Jimmy Butler’s case for Most Valuable Player
After a rather slow start to the season, Jimmy Butler has improved his play to the point where he deserves to be in the talk of being the league’s Most Valuable Player. Here’s his case towards the NBA’s most prestigious award.
What hasn’t Jimmy Butler done? He’s been the Minnesota Timberwolves catalyst and leader towards a better record. Without him, the Wolves would certainly not be 29-17. This season, he’s been the Wolves leader in points and steals per game. Beyond that, he’s rebounded tremendously, and has been at times the main distributor in the passing game.
His numbers are a little deceiving to what he has done in the past because of his poor play to start the season. Overall his average is 21.6 points (47.5 field goal percentage, 35.6 3-point percentage), 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.4 blocks per game. Yes, those numbers are good, but they don’t necessarily tell the whole story.
A perfect example is a comparison from November to December. In each of those months the Wolves played in 15 games.
- 17.9 points (44.0 field goal percentage, 39.1 3-point percentage), 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.8 steals, 0.3 blocks per game
- 26.5 points (50.6 field goal percentage, 28.6 3-point percentage), 5.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.9 steals, 0.4 blocks per game
The fact that he improved his point per game by nearly 10 points, and improved his assists by nearly one, is incredible. Besides his three-point percentage, Butler was better in almost every category.
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He has seven win shares, which is good enough for sixth in the league. The other players who are ahead of him are for the most part no surprise. Shockingly, Minnesota’s leader in win shares is Karl-Anthony Towns. The rest of the list includes James Harden, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Anthony Davis.
Seven win shares is very impressive, but it also helps when he’s your go-to player when you’re in late game situations. Without him, you can expect their record to be possibly closer to .500. Minnesota needs Butler to be successful, as when Butler didn’t play in two games this season, the Wolves’ went 0-2. Even worse, they lost by a combined margin of 44 points. No, that is not a typo.
Stats aside, Butler has been a key contributor to the recent improvements to Towns, and mainly Andrew Wiggins. The main beneficiary to Towns improvements has been Taj Gibson, but surely Butler does get a lot of credit for helping. For one, he’s not afraid to call them out and let them know what they need to do moving forward.
But, lets key in on the improvement of Wiggins. Some of it has been experience, but the main reason he’s made a great leap this season has been Butler teaching him some technique. Butler to Wiggins, is like Kevin Garnett to Towns in his rookie season. Both have had a major effect on what they’re doing today.
Next: Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler's budding bromance
His stats aren’t as sexy as say… Harden, James, or even Antetokounmpo, but his value to the team is much more important. To sum everything up, he’s the main reason the playoff drought may be over (knock on wood), he’s improved others around him, and his numbers have been incredible. If the award is the “Most Valuable Player”, shouldn’t it go to the guy who has been the most valuable to their respective team.