Jimmy Butler Must Come to Terms with His Body After Disappointing Bulls Season
CHICAGO — For so much of what has ended up a lost season, Jimmy Butler seemed to be singlehandedly keeping the Chicago Bulls afloat with his elite two-way play. Down the stretch, with playoff hopes fading by the day, he has now become the team’s biggest question mark.
Shortly before the All-Star break, Butler suffered a left knee strain during a loss in Denver that forced him to miss the Bulls’ next 11 games. He returned March 5th, scoring 24 points along with 11 rebounds and six assists in a win over the Houston Rockets, but sat out the following three games with continued swelling in his injured knee.
Butler has appeared in every contest since then, but he hasn’t been himself from a physical or a production standpoint. He’s lacked the burst getting to the basket that he had before the injury and the speed that has made him one of the game’s best perimeter defenders.
In 48 games before the All-Star break, Butler averaged 22.4 points per game on 45.8 percent shooting along with 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists. During his most recent nine-game stretch (following the three games he sat out after his return against Houston), his shooting has dropped to 38.1 percent from the field, averaging just 14.3 points per game along with 4.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists.
The Bulls are 4-5 during that stretch, including embarrassing back-to-back losses to the New York Knicks and a March 26 blowout loss in Orlando to a Magic team missing Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic.
Butler will be the first to tell you that he hasn’t been pulling his weight since his return.
“You’ve seen the way I’ve been playing lately,” Butler said after the Bulls’ March 23 loss to the Knicks—a game in which he scored just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting. “It’s saddening. That’s what you’d call it. It’s terrible. My teammates won’t say it, my coaches won’t say it, but I’m a realist. If I continue to play like this, I’m hurting this team.”
However much he denies it—and he has repeatedly insisted that he’s fine physically—it’s clear that he isn’t right.
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg stated after Monday’s 102-100 loss to the Atlanta Hawks:
"Jimmy is probably not telling you everything, but he is sore. He’s out there battling through pain. He did not participate in the shootaround this morning because of his body. He has overall soreness and stiffness in his back. Nothing wrong structurally, but he just has some overall soreness. He is out there continuing to battle.
"
Butler has never been wired to admit when he’s hurting, and he’s not going to blame his recent poor play on his knee. But his willingness to play through injuries, that relentlessness that has made him such an integral player for the Bulls, is becoming a detriment.
“That’s not an excuse,” Butler said. “I don’t know what the f--- it is, but it’s got nothing to do with the knee. My body’s fine. Ain’t nothing wrong with me physically. Right now, it’s mentally. The ball’s not going in. I let that affect me on both ends of the floor. It better turn around quick, because I want to help this team get to the playoffs.”
Those playoff hopes, by the way, are looking slimmer with each passing day. As of Monday, the Bulls are two and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and tied in record with ninth-place Washington Wizards but relegated to the No. 10 seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Six of their nine remaining games are on the road, and they include matchups with playoff teams like the Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Bulls aren’t mathematically eliminated yet, but barring a massive Detroit collapse or a rediscovery of purpose that this team has yet to display in March, it’s becoming harder to picture Chicago’s season lasting beyond the April 13 regular-season finale.
Once the Bulls’ summer vacation begins, Butler will have to come to terms with his body. The Chicago Sun-Times Joe Cowley reported last week that offseason surgery might be on the table—something Butler later walked back on.
He’s one of 30 finalists (following Chris Paul’s Tuesday withdrawal) in consideration to make Team USA for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Given his athleticism and ability to defend multiple positions, Butler would be a formidable addition to the roster. But another month of high-level competition on this knee would be unwise.
Butler has made it this far—from a No. 30 overall pick to a perennial All-Star and deserving $95 million franchise centerpiece—by being willing to play through anything. Up until now, that durability has served him well and helped make him a star.
Now, following a season that has disappointed on both an individual and team level, he’s going to have to take a hard look at his approach and what it could mean for his career and for the Bulls.
“When I come back, if I step on the floor, I’m supposed to help this team win,” Butler said. “Missing however many games, I have to be ready. I think I am. I know it will turn around. I’m very confident in that.”
For this season, it’s probably too late. But with a little more caution going forward, it could be little more than a roadblock in a long, decorated career.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
