Tom Thibodeau is no longer the coach of the Chicago Bulls. That is now Fred Hoiberg, so there are some changes that are expected to be made under the new regime. The changes might include lineup changes among other things but the biggest change might be the handling of Jimmy Butler. Butler barely ever came out of games when Thibodeau was the head coach but this season Hoiberg hopes to reduce his minutes at least a little bit, according to Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago.
Butler is entering his fifth season in the NBA and in his previous two seasons he averaged 38.7 minutes per game which easily leads the league. Hoiberg wouldn't make any promises but he did say the hope is to reduce those minutes.
"We'll see how that plays out. I would like to have him play a little less than that, so at the end of the season he's fresh. You want all your guys, fresh, not only mentally but physically and hopefully we'll accomplish that," said Hoiberg.
For his part Butler doesn't seem to want to have his minutes reduced as he feels if he is healthy he should be out there as long as possible to help the team win. Butler's thought process is good to hear if you are a fan of the Bulls but it would be wise for him to rest a little bit more.
Butler is one of the only true two way players in the NBA and he gives so much effort on each side of the ball whenever he is on the court so it does take a toll. The past two seasons Butler has missed a combined 32 games after playing in all 82 back in 2012-13. Reducing his minutes would keep the All-Star fresh for the entire season and would likely increase his production and efficiency on both ends of the floor.
The idea here isn't to cut Butler's minutes in half or even dramatically reduce them, the hope is to get them down to about 34-35 minutes per game which doesn't seem like a big difference but it could mean a lot for his body at the end of the season. Butler is now an essential part of this Bulls team on both defense and offense so they cannot allow him to get fatigued if they plan to be successful. We will see if Hoiberg is able to execute the plan of allowing more rest time for his star guard.
