Chicago Bulls shooting guard Jimmy Butler (Photo : Getty Images/Jonathan Daniel)
The Chicago Bulls will not make the playoffs and instead of on-court action, they will have some off-court drama.
The latest episode in their woeful saga involves another Jimmy Butler Vs. the Chicago Bulls drama. Chris Broussard reported in a video on ESPN (h/t NBC for the transcription) that the rest of the team are irked by the "preferential treatment" given to their star player when the latter flew on a separate flight to New Orleans trip to face the Pelicans. Butler cited a "family commitment" as the reason for his exclusion.
"Some players, and I'm not saying it wasn't a family commitment, but there were some - I know at least one player in particular, a starter - who felt like he was a bit bothered by the fact that Jimmy wasn't on the plane," Broussard said. "And it was a misperception. He felt it was emblematic of a little bit of the preferential treatment that a lot of people say Butler's been getting now that he's emerged as the best players on the Bulls from the front office and things like that."
Broussard went on to his observations with the team overall, not just on the incident. "There's a division. There's all types of dysfunction in Chicago. There's kind of a division in that locker room."
He elaborates: "The younger players see Butler as the leader. He's clearly been their best player the last two years. They see him as the leader.
The other guys, the veterans who've been there, it's not so much of disrespect of Jimmy, but they don't see him as the team as the team leader. They remember when you were averaging two points a game."
Making the playoffs could have kept the players preoccupied and an extended playoff run could have let bygones be bygones. It can be assumed that the Bulls already had this issue but Coach Tom Thibodeau had them focused on the task at hand.
Now that Thibs is out, and the team won't make the playoffs, all of the bickering has unraveled.
Dan Feldman of NBC mentioned that the Bulls should have a clear direction moving forward. One of those decisions is to decide whether this is Butler's team or not which is why the thought of re-signing Joakim Noah might be a bad idea.
Is Butler a poor leader or are the veterans just not giving him a chance?
