Sunday Shootaround: Jimmy Butler is carrying the Bulls into the future

BOSTON -- Jimmy Butler is an All-Star, which is obvious to anyone who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention to the NBA this season. He’s averaging more than 22 points, five rebounds and four assists, while continuing to play the kind of hard-nosed defense on which he made his reputation. That he’s doing so for a Bulls team that has somehow managed to have a competitive record despite mediocre metrics only adds to his value.

Butler isn’t technically an All-Star yet, but that’s semantics. Reserves will be announced this week and while there’s always more deserving candidates than spots permitted, there is no chance that Butler won’t be among them. With apologies to the great Dwyane Wade who was voted in as a starter and is having an excellent season in his own right, Butler is the best 2-guard in the East and possibly even the entire sport. (James Harden and Klay Thompson have counter-arguments on this claim and you’re welcome to them.)

"I think he deserves to go, period," Derrick Rose said. "He’s been balling. As far as us having one of the top teams in the East, he’s held us up so far."

And what does Rose think of his own chances?

"Nah," he said. "Not at all."

That’s obvious to everyone as well, but let’s think about this for a minute. That’s Derrick Rose, former Most Valuable Player, talking about Jimmy Butler, whose journey to the league included a year at junior college and two solid, but unspectacular years at Marquette. While not exactly a ceremonial torch passing, it’s still a stunning turn of events in the careers of both players.

There is no longer any question that Butler is Chicago’s best player. He leads the team in points, minutes, steals and even assists although that will likely change once Rose gets a few more games under his belt. He routinely guards top scorers every night and is a master of jumping around screens to stay locked on his man. While Butler’s three-point shooting has taken a noticeable turn for the worse, he has made himself into one of the best isolation scorers in the sport and he lives at the free throw line. His best games, like his 53-point outburst against Philly, have been predicated simply on Butler’s determination to beat his man in a straight line and get to the rim as much as possible.

It often seems like Butler’s will is the best thing about a Bulls offense that was supposed to play fast and loose under new coach Fred Hoiberg, but has instead reverted to its grinding halfcourt ways of Tom Thibodeau. That it’s Butler doing the willing instead of Rose has been one of the many complex subplots of Chicago’s season.

The short version: Rose was not at full strength to start the season, although he’s been playing better of late. Joakim Noah resisted a bench role early on and then injured his shoulder, which will keep him out 4-6 months just as he’s set to enter free agency. Nikola Mirotic has struggled all season and the wing has been a disaster area. Hoiberg has tried various lineup combinations, not all of them successful, as he attempts to balance a mix of veterans and younger players in his first year on the job. Through it all Butler has been the focal point who has held this thing together on the court.

"It’s different," Butler told me after a disappointing loss to the Celtics. "It’s a learning curve. But I prepared myself for this every day over the summer. I’ve got the best trainers in the nation in Chris Johnson and Travelle Gaines. They prepared me for it. It’s different, but I’m learning. I’m going to keep getting better, because I’m never going to stop working."

Butler did work like crazy in the offseason, rising by 5 a.m. to work on his game with Johnson and then with Gaines on his core and leg strength. Long runs, kettlebells, box jumps and a strict diet all prepped him for the physical rigors he was about to face. He even made a friendly bet with Gaines that he would play all 82 games, which meant there was no way he was sitting out Friday’s game even after he missed the morning’s shootaround with an illness.

True to his word, Butler played and went off for 28 points and 14 rebounds, but they weren’t enough to save the Bulls. He’s figured out his game, but like so many other emerging young players, he hasn’t solved the most important piece of the star puzzle.

"How to help my team win," Butler said. "At the end of the day that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter how many points you put up, how many rebounds you grab, it matters how you help your team win."

Life comes at you fast and it’s come at Butler at warp speed this season. On the one hand he built off last year’s breakthrough by becoming an even better player in the first year of a massive contract extension. On the other, he’s playing for a team caught between the past and future that’s left the present an often murky mix.

As he’s absorbed more responsibility on the court he’s also had to navigate the difficult transition between star player and team leader. It’s a role that’s brand new for a player who’s been a consummate role player throughout his career even dating back to his days at Marquette. That he’s doing it on a team with veterans who watched him grow up alongside them only makes things more tricky.

The Bulls have always been an interesting team in this regard. Rose is quiet by nature and Noah was the spiritual force, but the voice that carried the most weight was Thibodeau’s. Now Butler is ever so gingerly stepping into the leadership vacuum and that’s been a learning curve for him, as well.

"There’s no time to stop and think," Butler said. "You’ve got to figure this stuff out on the fly."

After calling out Hoiberg following an overtime win in late December, Butler proceeded to carry the Bulls through a six-game winning streak into the early part of January. Their relationship appears to be proceeding on an even keel, but the Bulls have once again struggled, losing six of their last eight. It would have been worse if not for Butler’s 53-point showing against Philly that salvaged what would have been a dreadful loss. It did get worse after they were blown out by the Warriors on Wednesday and it wasn’t much better after giving up 114 points to the Celtics on Friday.

In both instances and throughout the month, it was their defense that let them down. That’s been a troubling trend for a team that prided itself on its toughness and grit. The word ‘soft’ was thrown around in the postgame media sessions and no one -- from Hoiberg to the players -- argued against it.

"I think we can fix it," Butler said. "We’ve just got to guard. It’s not offense. We score enough points. When we don’t man up and guard, that’s on the guys in this locker room. We go through shootarounds, we go through walkthroughs we talk about, ‘This is how we’re going to guard.’ And then it’s like whenever the lights go on, the tip, we don’t do that.

"We’ve just got to go do it. We always talk about it, but hell talking about it only does so much. We’ve got to go out there and defend. We’ve got to go out there and guard. We’ve got to be the tougher team from jump."

The Bulls have clung to the idea that they’re still the team in the East that can give Cleveland the toughest opposition, and that showed in a primetime win over the Cavaliers on Saturday. Despite the Bulls’ up-and-down ways, they’ve taken advantage of a home-heavy schedule to put themselves in decent position. But the East is volatile and the Bulls are facing a seven-game road trip heading into the All-Star break. It’s time for them to show us what they’re made of and it’s time for Butler to take them there.

The All-Star starters were announced, which means we can all start arguing about who deserves to be on the team as a reserve. This is the point we remind you that there are only seven spots available per conference and that a handful of the starters probably didn’t "deserve" their spots. This is also where we remind you that cases will be made that Team X "deserves" more representatives because of their success, which isn’t really how recognizing individual achievement should work. Anyway, here are five players who absolutely "deserve" to be in Toronto, along with Jimmy Butler, whose case was just made at length above.

Chris Bosh: Here’s one of the early tests of merit. Bosh is having a better season than Kevin Love and he’s also the biggest reason why Miami has a top-10 defense. (Marvel at Hassan Whiteside’s blocks all you want, Bosh remains the key figure in Miami’s scheme.) Miami already has one All-Star rep in Dwyane Wade and so does Cleveland with LeBron James. If it’s an either/or choice the only variable in Love’s favor is that the Cavs are way better than the Heat, but how much of that is directly attributable to Love? This spot should belong to Bosh and maybe we can finally give him long overdue credit for figuring out his role within Miami’s Big 3 ecosystem, and then thriving as a main option.

Paul Millsap: Here’s another one that may be impacted by the Cavs Must Have Two All-Stars argument. Millsap is having the best season of his 10-year career just as he turns 30 years old. That’s not supposed to happen, but players like Millsap aren’t supposed to exist either. Undersized as a four, not quick enough to be a three, Millsap has long known how to read angles and use his strength to thrive in the league, even as it evolves away from players like Paul Millsap. He’s the Hawks' best player, a fact made even more obvious by the departure of DeMarre Carroll and Kyle Korver’s return to normalcy.

DeMar DeRozan: This was made easier by Kyle Lowry’s spot as a starter, but it’s still tricky because that leaves Butler, John Wall, Isaiah Thomas, Reggie Jackson and DeRozan to fight for two guards spots and maybe a wild card berth. Someone’s going to get screwed. The vote here is for DeRozan (along with Wall and Butler) to make the team, which would be a fitting honor for a player who has taken the long way to legit stardom with the very franchise that hosts the game.

Draymond Green: This is a no-brainer but let’s spell it out anyway. Green doesn’t have the eye-popping scoring numbers like Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, but he’s had a greater impact than either of them because of his defense and playmaking. The defense is a given. The playmaking is what has elevated Green into the upper echelon of stars and allowed him to pass (no pun intended) the heralded bigs. Draymond may not be the best player on his own team, but he’s one of the top 10 in the league, and while team success shouldn’t be the end-all and be-all of the All-Star debate, Green’s contributions on one of the greatest first-half teams of all time should absolutely be taken into account.

Chris Paul: This is also obvious, right? Steph Curry may have passed him on the MVP ladder and Russell Westbrook may have leaped over him in the lead guard rankings, but there is still no better pure point guard than CP3. That’s a loaded phrase and does him a disservice because Paul isn’t so much a distributor as a conductor. The ball is in his hands as much as any high-volume shooter you can name, but he’s an offense unto himself because of his brilliant mix of unselfish play and take-charge shooting. The Clippers would have never recovered from their mediocre start if it wasn’t for Paul’s brilliance.