Jimmy Butler: Gone too soon
Throughout the off-season, the team at Bulls Confidential is going to reveal our picks for the top 25 best players in Chicago Bulls franchise history. We are measuring overall impact on the organization, community, and how they impacted their team. Follow along on Twitter by searching #BC25.
25. Mickey Johnson
24. Guy Rodgers
23. Orlando Woolridge
22. Charles Oakley
21. Taj Gibson
20. Bob Boozer
19. Elton Brand
18. Ben Gordon
17. Tom Boerwinkle
16. Reggie Theus
15. Toni Kukoc
14. Horace Grant
13. Kirk Hinrich
12. Joakim Noah
11. Chet Walker
10. Dennis Rodman
9. Luol Deng
8. Jimmy Butler
Let’s start off with the elephant in the room. It sucks that Jimmy Butler won’t be wearing a Bulls uniform this season. You can feel however you want about the reasoning behind the trade (it’s hard to argue that the team in its current iteration was heading anywhere) or the return (underwhelming), but even if you were all in on a rebuild and you’re ready for Baby Dirk to be a star, seeing a bona fide superstar like Butler leave your team just isn’t fun. And that’s why Butler is here on the list, because while his tenure in Chicago wasn’t quite as long as some of the players listed above him, he worked his way into one of the best players in the NBA while he was here.
Butler grew into a star in one of the more frustrating periods in team history, when it was becoming apparent that injuries would never allow Derrick Rose to return to his MVP form, marking the end of a core group of Bulls that never got to reach their full potential. Out of the ashes of that group, however, rose Butler, growing from a role player into a starter and then a star in his final couple years. Last year, he averaged 23.9 points a game and finished in the top five in the league in win shares and VORP, while being named to the All-NBA Third Team.
It’s hard to have proper perspective on Butler’s tenure in Chicago so soon after it ended, especially since so much is expected from him in the next few years. He’s grown so much as a player, and he has several prime years ahead of him. Now he’s reunited with former coach Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota, surrounded by another superstar in Karl-Anthony Towns and a third player with the potential to get there in Andrew Wiggins.
It’s hard to separate what he already accomplished in Chicago with what he may do in Minnesota, but he was one of only eight Bulls to ever be named to an All-NBA Team. He almost singlehandedly dragged a mediocre team into the playoffs, and he deserved a better ending than he got. It’s unfortunate that it ended so abruptly, but it was a hell of a run.
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