The Chicago Bulls continue to be in the news for the wrong reasons. The recent issues have included plenty of talk about shooting guard Jimmy Butler’s ability to lead this team. Butler recently called out head coach Fred Hoiberg publicly in regards to the latter’s inability to hold players accountable. Soon after that, rumors swirled about locker room tension in regards to Butler’s changes as the new star of the team.
Now, even more rumors are being placed in the public. On the Washington Post’s “Posting Up” podcast, ESPN’s Nick Friedell talked about the dynamic of Butler attempting to become the leader of the Bulls, much to the chagrin of the other players on the roster (as transcribed by Pro Basketball Talk):
“But the tension now, moving forward off the Derrick talk for a second, between Jimmy and other players in that locker room is bad.
Because you can’t just say, /I signed this new deal. I’m the leader.’ That respect has to be earned over time. Nobody is questioning Jimmy’s work ethic. He’s worked his tail off. But they are questioning whether Jimmy can be the leader that this group needs with so much turmoil going on around them.
You talk to anybody within that Bulls organization, and they’ll tell you that Jimmy has changed. His personality has changed.
And it’s not to say he’s wrong in that.
But this was a kid that loved saying he was from Tomball, Texas and that he was just a role player on a really good team. And now he wants all the trappings that come with being a star in the league.
And that’s all well and good.
But again, this ties back into the leadership problem this team has. You can say all that, but you can’t just say, ‘Alright, I’m the leader.’ You have to earn that respect over time. Maybe Jimmy will.
He’s really rubbed some people the wrong way with how he’s going about things. So, it’s something to watch for, and it’s something that I know is on the minds of the front office in that, ‘Can we trust this guy to go out and to be who we need him to be every night, and can he lead us the way that a championship-caliber team needs to be led?’ And early on, the returns have been no.”
This is a lot to take in. Clearly, Butler underwent a huge change from a decent role player to a star last year, leading in his receiving of a huge contract. Obviously, looking from the outside, it is difficult to say how that may have changed him as a person. As the now unquestionable best player on the Bulls, Butler has every right to attempt to be a leader. While he has not always taken the correct action in doing so, most notably in using the media to express his frustrations about Hoiberg, it is not simple to use that as evidence of his poor leadership. Nevertheless, it is disconcerting that all of these rumors continue to swirl around Butler and the Bulls. If there is any truth to them, the Bulls are in a ton of trouble in trying to build a title contender around Butler.
