Jimmy Butler cannot believe teams are game-planning for him

Jimmy Butler has reached a point where he is now one of the better players in the league and a guy opposing defenses need to key on when facing the Chicago Bulls. All that is even surprising to Butler.

As someone who was drafted 30th overall out of Marquette, Butler did not do much during his rookie season. He averaged just 2.6 points in 8.5 minutes per game off the bench. Three years later he became an All-Star and was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player. Now when opposing teams face the Bulls, Butler is one of their focal points, and that is something the emerging star never imagined.

“You know, I never really thought of it like this until Coach (Jim) Boylen said it to me the other day at practice,” Butler told NBA.com’s David Aldridge. “All summer, I’m working on my game, I’m working on my game — yeah, I think everybody knows that. But I step into practicing, making a few shots. And he was like, ‘you know, Jimmy, yeah, you’ve got an open shot. But you’ve got to start looking to facilitate, get the ball to the other guys more. Because, believe it or not, you’re going to be a key points on people’s scouting reports.’ I never thought of it like that. I never thought that, hey, Jimmy Butler may be on somebody’s scouting reports, like, ‘hey, we have to stop this guy.’ Seriously.”

Butler has greatly improved, which is why teams will try to stop him. And Butler himself is not used to being considered a star player, which is why this is an adjustment for him. But it’s a good adjustment to make, and it highlights a significant issue when players are trying to make the jump to stardom. It’s one thing to rise to success when the spotlight isn’t on you, but when you’re tasked with leading a team or being the key player, how you handle it is a big question.

H/T Ball Don’t Lie