he would have gotten the supermax bc no one was even close to his level which is already crippling. Miami complements by having the deepest bench in the NBA with 10 guys that can play playoff ball anytime ready and its only getting easier once they sign Oladipo and Giannis to form a superteam. He is somewhat a poor mans Pippen but even prime Pippen couldnt do jack by himself and def was his fault not winning anything in Philly with 2 superstars.

The only guy since MJ to carry the entire team is Rose period. You could literally surround him with 4 one way defensive players and still get the number 1 seed when you have Keith freaking bogans man bc he is basically a 6'3 Lebron.

[Ice Man]

He is somewhat a poor mans Pippen

If Butler had Scottie's job, Mike would have six rings, and if Scottie had Butler's job, Scottie would not have tasted the Eastern Finals until this year.

There, i said it.

[mtron32]

Tonight, it's the huge defensive play down the stretch to close out. Jimmy is just a closer. Makes two big FT's to slam the door shut for good too. He just contributes in every facet of the game. Mr. 4th Q.

Wow. Miami with just one loss so far in the playoffs (and it was in OT) and now just two wins away from the freaking NBA Finals. Go Jimmy.

yup, multiple defensive plays in that 4th qtr that made a huge difference.

Read on Twitter

Yep, that tweet is a great way to describe Jimmy. He's just a winning player.

I think an underrated part of the Heat culture is Spo. He's been a great coach who always has his team playing great defense. He never got a lot of credit for their championships because they had the Big 3.

The one thing that always struck me watching those Heat teams during the big three was the swarming defense he had them playing. Perhapse its something you can that a young squad can grind with but a more veteran squad needs to pull out in certain points put its nasty.

[Jcool0]

He is somewhat a poor mans Pippen

If Butler had Scottie's job, Mike would have six rings, and if Scottie had Butler's job, Scottie would not have tasted the Eastern Finals until this year.

There, i said it.

[ATRAIN53]

Wow to think

Pat Riley might have a shot with Jimmy Butler to take down the Lakers and LeBron
They showed him in the bubble last week and he had that sly look of satisfaction.

The way LeBron jilted him and bailed in 2016 was rough, you know there are still feelings there.

He's been seething at the Lakers for decades and never had a shot at revenge with them.

Jimmy has beef with BOS. They could have traded for him a few times and never pulled the trigger.
You know he wants to show them he's better than Horford or Heyward who they signed for big $$$ over him.

I for sure want a MIA vs Lakers Finals now, it's GREAT drama.

[Jvaughn]

Watch on YouTube

[Ice Man]

I for sure want a MIA vs Lakers Finals now, it's GREAT drama.

The NBA has gotta be happy. The Lakers/Celts or Lakers/Heat would both be dramatic matchups, with bigname franchises that have history. If Denver comes out of the West, that would be less ideal for the league, but not a disaster, because then Denver could be billed (with some justification) as the next Golden State -- the team led by rising young superstars that may dominate the league for years.

[Ice Man]

Watch on YouTube

The salient quote - "That's the indicator of a great culture, when you see a guy and you know 'That guy is a fit.' Not 'I think he's a fit.' You know."

Miami knows it wants from a Heat player. Even I can see that -- grit, unselfishness, high BBIQ, willingness to defer to the Heat organization and completely trust Riley/Spo, commitment to fitness. No hankies will be given to those with sensitive personalities.

What the hell do the Bulls want from a Bulls player? I have no idea except "character," which I guess means they'll take any player who doesn't throw his girlfriend down the stairs.

[FriedRise]

Also forgot that it took Miami only 5 games to beat the team with the best record in the league, the DPOY, and the reigning MVP (felt ages ago). Honestly, the Celtics don't seem that scary if you've pounced Milwaukee like that.

[Jvaughn]

Watch on YouTube

The salient quote - "That's the indicator of a great culture, when you see a guy and you know 'That guy is a fit.' Not 'I think he's a fit.' You know."

Miami knows it wants from a Heat player. Even I can see that -- grit, unselfishness, high BBIQ, willingness to defer to the Heat organization and completely trust Riley/Spo, commitment to fitness. No hankies will be given to those with sensitive personalities.

What the hell do the Bulls want from a Bulls player? I have no idea except "character," which I guess means they'll take any player who doesn't throw his girlfriend down the stairs.

Exactly. Jimmy went there and I questioned why he would go to a borderline lottery team, and boy was I wrong. Spo and Riley know what they're doing. On paper that team shouldn't be anywhere near as good as they are, and then you look at the offensive schemes they use, and it makes even more sense. Jimmy and the team completely buy-in and none of them play selfish ball. It's really amazing.

[Ice Man]

Exactly. Jimmy went there and I questioned why he would go to a borderline lottery team.

Everybody did. This year's Heat has a Spurs thing going, the team is better than the sum of its parts. That's really hard to do. Even the Spurs can't do that now, either because they don't have the personnel (the likeliest answer) or because Pops is getting too old and is losing his touch (maybe).

[johnnyvann840]

Remember when everybody said "Jimmy obviously doesn't care about winning" when and because he went to Miami? I said that Miami would be better than the Bulls and even better than Philly and got laughed at.

[Ice Man]

Remember when everybody said "Jimmy obviously doesn't care about winning" when and because he went to Miami? I said that Miami would be better than the Bulls and even better than Philly and got laughed at.

People thought Riley had gone soft, that he and Spo were content to have a lower-seed team, fill the stands, and get sun tans. Nah. They were always looking to win, but not by tanking. Sometimes that takes a while, a team needs to tread water while the parts are being assembled.

[dougthonus]

I have a ton of respect for Spo as a coach after the last few years.

Miami is interesting, looking at their formula, I thought it was kind of like Kawhi on the Raptors, but it really isn't.
Butler, Bam, and Dragic are a legit big 3 right now. They're all playing at an all-star caliber level (all 3 at kind of low all-star caliber with none of them really dominating every night, it's common that any one of those 3 could be the most important guy on any night).

Their role players have a lot of depth, talent and variety.
Robinson, Crowder, Iguodala, Olynyk, and Jones all have over 60% TS%. Herro (higher volume) is still good as well.

Effectively, they are getting playmaking from Herro, Butler, Dragic, and Bam, and their role players are destroying you when left open.