Why Butler’s eye-opening Warriors impact is not exaggerated originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Praise of Jimmy Butler’s impact on the Warriors has been unceasing, over the top, lavish to the point of excess. Yet it is not exaggerated.
It’s February, a full two months before the NBA postseason, and they’re already getting “Playoff Jimmy.” Not only has he been a wonder drug for the benign mediocrity that had become chronic, but he’s also driving the team through a vigorous recovery and rehabilitation.
The gift bestowed upon the Warriors by general manager Mike Dunleavy, CEO Joe Lacob and the rest of the front office is providing everything they could have hoped.
Golden State opened the homestretch of the season Friday night with a blowout win at Sacramento and followed up Sunday afternoon at Chase Center by achieving their first three-game win streak since November with a 126-102 thumping of the Dallas Mavericks.
“It was an important shift,” coach Steve Kerr, referring to the addition of Butler, told media at Chase. “The trade itself . . . we needed it. We felt it. We were kind of treading water. We couldn’t get any traction in the season, and Mike sensed it and made the move. And you can feel the shift.”
This was Butler’s home debut, and the thunderous ovation he received from the sellout crowd was richly earned. The Warriors are 5-1 since he arrived, and an examination of the numbers within those six games reveals numerous positive changes, some of which defy logic.
Through 51 games, they were 18th in the NBA in offensive rating. They’re sixth over their last six games. They were, pre-Jimmy, 10th in defensive rating. Post-Jimmy, they’re fifth. They were ninth in assists per game pre-Jimmy; they’re third post-Jimmy. They were eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio; they’re third post-Jimmy. They were ninth in steals pre-Jimmy; they’re second post-Jimmy. They were 12th in fewest turnovers; they’re fifth post-Jimmy.
Everybody on the roster, from Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody to Buddy Hield and Quinten Post is reaping the benefits that come with Playoff Jimmy. Rotations are more stable, roles more defined and there is more clarity within the team’s collective mental approach.
The result is a team that is unlike that which existed before Butler.
“The idea of just a comfort knowing when you’re going back to old rotations where you’re playing a set block, out for a block, and come back in,” Curry said. “But the formula is different with Jimmy because you can run the offense through him. And not only offensively is that group figuring it out, but defensively it’s been Draymond, Jimmy and BP’s been out there. QP has had some big minutes in that group. They just been playing really solid, smart basketball and the plus/minus just tells the whole story.
“It’s totally different than what it was before, where you felt a little bit of pressure to try to create a little separation because we were trying to fill some holes in those minutes. But I like this for me it makes sense it works we just got to keep doing it.”
The most preposterous improvement is at the free-throw line. The Warriors through 51 games were 30th, dead last in percentage. Post-Jimmy they’re No. 2. The team that failed to shoot 70 percent from the line in 17 of its first 51 games has topped 80 percent in five of the last six – including 87 percent on Sunday.
The Warriors are not marginally better with Butler. They’re not even appreciably better. They are dramatically enhanced – and there is reason to believe a higher level can be achieved.
The rebounding, an asset most of the season, has dropped off. The Warriors ranked third in the league at the trade deadline but are 12th over the last six games. They offset much of that with upgraded offensive rebounding. They’re No. 2 in second-chance points after being seventh in that category before Butler.
What has not changed much at all, but should in the coming weeks, is Golden State’s 3-point shooting efficiency, which was 13th before Butler arrived but is 20th since. That 33.7-percent shooting from deep is bound to tick upward, right?
As is, the Warriors have progressed from thinking they should win games and wondering why they didn’t, to believing they’ll win and then doing it. The mental makeup of this team hasn’t been so comfortably confident since immediately after Game 4 of the 2022 NBA Finals.
