Finding some Buckets for Jimmy - MERGED

[BloodyQ]

Jimmy is the best player on the team, and he has to score and go to the line for us to have any chance to win it seems. He has disappeared the last few games, and his impact on the floor has been diminshing greatly ever since the Houston game. Jimmy Buckets has regressed back to Jimmy Butler. I noticed that in our win streak and our early play we would always start the game posting him up constantly the first few plays. The team would be aggressively looking for him, and he would demand the ball. His baseline jumper was automatic, that was his spot, and we would feed him constantly. Now, we're not doing any of that anymore for some odd reason.

He doesn't seem to be dominating on the defensive end either, maybe his confidence is gone beacuse the team is playing like trash. But what way can we get him going again?

[fleet]

As I have been saying, Jimmy probably has not had priority attention from defenses yet. So it'll be increasingly difficult when they account for him more and take away the drive. Stacey mentioned that this morning.

I assume shooters to space at the 3 and 4 are what he needs to keep his numbers up

[League Circles]

As I have been saying, Jimmy probably has not had priority attention from defenses yet. So it'll be increasingly difficult when they account for him more and take away the drive. Stacey mentioned that this morning.

I assume shooters to space at the 3 and 4 are what he needs to keep his numbers up

Yes. Jimmy probably can't put up the numbers he did without a lineup like:

Rose
Butler
MDJ
Niko
Gasol

[lastmanstanding]

i think he probably needs more touches from mid range/mid post area. He's also not getting some of the foul calls he got early in the season. With Hinrich & Noah on the court teams are packing the paint taking away driving lanes. with Dunleavy out he has had to play more small forward negating at least some of the size advantage he enjoyed at the 2. Teams are really adjusting their defenses to control him. He's simply missing some makeable shots, bunnies/short jumpers that he made before. all that combines to effect his effeciency. Dunleavy returning will help, Jimmy will also have to adjust to the defensive adjustments he's seeing. Finally he's going to start to make some of those easy shots he hasnt gotten to fall lately.

[AirP.]

There's some pretty big differences in Jimmy's game statistically from month to month.

1. Shooting 3s by the month is getting better. 31%, 35%, 38%.
2. 3 point attempts are going up by the month, per game 2.6, 3.2, 4. (inching towards doubling his 3 attempts from the first month)

These 2 facts seem to point towards Butler hanging out at the 3pt line more.

3. Attempts at the rim are going downward by the month, 4.8, 4.6, 3.6.
4. More attempts at the rim are off assists, a huge difference in January(where Chicago is struggling), 61%, 46%, 82%.

To me it seems to indicate less isolation plays for Butler(which he was doing well with) and getting more buckets in the flow of the offense, the problem though is that Butler was flourishing in that role because of his ability to get to the free throw line...

5. FTA are going down per month 8.8, 7.4, 6.5.

Jimmy takes very few 3-10 foot shots so not looking at those(although 0-8 in January) nor 10-16 foot shots although there is a drop in those.

6. The 16 foot to 3pt range jumper... is actually getting better by month 38%, 43%, 50%
7. The first 2 months he took the 16 foot to 3pt shot 3.1 and 3.4 times a game, in January 2.3 times a game.
8. His scoring is declining by month, 21.9, 21.5 and now 16.7.
9. His FG% is declining by month 50%, 47%, 37%.
10. Butler's true shooting percentage is also dropping, 62%, 58%, 53%.

To me, Jimmy Butler started out as Chicago's goto guy and used a bunch of isolations but has slowly went back to being roleplayer Jimmy getting his points through the flow of the offense(which the higher assisted numbers indicate).

[ATRAIN53]

As I have been saying, Jimmy probably has not had priority attention from defenses yet. So it'll be increasingly difficult when they account for him more and take away the drive. Stacey mentioned that this morning.

Exactly.

Now that the opposing coach is scheming for him, this is when he's gong to merit that MAX deal that everyone is ready to hand him.

He's still not a shooter and I'd rather seem him be an 8 FTA per game type of player while he's young and his body can handle the abuse.

[blastman]

Ever since he was out on bereavement and they Bulls announced he would get max money, he's regressed.

I don't understand what's going on here. These recent games have looked like toe injury Jimmy.

There's a lot of pressure on the man now, he needs to rise above. He's going to be a freaking all star.

[mj234eva]

Dunleavy is the primary provider of spacing. When he is on the court, Butler shoots 50.7 percent. When Dunleavy sits, Butler shoots 40.6. Butler’s Open+ FG% is 60.95 (meaning that no defender is within three feet of him with a hand raised), which is the best of any shooting guard in the NBA. Since Dunleavy has been injured, Butler’s Open+ Frequency (the percent of his shots that have been Open+ attempts) is only 28.9 percent. On the season, that number is 36.59 percent.

http://www.vantagesports.com/#story/VLQ ... vy-returns

[maynardo]

Ever since he was out on bereavement and they Bulls announced he would get max money, he's regressed.

I don't understand what's going on here. These recent games have looked like toe injury Jimmy.

There's a lot of pressure on the man now, he needs to rise above. He's going to be a freaking all star.

I think he's hurt and playing thru it, because his defense hasn't been good in the last few games, is not just his shooting

[ATRAIN53]

I was thinking about that last night - did we ever get any more info on who died? Was it someone real close?

Kinda understandable why he might be in a funk for a few days over this....

Still, he's not attacking the basket with reckless abandon. When he was doing that the first 30 games of he season he was being called and MVP and the FO was outlining a MAX deal.

I'd personally like to see a full season or two of him @ 8-10 FTA per game before declaring him the next James Harden.
He's shown the ability to do it, but not the consistency yet. When your shot is not falling they always say to get some easy baskets by going to the rim. Maybe even some put backs.

Would love to see him with another 20 FTA night.....

[TheJordanRule]

Dunleavy is the primary provider of spacing. When he is on the court, Butler shoots 50.7 percent. When Dunleavy sits, Butler shoots 40.6. Butler’s Open+ FG% is 60.95 (meaning that no defender is within three feet of him with a hand raised), which is the best of any shooting guard in the NBA. Since Dunleavy has been injured, Butler’s Open+ Frequency (the percent of his shots that have been Open+ attempts) is only 28.9 percent. On the season, that number is 36.59 percent.

http://www.vantagesports.com/#story/VLQ ... vy-returns

So insightful. Thanks for finding this link MJ234EVA.

[bullsRlife]

Ever since he was out on bereavement and they Bulls announced he would get max money, he's regressed.

I don't understand what's going on here. These recent games have looked like toe injury Jimmy.

There's a lot of pressure on the man now, he needs to rise above. He's going to be a freaking all star.

I think he's hurt and playing thru it, because his defense hasn't been good in the last few games, is not just his shooting

I don't think its an injury. If you really play close attention to his defense, there are certain teams a Jimmy Butler just isn't effective against defensively.

GSW, and Wizards. Just too much movement, and pick n roll action. Even the first time we went against the Wiz, Beal wasn't really being hand cuffed like that. Hr just missed shots he normally makes. That's why I wasn't really high on that win against the Wiz. Also, Nene was barely playing.

[RayClayMatthews]

Its the issue Rose has had in the past, these 2 bigs (Jo and Pau) taking up the whole lane and then no shooters

[johnnyvann840]

Move Jimmy back to the 2 and start Niko at the 3 while MDJ is out

Start getting Jimmy the ball in the post and on the baseline more again.. and the corners. Just start getting him the ball more period. and spare me the rhetoric that it doesn't matter if Jimmy plays the 2 or 3 because it clearly does, even on this team and there is a difference.

Bulls need to get back to having the biggest, most overpowering back court in the NBA.


That would be a good start

[johnnyvann840]

Dunleavy is the primary provider of spacing. When he is on the court, Butler shoots 50.7 percent. When Dunleavy sits, Butler shoots 40.6. Butler’s Open+ FG% is 60.95 (meaning that no defender is within three feet of him with a hand raised), which is the best of any shooting guard in the NBA. Since Dunleavy has been injured, Butler’s Open+ Frequency (the percent of his shots that have been Open+ attempts) is only 28.9 percent. On the season, that number is 36.59 percent.

http://www.vantagesports.com/#story/VLQ ... vy-returns

Great find.

This is also primarily because whenever MDJ is on the floor Jimmy is playing the 2 guard.. whenever MDJ is out, even when he was healthy, Jimmy is playing the 3. He just is not nearly as effective.

[Mech Engineer]

There was a series on Comcast on how Jimmy worked during summer. It was great insight on what he did. He is a very, very smart player who is figuring out things like how many fouls each defender has, where help is coming from, defender's tendencies, stage of the game and many other things.

It is amazing how many things he is processing in his head when he is on the court. I think a lot of it is MDJ or another 3 pt shooter not available. Jimmy needs a spacer waiting who knows where to be. It gives him a good decision making option.

The problem with Mirotic is, he freelances and is very unpredictable unlike a MDJ who is usually in the right position and doesn't try to do the million other things Mirotic seems to do.

Mirotic is super talented but he is not a steady SF like MDJ. He has too many tools and sometimes tries to do complex and unnecessary things which is expected of a rookie.

[johnnyvann840]

There was a series on Comcast on how Jimmy worked during summer. It was great insight on what he did. He is a very, very smart player who is figuring out things like how many fouls each defender has, where help is coming from, defender's tendencies, stage of the game and many other things.

It is amazing how many things he is processing in his head when he is on the court. I think a lot of it is MDJ or another 3 pt shooter not available. Jimmy needs a spacer waiting who knows where to be. It gives him a good decision making option.

The problem with Mirotic is, he freelances and is very unpredictable unlike a MDJ who is usually in the right position and doesn't try to do the million other things Mirotic seems to do.

Mirotic is super talented but he is not a steady SF like MDJ. He has too many tools and sometimes tries to do complex and unnecessary things which is expected of a rookie.

Good point.. I saw that piece and it is good. Thing I took from it was about how Jimmy watched video of MJ and Kobe all summer learning how they were effective and the spots they used on the floor and how they got space.. he was learning to be a SG. He figured it out and we moved him back to the 3 since MDJ has been out..

[NecessaryEvil]

Jimmy is the best player on the team, and he has to score and go to the line for us to have any chance to win it seems.

Best player doesn't let defenses stop him, he only stops himself.

Derrick Rose is still the teams best player. Jimmy is the best all-around, Pau's the most fundamental.

The extra attention is completely taking him out of his game, entirely. That's not good. He was great the game after his time off but that's been about it since.

[kodo]

As far as I can tell, play-wise what happened is that Butler actually switched to SF ( dunleavy’s role) and Snell is actually playing SG.
You may say, wth difference does that make. Well for Thibs it does seem to make a difference.

This means Jimmy is spotting up at the 3 point line more often.

Take this play early into the Wizards game where we got down early 5-2. You would think a basket would be a good idea here, but unexplicably we run a Snell / Gasol high pick and roll. That seems to make no sense: with Rose & Jimmy on the floor we ran a Snell pick & roll??? Rose & Jimmy acted as spot up 3 point shooters.



I think normally if Dunleavy was in the game, Butler would be running that pick & roll and attacking the basket and Dunleavy would be parked out by the 3 point line. The play makes 10x more sense.

I don’t have to time to rewatch all the recent games, but in general I did notice Butler is not getting the screens & pick & roll plays he got earlier this season, and instead is spotting up more often beyond the arc.

[Concept Coop]

This is also primarily because whenever MDJ is on the floor Jimmy is playing the 2 guard.. whenever MDJ is out, even when he was healthy, Jimmy is playing the 3. He just is not nearly as effective.

This is huge. Jimmy spent most of his time at SF last season and watched his offensive numbers take a dive.