Bulls' Butler: I'm the reason we didn't make the playoffs
There's never any one reason for an NBA team's success or failure, but when it comes to the Chicago Bulls' colossal disappointment of a 2015-16 season, All-Star shooting guard Jimmy Butler is prepared to shoulder the blame.
"I'm the reason that we did not make the playoffs," he said Wednesday, according to Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. "I'm fine with that. I'm not happy with it, but I'm fine with it. Because it's only going to make me stronger and better."
Butler's disappointment is understandable, but he was far and away the Bulls' best player this season. He led the team in points (20.9) and assists (4.8) per game, both career highs, the latter lending some credence to Butler's preseason assertion that he's capable of being a point guard. He carried the offense while also serving as the team's best perimeter defender. A knee injury cost him 15 games, but when he played, the Bulls went 37-30, a pace that would've placed them seventh in the Eastern Conference if they hadn't gone 5-10 without him.
Butler, though, doesn't feel his performance was as steady as it needed to be.
"I wasn't consistent enough," he said. "I had good games, average games, decent games and some terrible games. I don't want to have terrible and decent games. Average games can get us over the hump. Really good ones can make us win."
It often seemed like Butler's play was secondary to his seemingly strained relationships inside the Bulls locker room. There was reportedly some resentment from his teammates about his ego and the preferential treatment he received from management. He reportedly clashed with head coach Fred Hoiberg and he struggled to jell with backcourt mate Derrick Rose, both on and off the court.
Butler plans to work out with Rose in the offseason and try get on the same page.
"I think we will," he said. "When we lose, you've got to find something to talk about, and why not talk about that? That's a great story. I think that has nothing to do with anything. But, yeah, we'll work out together and figure out ways to make ourselves coexist."