What's next: Jimmy Butler - sticks323's Blog

sticks323's Blog

What's next: Jimmy Butler

Posted on September 4, 2017 at 04:30 PM.

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Jimmy Butler was one of the many All-Stars who changed teams this off-season. He�s a workhorse who has finished in the top four in minutes per game the past four seasons. Over the past three seasons he has increased his scoring and assists per game. So what�s next for Jimmy Butler as he gets ready to start his first season with the Minnesota Timberwolves?

Well Butler will be reunited with coach Tom Thibodeau who made Butler an All-Star player while with the Chicago Bulls. This time around Thibs will have to get Butler to be more of a mentor for the up and coming Wolves. In the past Butler was the guy learning from guys like Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer and even Derrick Rose.

Many experts expected the Wolves to take a leap last year with the addition of Thibodeau but the young core of Karl Anthony-Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine could not get a grip on Thibs style and struggled to win just 31 games. Thibs is known as a defensive guru but the Wolves finished 26th in defensive rating.

Butler is one of the top 2-way players in the league. He has become a better scorer throughout the years but at his core he is a defensive minded guy. He should not be the go to guy on this team; that duty should fall on Karl Towns. So this season Butler should focus more on efficiency. The majority of top players in the league are efficient scorers. Butler has finished with an EFG over 50% just once in his career. He�s surrounded by better talent so he should get better shots.
He hovers around 45% shooting for his career. He was a decent 3-point shooter last season but that was only on 3.3 attempts per game. With Towns demanding double teams and Wiggins on the other side; Butler should find more open shots this season. He often settled for contested mid-range shots but his strength is getting to the basket where he finished 4th in free throw attempts per game at 8.9.

Butler�s biggest contribution to this team may never show up in the box score. As great as Towns is, he�s only 21, Wiggins is the same age. Butler needs to be the leader of this team. Yes, he�s an All-Star but he is also battle tested. He�s played in meaningful games after the All-Star break and made playoff runs. The Wolves lacked composure down the stretch in games. In clutch moments (last 5 mins within 5 points) the Wolves only scored an average of 5.7 points and were 10-30 in those games. In other words, the Wolves were terrible in close games.

Butler can still average 20+ points alongside Towns and Wiggins next season but making those two guys better defensive players is key for the Wolves going forward. He already knows the system that Thibs loves to run. He has to be willing to sacrifice some touches but still be able to come through with clutch plays; either by scoring or making the right pass.

The Wolves are getting better and many have picked them to make the playoffs this season. They still lack some depth but the addition of Jimmy Butler has them going in the right direction.