Minnesota Timberwolves film festival part 3: Butler-Towns pick-and-roll
Part four of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ film festival is here. This time, I examine Jimmy Butler‘s capacity as a playmaker in the pick-and-roll.
Jimmy Butler is most known for his ability to clamp his opponents on the defensive side of the floor. After that, he’s made a name for himself as a go-to scoring threat. However, fans need to start recognizing his playmaking abilities.
During his first two years in the league, he averaged fewer than 2.0 assists per 36 minutes. However, you can see his hard work paying off with constant improvement in that category. Every single darn year of his career he has improved his assists per 36 numbers by at least 0.5. That includes dropping 5.3 dimes during the 2016-17 year.
What’s even more impressive is the number of turnovers he’s produced while increasing his ball-handling duties. Despite a larger role in the offense, his turnovers per 36 minutes have only gone up marginally:
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Related Story: Film Festival part 1: Butler's scoring ability off pick-and-roll
Butler’s ability to see the whole floor has been a great asset for him. Once the big sets the screen, he’s able to come off it and keep his head up while dribbling:
On this particular play, he has a ton of space to work with. He’s able to navigate towards the middle of the court and force another defender to slide over and help. Once he sucks the second help defender into the lane, he throws a decent bounce pass to a wide open Nikola Mirotic on the perimeter. Mirotic has plenty of time and space, allowing him to calmly catch the pass and fire a trey.
Taj Gibson and Gorgui Dieng might struggle to knock down this shot with any consistency. However, Nemanja Bjelica projects to be the best shooting power forward option on the squad. If the first two aren’t able to hit the shot, they need to find a spot on the floor where they can become a threat to score.
Related Story: Film Festival part 2: Towns scoring ability in the pick-and-roll
On this next play, Robin Lopez knows his limitations. He understands he’s not a three-point shooter. Thus, after failing to set the ball-screen, he finds a spot on the floor where he’s comfortable at:
The playmaking shooting guard does a great job of using his shot-fake to create an alley for the pass. He then bounces the ball right into Lopez’ shooting pocket for another wide open attempt, which he knocks down. Again, it’s imperative Gibson and Dieng do the same.
Similar to every single player who’s ever played the game, Butler also makes some questionable decisions. He sometimes gets caught in the air with no plan:
The beginning of this pick-and-roll is great. He does a great job of getting the defender on his backside and putting him in “jail.” This a great technique that he’s mastered over the years. It allows him to keep his man out of the play by primarily using his strength.
More from Dunking with Wolves
- The dream starting 5 for Minnesota Timberwolves 5 years from now
- Anthony Edwards’ latest accolade is a great sign of things to come
- In an OT thriller, Team Canada snatches Bronze from Team USA
- Timberwolves start, bench, cut: Mike Conley, Shake Milton, Jordan McLaughlin
- Which Timberwolves roster additions have upgraded the bench?
After getting to the direct middle of the lane, he leaves his feet for an unknown reason. If he had taken one more hard dribble, he likely had a layup. Unfortunately, he tries to drop it off to a cutting teammate, but ends up throwing the pass late and behind him.
This is certainly the exception and not the rule. With each passing year, he’s developed his knowledge of the game. You can definitely see his film study coming into play.
Here, he once again navigates the middle of the floor with shocking ease. Right when it looks like he’s about to launch a step-back jumper, he drops it off to his open teammate on the perimeter:
This understanding of where his teammates are supposed to be and when they are supposed to be there is a wonderful asset. It will take some time for him to learn this with Minnesota, but he’s not coming into a completely foreign offense.
Butler as a secondary ball-handler will do wonders for this offense. Not that they needed much help last season.
However, the Wolves had the fifth worst (43.1) effective field goal percentage from the pick-and-roll ball handler in the NBA. Butler will undoubtedly build on that number for both himself and his teammates.
Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Their surprising over/under win total
His boosted skills as a table-setter will continue to earn the respect they deserve. Watch out NBA, Butler is a bonafide dime-dropper.