Baffoe: Consideration Of The Bulls Trading Jimmy Butler
By Tim Baffoe--
(CBS) Hollywood Jimmy is one of those movies you can tell is underwhelming from the trailer. A pro athlete taking cues and inspiration from the star of Daddy's Home was an indicator. And while I appreciate the comic relief of metaphor-gone-wrong literal removal of the rear-view mirror from his car and the boombox fishtank …
... what happened to the dork from Marquette with a crush on Taylor Swift?
It took less than a year for "aw shucks heartwarming story" Jimmy Butler to kind of become "bad movie trope too cool for the room bordering on hip religious conversion and dating Japanese art school student" Jimmy Butler. Which on its face is fine. Butler's a grown-ass man who can do whatever feels good. This is no lecture on how a millionaire entertainer needs to make for cozier feature stories.
But how much coincidence is it that the inflation of the #JimmyBuckets brand immediately preceded the petting zoo STD epidemic that is the 2015-'16 Chicago Bulls season?
"His rise has engendered some minor hard feelings within the team," wrote ESPN's Zach Lowe in December. "There is a sense that Butler relishes the trappings of stardom a bit too much, and that he doesn't do enough to support his teammates, as a playmaker or a cheerleader. The Bulls have been unusually vulnerable to infighting when things go bad during a game. They are not a team that socializes together off the floor."
It's not Butler's sole fault that the Bulls suck and will probably miss the playoffs. (They should miss the playoffs. They better miss the damn playoffs. PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME WRITE ABOUT THE BULLS IN THE PLAYOFFS.)
But it's Butler's fault that he doesn't run coach Fred Hoiberg's offense when he doesn't feel like it.
"Fred put in a lot of ball movement, but we have a lot of guys who hold the ball a lot," Joakim Noah told Lowe.
"Jimmy gets the ball a lot, and he's deserving. The next step for him is to take a leadership role and making more plays for his teammates. We need more fluidity on offense."
It's Butler's fault that he has publicly called out the rookie coach. It's his fault Hoiberg has been undermined in a locker room that's maybe-sorta beyond rebound.
And so about those offseason trade rumors involving the All-Star. In the wake of a Yahoo report that other NBA teams will be picking up the phone to inquire about Butler this offseason, there's little locally -- to date -- that suggests the Bulls will be actively shopping him.
So while it appears unlikely the Bulls' immediate plans include moving their best player, it'd be wise for them to listen to the Boston Celtics or Orlando Magic or whomever.
Hoiberg's not going anywhere soon, mostly because firing him after one year would be an embarrassing admission of miscalculation on the part of executives John Paxson and Gar Forman, and we've gotten pretty used to that not happening. They don't get to get away with canning the likes of Tom Thibodeau only to can his replacement so quickly.
So do we get to grab stale popcorn watching another stupid staring contest between Butler and Hoiberg again next season? Especially when next season will almost certainly be without locker room regulator Noah, who's an unrestricted free agent this summer, and probably without Pau Gasol, who seems increasingly tired of being the cultured boyfriend at this trashy dysfunctional family holiday party.
Derrick Rose will be in the the final year of his contract in 2016-'17, and what about his relationship with the front office suggests a solid future in Chicago? Not to mention his relationship with Butler, which seems cordial at best. I've tried avoiding piling on the salivating "Jimmy and Derrick hate each other" noise, but even if you're cool with someone, it's only human nature to hear enough people telling you that you hate that guy that you start to dislike him because of the gossip.
What the hell is this Bulls team going to look like next season? Butler, Rose and Hoiberg all being uncomfortable with one another, some halfway decent aging free-agent signing, a fingers-crossed first-round draft pick, random appearances from the perpetual clown car of bench-to-starter-to-bench-to-starter guys, Taj Gibson (also in the final year of his deal) ready to rightfully punch everybody for wasting his damn time and the fun of Bobby Portis getting swallowed up in the mess.
You looking forward to that?
So what if the roster blow-up started with moving Butler? It'd be helpful to acquire picks that can help you rebuild a core or flip for established talent that works in the offensive philosophy that's been decided on with a new coach. It would also sever a relationship between a star and a locker room that probably will get worse before it gets better, if it gets better at all. The Bulls moving on from Butler is vague speculation right now, but it shouldn't be dismissed outright.
This isn't to say the Bulls need to book a plane ticket for Jimmy Butler once this season's final horn blows, but they shouldn't sit back and green-light a haphazard sequel to the already bad Hollywood Jimmy movie either.
Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBaffoe. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.
