Chicago Bulls wing Jimmy Butler won’t play in his team’s season-opener tonight against the New York Knicks due to a sprained thumb. And though there’s no set timeline for his return, coach Tom Thibodeau maintains that Butler could be sidelined for multiple weeks.
Via ESPN’s Nick Friedell:
Chicago Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler will not play in Wednesday night’s season opener against the Knicks because of sprained ligaments in his left thumb.
Butler did not participate in Wednesday’s shootaround and it is unclear at this point when he will return…
“I try to come back early and that’s not always the best thing to do,” Butler said. “They’re just making sure when I do come back I won’t have any restraints and I’ll be able to go 100 percent…”
“No one knows,” Thibodeau said. “Two to four, one to three, I don’t know what it is. He’s not comfortable going yet, so when he is, he will. We know he wants to be out there, and injuries are part of the game so you just deal with it.”
This isn’t a huge blow to Butler or the Bulls, but is still disappointing.
The fourth-year stopper enjoyed a banner preseason, averaging 22.1 points per-36 minutes and shooting a scorching 58.8 percent from the field. Butler also appeared noticeably more athletic during the exhibition slate, rising for alley-oops and showing two-way quickness that was all too fleeting in 2013-2014. After a very disappointing campaign last season, early returns suggested Butler would bounce back in a big way this year. A minor injury and a few missed games won’t prohibit that progress, of course, but certainly make it more difficult.
His absence puts Chicago in a tough spot during its early season schedule, too. The Bulls face-off against Carmelo Anthony tonight and LeBron James on Friday. Though Thibodeau’s markedly consistent schemes and the presence of Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson ensure that Chicago will still make life difficult for their superstar opponents, the team lacks a wing defender of esteemed quality without Butler.
Tony Snell is long and athletic, but also lithe and without major experience checking Anthony or James. And while Mike Dunleavy is system sound and a smart team defender, he simply doesn’t have the physical jobs to provide much bother for either player. Doug McDermott’s limitations are a combination of his teammates’.
Which is all to say that winning at Madison Square Garden and at home in front of a raucous United Center will be made even more difficult with Butler sitting. There are 82 games to a regular season, of course, and an early loss or two is hardly doomsday. But the Bulls seemed primed for a hot start to 2014-2015, and will have to try and manage one without a crucial defensive piece for what seems like several games at the very least.
What do you think?
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