The Miami Heat are title hunting, just like every other team in Orlando & Stephen A. Smith is wrong on if Jimmy Butler can be ‘that dude’ to lead them there.
The Miami Heat accomplished the miraculous this past summer as they landed Jimmy Butler. Said to not have the needed amount of salary cap space, there were only a few ways in which they could get it done and fewer than that when you consider how much help they would have needed from other teams in certain situations.
Well, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat got it done. They landed Jimmy Butler from the Philadelphia 76ers and got him locked up into a long term deal, to hopefully close his career where he always should have been, in Miami.
Heck, they even managed to swap Hassan Whiteside for a cheaper alternative in Meyers Leonard within the process, who just so happens to also fit the new league and the Miami Heat’s current philosophy better than Whiteside did. It was all a net win for the Miami Heat.
After they accomplished the impossible though, landing Jimmy Butler supposedly, the new criticism started to creep in. You know how when you address the concern or the issue that someone has, but then they come up with new stuff to still try and make themselves seem as though they are ahead of the curve or all-knowing? Yea, that phenomenon.
You heard stuff like “he’s just there for an extended vacation”, “it isn’t about titles with him if he’s going to Miami”, or one of my personal favorites, “he’s just going there for an early retirement”. Ha! They all were wrong.
On top of turning in an All-Star season, he has led this Miami Heat team to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and in the entire league. Although his jump shot hasn’t fallen the way you would like it to, he’s still gotten the job done.
The Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler are chasing a title in Orlando. Some people think that Jimmy Butler can’t be ‘that dude’ on a championship team though.
There are still non-believers in Jimmy Buckets though. In case you don’t believe me, here is one of the more recent segments, to use one of the subject’s favorite words, of this blasphemy.
It comes from none other than one of our most favorite sports talking heads, ESPN and their hit show First Take’s, Stephen A. Smith. Check it out.
I don't know if Jimmy Butler can be THAT DUDE this year. pic.twitter.com/3WZRq3wgyA
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 20, 2020
Well, that was quite a bit. Why not though Stephen A.?
In any situation, Jimmy Butler can absolutely be ‘that dude’. Although he is shooting a career-low 24.8 percent from deep (not counting his rookie year where he only played around eight minutes per contest), the rest of his numbers are up.
You also look at the way he’s getting it done now. Even with the league moving towards being more perimeter-oriented, it still comes down to scoring buckets, which gets exponentially tougher as the season closes and the playoffs begin.
You would like him to shoot the ball a little better on his own accord from the outside, but when he’s getting to the paint, the rim, the foul line, and creating for his teammates in the way that he has been this year, that more than accounts for the few points per game that he is missing out on because his jump shot isn’t working at the moment. You also trust those methods more than outside shooting in the biggest moments.
You also look at how a particular player’s shooting helps creates spacing for other players, but that really isn’t a thing for the Miami Heat. The Miami Heat are among the elite when it comes to shooting the ball from the outside as a team, right near the top to be exact in all major distance shooting categories.
Throw in the fact that they have several elite distance shooters and perhaps the most lethal distance shooter in the game right now in Duncan Robinson, spacing won’t be an issue for this Miami Heat team.
What else is there? I can’t really think of any other logical reasons why he can’t be. He scores, he makes plays for others, he facilitates, he defends, he leads, he hustles, he leaves it all out there and he’s playing for an organization that knows how to win.
So, again, while you would prefer that his outside shot was on, it isn’t the worst thing in the world that it isn’t. This is especially when you consider everything else he and the team have going for them at the moment.
These reasons are also why, regardless of what the experts think, Jimmy Butler can and will be ‘that dude’ for the Miami Heat as we look to complete the season and the playoffs.