A Case for Jimmy G. Buckets

[PaKii94]

With the addition of Mc3, Mirotic, Gasol and an improved snell, people have been really down on Jimmy. What if I told you that the injuries + whole lotta minutes for the whole year+forced into a bigger role caused his putrid offense.
What if I told you Jimmy DID improve last year?

I'm crazy right?

WRONG.

People want Jimmy to perform like he did in the 2013 playoffs. Turns out, a healthy Jimmy was playing better than that. People forget JImmy was actually decently healthy to start the season (1st 9 games) until he went down in the 9th with the turf toe. D-Rose then goes down in the 11th forcing Jimmy to come back still injured, forced into a bigger role, with heavy minutes.

Let's look at some numbers. (I know the sample size is small (1st 9 games of 2014 & 12 games for 2013 PO... but bear with me.)

His first 9 games Jimmy averaged 29.7 minutes. For the 2013 PO Jimmy averaged 40.8. The numbers below are per36 mins

Code: Select all

      w/ Rose  2013 PO Player X
PTs: 13.56     11.8     14.0
TRB: 5.78      4.6       5.9
AST: 2.02      2.4       2.7
STL: 2.29      1.1       0.9
BLK: 0.94      0.4       0.6
PF:   1.2      1.9       1.4
FGA: 9.51      8.4       12.8
FG%: .435     .435      .412
3PA: 3.48      2.7       3.6
3P%: .385     .405      .367
FTA: 4.84      4.0       2.8
FT%: .861     .818      .770


A healthy Jimmy last year increased his point total by 2, his total rebounds by 1.2, more than doubled his steals, more than doubled his blocks, cut down on his fouls, increased his FGA but his FG% was the same, Increased his 3PA with a slight decrease in 3P%, increased his FTA while hitting more of those FT all while providing all NBA defense. At the same time, as many people believe (myself included) Jimmy's game was too similar to Deng's so he didn't seem to fit well with the shots he got.

but but but.... he sucks tho??

Anybody got a guess on who player X is? 2011-12 Loul Deng. The All-Star.


wakeup people. JIMMY BUTLER is LEGIT. He got simliar pts/reb/asts along with more steals+blocks+FTA with less fouls. He had a better fg%, 3p%, ft% along with being younger at 24 vs. 26. There is a reason that Deng was let go.

Jimmy was injured and played big minutes. Defense is already tiring and Jimmy plays it at an all-NBA caliber level. Heavy legs are to be expected. No he's not a secondary ball-handler or creator but he CAN be a 3rd-4th option on a team that has a 1&2. We had a HORRIBLE offense last year, no spacing at all.

As long as everyone is healthy. I fully expect Jimmy to be at 15/5/2/2 at 45/38/85 per36 along with ELITE defense with Rose+Mc3/MDJ next to him instead of Deng. This off-season rest will be huge for jimmy as well as not having to play big minutes and a bigger role than he has to.

Jimmy is a valuable player on a extremely valuable contract, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets big bucks next offseason. I am hoping the bulls lock him down at $8mil per like Taj because I still think he has room to improve (just like taj has shown).

If you still wanna hate this is what Jimmy has to say:

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Shiny new toys have left Jimmy at the bottom of the toy box collecting dust getting no love.

[DA BULLZ 101]

he is a beast of a defender but i think they should start extention talks with him asap around the 6 million a year range.

[RedBulls23]

I think Jimmy needs to play about 30 mins or so to keep fresh, and keep his shooting volume low. He's just not a high volume scorer and likely never will be.

I think those were big reasons why Jimmy struggled last year. Injuries aside.

[Space Indaver]

He needs to make his own case this season. Most people are saying this is the year for him. We find out if he's worth the same as Luol. Lance, etc.

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Get his minutes down to 25-30 a night, let Snell and McDagger gets some minutes. Just have Jimmy ready 100% for the playoffs.

[musiqsoulchild]

I think he has to be his own advocate. He is playing for a contract after all.

Get your offense going....we need it. Thibs will play you less...because we have more than enough now.

Its upto him....I am not going to go easy on him though. He's got to show he can make the 3 ball at 35%. He's done that before....he should focus on that.

He is the answer to a lot of our backcourt issues (minor ones, but issues nonetheless).

[JohnnyKILLroy]

If were healthy then I think Jimmy balls out.

[musiqsoulchild]

If were healthy then I think Jimmy balls out.

I hope so, Johnny..I really think Rose + Gasol will open a lot of space and time for Jimmy.

[PaKii94]

Get his minutes down to 25-30 a night, let Snell and McDagger gets some minutes. Just have Jimmy ready 100% for the playoffs.

I think this is what will happen. Limiting minutes will be a huge help for everyone on this team. A good example is Kirk last year, before and after his minute restrictions

[JohnnyKILLroy]

If were healthy then I think Jimmy balls out.

I hope so, Johnny..I really think Rose + Gasol will open a lot of space and time for Jimmy.

A lot more Jimmy off the cut drawing the foul...

[wonderboy2]

I just hope he can stay out of foul trouble because hes the only player on our team capable of defending the ELITE wings players of the east.

[Swarles Xavier]

I think he has to be his own advocate. He is playing for a contract after all.

Get your offense going....we need it. Thibs will play you less...because we have more than enough now.

Its upto him....I am not going to go easy on him though. He's got to show he can make the 3 ball at 35%. He's done that before....he should focus on that.

He is the answer to a lot of our backcourt issues (minor ones, but issues nonetheless).

Hopefully Jimmy loves money half as much as Melo and find a way to improve exponentially this year. Do it for the money Jimmy! Then after winning the championship, realize you love winning more and then sign an extension taking less.

[HomoSapien]

The turf toe really may have affected him, but picking 9 games at the beginning of the season really isn't a large enough sample to come away with anything definitive. What about the rest of the games? Is he excused because Rose didn't play? Obviously not.

Butler is a really nice role player, but I think his expectations really spiraled out of hand last season. He may still reach them, but if you only think of Butler as a role player then it's hard to be disappointed with him.

I also wouldn't put any stock in Luol Deng's numbers. I'm glad he was rewarded for the team's success, but those were never "All-Star" worthy numbers.

[ImSlower]

I obviously like Butler hence the avatar. Our wing situation is weird right now - is Snell really improving enough to get like 18mpg? Regardless I expect Butler to average the highest mpg on the team this season. I don't really care about his offense. He will usually be the least important scorer on the floor, or perhaps neck n neck with Jo.

I very much hope we find a way to keep him a Bull after this year. It's fun to focus on him while watching our defense. He is a mean, mean bastard.

[logical_art]

He started out in a shooting slump and then pressed once Deng left.

I don't doubt that he's going to go back to around 35% shooting on threes, which when combined with his all world defense and good finishing ability makes for a very nice player.

[dumbell78]

Before the Deng trade I said on here that Jimmy would give 90% of the offense and better defense and was all for Deng being moved. I still believe that, just imperative he stay healthy and get around that 32-35 minute mark. He exhausts way too much energy on D to play those crazy minutes and still be productive. I think he'll pull through this year and be just fine. Just hope Thibs doesn't run him down!

[BullsFTW]

If Jimmy can average 10-12 PPG in about 30+ Minutes with great efficiency and his usual outstanding defense, then I'd be satisfied.

[kingkirk]

The board has a collective has turned on a lot of our guys because they haven't delivered big numbers, haven't been efficient, and at times, tough to watch.

This, to me, should be expected give what we've gone through, and only now is Butler going through what others have gone through on this board.

Before, when Deng and Boozer were the whipping boys and he was playing well, he was our bright light.

With them gone, and Jimmy having a down year, his perception on the board has changed.

We have new guys now like McDermott who are the eye of the board, meaning Butler needs a good season to rekindle the love affair that once was.

I think people forget how much we asked of Butler last season. Not only did Thibs play him 40 mins, but he was asked to man the best opposing wing whilst also being expected to provide 80% of Deng's offense.

That's a lot of work for one guy to do. JB is insanely fit, but how can you expect him to provide offense as your lead wing option when he is doing the rest of the stuff we ask of him?

[BrooklynBulls]

I keep saying this, but I'll do it again. A constellation of events conspired to make Jimmy Butler as bad statistically as he ever could be. He's a limited player, but what he does well he does REALLY well. This is why he is not as good as Deng-- Deng has enough versatility in his game that he can play alongside anybody and appear a competent starting level player. Butler needs scorers, passers, and facilitators, as well as some fast breaks, to make him appear fully competent on offense. I DO believe he can look fully competent on offense. To be a lower option shooter so all his 3's are open, and many from the corner. To handle the ball less, because straight line drive is his ONLY efficient option there. To have guys who can get out on the break with him, instead of a team that slows everything down so they can grind opponents knees and wills to dust.

No spacing, no other scorers of note, no dynamic ballhandling aside from DJ (who made Butler look better) and Noah. This Bulls team will make Butler's strengths more noticeable and his weaknesses less so. I think he'll look FAR better in his advanced statistics this year.