Chicago Bulls: Will Jimmy Butler’s Return Be Enough To Save The Bulls?

With Jimmy Butler set to return this weekend, will his presence be enough to save the Chicago Bulls from missing the playoffs?

At one point this season, the Chicago Bulls were 22-12 and ranked second in the Eastern Conference. That was Jan 9. Before Jimmy Butler‘s injury and before the eventual collapse of the Chicago Bulls as a whole.

Since Jan 9, the Bulls are 8-18. They have the NBA’s 26th ranked offense and 23rd ranked defense. Their net rating during that span is minus 6.5. While it’s easy to simply point to Butler’s injury as the main difference in the Bulls before (22-12) and after Jan 9 (8-18), it’s not that simple.

First of all, Butler didn’t get hurt until Feb 5. And the Bulls were 5-9 in the 14 games between Jan 9 and Butler’s injury. Chicago was already showing signs of concern. The ship was already sinking.

Still, as Jimmy Butler prepares to return to the Bulls lineup Saturday against the Houston Rockets, you have to wonder if that will be enough to turn Chicago’s season around.

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When Butler plays this season, the Bulls are definitely better. There’s no question about it. But as the Bulls prepare for their playoff push, after falling out of the playoff picture earlier this week, it’s probably going to take a little more than just Butler’s return to save Fred Hoiberg‘s bunch.

In fairness, it should be noted that along with Butler’s injury, the Bulls have been without Nikola Mirotic since Jan 28 and Joakim Noah since Jan 18. Chicago has had their fair share of injuries, but that’s not really a great excuse for the Bulls completely falling off the Eastern Conference grid.

If we’re talking strictly Xs and Os, would the Bulls be struggling this much if Tom Thibodeau was still the head coach? Probably not. Or at least when Thibs lost his best player, Derrick Rose, his teams still found a way. They always battled and at the very least had their defense to hang its hats on.

This version of the Chicago Bulls, under Hoiberg, has done almost the opposite of that. And even though it’s easy to just throw all the blame on Hoibert, I believe that the players are equally, if not a little more, responsible.

What’s even more surprising from Chicago’s recent fall from grace is the fact that it has come with Derrick Rose playing some of the best basketball since his first serious knee injury in 2012.

Since the NBA All-Star break, Rose is averaging 21 points and four assists per game on 52 percent shooting from the field and 67 percent shooting from three-point range. Still, during that stretch, the Bulls are only 3-5.

Again, concerning.

The Chicago Bulls have allowed at least 100 points in each of their last 15 games. Even in the games they’ve won, they’ve done it in spite of the team’s horrible defensive showings

It also suggests that there’s something else wrong with the team than just the lack of a star punch. It could suggest that the team’s issues are more deeply rooted. And that’s not something that is going to be cured with the simple return of Butler.

What Butler will provide from the onset of his return, though, is a more defensive atmosphere in the lineup, something that the Bulls have been missing for a while. And interestingly, when the Bulls were 10 games over .500 on Jan 9, it was because of their defense and not offense.

During the team’s first 34 games, the Bulls had only the NBA’s 22nd ranked offense. Their defense, however, was ranked 5th. And that, more than anything, has been the biggest difference in the team’s play recently.

The Chicago Bulls have allowed at least 100 points in each of their last 15 games. Even in the games they’ve won, they’ve done it in spite of the team’s horrible defensive showings. Butler will help, at the very least, immediately in that department.

Whether that will be enough, however, remains to be seen. The Chicago Bulls are clearly not the team that started the season 22-12. And with Butler, they’re likely not the team that has been 8-18 since. The question is, will Jimmy Butler’s return be enough to right the ship?

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On paper, you would probably say yes at a higher rate than no. However, if the Bulls do have some deeper rooted problems than the simple ones that Butler can fix, it’s not fair to expect anything to change with this team.

And just maybe, the true fixing of this Chicago Bulls team will have to wait until the offseason.