Chicago Bulls shooting guard Dwyane Wade gave teammate Jimmy Butler some very high praise. From ESPN’s Nick Friedell:
“He’s playing as good as anybody in the league right now,” Wade told ESPN.com on Saturday after the Bulls’ 123-118 win over the Toronto Raptors. “What he’s doing in the fourth quarter is even more impressive than the stat line at the end of the day. That stat line is amazing, but everybody knows we’re going to Jimmy. And to still be able to make those plays, make those things, it’s incredible. And then to still guard one or two of the other best players on the other end of the floor in the fourth, that’s impressive, man. He’s playing out of this world right now. His confidence is out the roof, and that goes a long way.”
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“So many guys in this league have talent,” Wade said. “Everyone in this league has talent. There’s a lot of things that separate guys and that’s one of them — the mentality. The mentality that it takes to — even if you’re having a bad game like in Cleveland he wasn’t shooting well, to still be able to do that in the clutch, that’s big time. Those players, those are special players right there. And he’s putting himself in the category of just special.”
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“When a guy comes in the league as a defender like he did and plays so hard, and then in a short period of time turn himself into an All-Star, a 20-point-a-game scorer, you know he’s putting work in,” Wade said. “And then once I got here I saw it. The thing about him, the last few games, he’s been balling out of control. But every night he’s in the gym, he’s putting the work in, and I love to see it. He’s not at home kicking his feet up because he had a 52-point game or a 40-point game. He’s still working. The guy wants to be great. Now his confidence is there and he can do whatever he wants out there.”
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“We know going down the stretch we’re going to run sets to make sure he has the ball in his hands,” Wade said. “Everyone knows now. There’s no doubt about it that we’re going to him. You can see the swagger in him. He wants it. He’s a guy he doesn’t want to let no one down … the guy right now is playing at an unbelievable level.”
Wade’s high praise for Butler is certainly warranted. Butler, already an All-Star level two-way player prior to this year, is enjoying the finest season of his career. The swingman is putting up career-best points per game (25.6) and rebounds per game (6.9) averages. He’s also averaging 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
