Maybe Luol Deng should go ahead and have that wrist surgery. Yes, it’s just NBA Summer League. But Bulls second-year small forward Jimmy Butler showed in Tuesday’s 79-74 opening loss to the Boston Celtics in Las Vegas he may be ready to take that big first step toward being an NBA producer. “The coaches tell me I have to stay aggressive and be a leader,” said Butler, who had 25 points, matching Boston’s E’Twaun Moore, along with seven rebounds, a team-high three assists and 10 of 12 free throws. “Not to take selfish shots, which I feel I took a few of those. I can’t do that. But I felt really good. I’ve been doing my work and it’s paying off. I passed up a few open threes, I’ve got to look for my teammates more. But I felt good out there.” Butler looked good and confident, better than any time during his little used rookie season with the Bulls. He played with aggression, taking the ball hard to the basket and drawing contact like a veteran. He went up in traffic for tough rebounds, three offensive, and showed confident leadership. He was constantly talking to rookie Marquis Teague, who had a brutal debut, shooting four of 17 after missing 10 straight shots and being victimized on defense by Moore. Coaches also said Butler was encouraging teammates on the bench and having everyone get up and greet teammates coming off the floor in timeouts. Butler also demonstrated an off court self-confidence and assurance that was missing last season. He stopped before the game to initiate talk with reporters, greeting several by first name. Last season, reporters joked Butler didn’t even know the regulars who traveled with the team he talked so little and was so withdrawn and prickly at times. But Tuesday as the Bulls opened summer league through Sunday, Butler was the player to rely upon. Read more: http://blogs.bulls.com/2012/07/the-butler-seems-to-be-doing-it-for-the-bulls/
Watching game 2. Butler looks smooth and seasoned! 13 and 4 at halftime Malcom Thomas has 8 and 5. Would not be surprised if he made the team. Averaged 14-9 in D league last year. Can run the floor.
This is summer league. I went a few seasons ago, and Darryl Strawberry Jr. was clearly the best player on the court in any of the games. He didn't pan out in the NBA. Let's see him produce in the NBA before we go overboard in our expectations. IMO.
Happy for Butler. Patient with Teague. But, these guys are not the answer for this coming year. I'm trembling at what our FO has in mind. Wouldn't like to see Asik depart. Wonder if they have any idea about a real back up (or maybe front ahead) for Rip. Go Bulls!
I wouldn't be shocked if we end up over .500. Thibs seems to be that good. Even with a healthy rose back for playoffs, I don't see enough of a quality team around him to make a real go of it. They do have to play the games, though.
Teague had a better game than he did for the first one. Still makes a lot of turnovers, some being lazy passing.
Yeah, Teague will have a rough go of it as the backup point guard on an NBA team. Maybe he's a fast learner?
It was pretty clear from day 1 that he was going to be more useful as an nba player than Tyrus. And I'm not writing Teague off, just expressing dismay that this guy is going to be our pg backup from day 1. He's going to need some seasoning before he becomes less than a major negative.
PGs don't typically have as an immediate an impact as a guy who just has to be tall to be somewhat effective. Even Steve Nash (and our Rose) took a few seasons to become elite.
It's always a bad idea to read too much into summer league games. About all we can say is that Butler's performance through 2 summer league games hasn't provided any ammunition to those who believe that letting Brewer go was a mistake.
Well, there's always the Cubs' philosophy when they trade away a star: "you can lose with him or lose without him." That applies to Brewer.
Agree. If substituting Butler for Brewer cost you the championship, you're slicing the salami pretty thin.
Just make sure it's still salami and not somethin' else. but tp, what's your take on Teague? Sam Smith agrees with me (of course) that Teague doesn't look ready to be the backup point this year. You?
Too early for a conclusion. He improved a lot from his first summer league game to the next. That's better than not improving. Not surprising, his main problem is with turnovers. The safe course is to assume he won't be ready for the backup spot by November and add a veteran point to the team to ease the transition. I'll be disappointed if he's not ready by March.
My impression of Teague is that his ability to run a half-court offense in the NBA is about 2-3 years away. Thibs probably isn't looking to play him all that much. But if he can hone his ballhawking skills he could find some time on the court when we need to pick up the tempo and put some pressure on the other team. There will also be some times when we'll have a hard time generating offense and he'll find his way on the court since other than Derrick Rose he's the only guy that can take his man off the dribble. I'm expecting a lot of DNP-CD's, a few occasional good games, and endless "Hinrich vs. Teague" threads on RealGM.
