Jimmy Butler vs. Elite Teams

[tankcity!]

Everyone probably knows how I feel about Jimmy Butler. There has been a craze going on with him. The term top ten player has been thrown around. People have even said he is better than Irving. I guess it doesn't matter Kyrie Irving outplayed Curry in the Finals and played at an elite level against the best team/competition.

Anyways, check the table below, which was the best I could do. No way Butler is that great or worth a Brooklyn player imo. Seems like a volume scorer who mostly scores on iso plays and can't catch and shoot like Kyrie. He also posts up a lot which doesn't work analytically.

Jimmy Butler is a top 20 player, in no way is he sniffing the top ten. Hasn't proven he can play against the big boys. This whole situation reminds me of the Love infatuation.

By Opponent   GP   MIN   FG%   3P%   FT%   REB   AST   BLK   STL   PTS        vs. Boston   2    36    37%   55%   77%    8.0     2.5     -       1.0     23.5       vs. Cleveland   2    40    38%   27%   81%    7.0     7.0     1.0     2.0     23.0        vs. Indiana   4    34    49%   22%   82%    5.0     3.3     -       1.3     18.3   vs. LA Clippers   1    38    28%   20%   92%    6.0     1.0     -       1.0     22.0   vs. Oklahoma City   2    30    48%   0%   70%    3.0     6.0     -       1.5     14.5 vs. San Antonio   2    38    36%   33%   86%    7.0     3.5     0.5     1.5     16.0            vs. Utah   1    41    37%   50%   67%    12.0 3.0     -       2.0     20.0 vs. Washington   2    39    40%   14%   96%    9.5     7.0     -       1.5     28.5       vs. Toronto   1    44    40%   50%   90%    10.0 5.0     -       2.0     42.0     vs. Memphis   1    38    43%   20%   43%    8.0     6.0     -       3.0     16.0

[LGC88]

Interesting... do you have the same stats with Paul George? Very curious of the comparison.

[bdm860]

That's 21.3ppg, 6.9rpg, 4.4apg, and 1.6 spg, with 53% TS and an 11-7 record (if my math is right, which it might not be).

That's not too shabby.

Plus he's a proven defender, being All-Defense 3 years in a row.

You can't really do this exercise for one player though.  You would have to do it for all players, and see how he ranks.  (Even then, I don't think this is that good of an exercise). 

But the players standing in Butler's way in your opinion from being in the top 10, what are their stats and record against those same teams, and is their defense as good?

[vgulab]

I'm not a big fan of Butler but he is great player. What i would offer is Crowder+18 brooklyn pick + 19 clippers pick + salary to match ( Zeller or Amir).

My thinking is: 17 brooklyn pick is off limits in almost every trade ( except for Anthony Davis) and i wouldn't include both Crowder and Brown in a trade, just one of them.

My preference for a star is stil Hayward who is better player than Butler or Melo.

[action781]

That's 21.3ppg, 6.9rpg, 4.4apg, and 1.6 spg, with 53% TS and an 11-7 record (if my math is right, which it might not be).

That's not too shabby.

Plus he's a proven defender, being All-Defense 3 years in a row.

You can't really do this exercise for one player though.  You would have to do it for all players, and see how he ranks.  (Even then, I don't think this is that good of an exercise). 

Exactly, you'd expect pretty much every player does worse against the elite teams than they normally do.

[BE-Celtic]

I think his numbers are not that bad based on what you show. Especially considering he does a big job defensively and the fact that is team is super bad some nights.

I think agree that he is far from being Irving, but Jimmy has the defense on his side, you need to Keep that in mind. Butler is great when you look what he does on both ends of the floor. And that doesn't show in the numbers. If you look at the recent Cleveland - Washington game, Kyring didn't defend very well on several possessions (see this interesting video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74oUpFp5nyk )

Now where does Butler rank ? I'd agree he is around top 20, but whether it's worth a Broolkyn pick is not that easy to answer. Maybe if they add Taj Gibson and we add Zeller or Young this could work, but from our point of view only. Chicago will sell him for a high price, regardless of these stats.