Jimmy Eat World

Playoff Jimmy is a real thing, and it’s alive and well. With the 8th-seed Miami Heat taking a commanding 2-0 lead over Boston before even playing a game in Miami this series seems all but over assuming Jimmy can stay healthy. When most players numbers regress in the playoffs Jimmy Butler seems to take off.

Jimmy Butler was coming off of his most efficient regular season ever which we will talk about later in the article. Still to go from 22ppg during the season to 29ppg in the playoffs is unique, and it’s not simply not just from playing more minutes. The stat that puts it into perspective probably more than anything is that he’s had six 40-point games in the last two postseasons, yet hasn’t hit 40 in the regular season since 2017.

The three-point shooting is really the wildest part of this yearly playoff ascension. He’s a career 32% three-point shooter and on very low volume in the regular season which jumps closer to near averaged 35% in the playoffs. Yet come playoff time he’s not afraid to crank the volume up and take clutch threes with no hesitation. This is from a player that essentially doesn’t even take them even as the team dares him to in the regular season. It’s almost like sandbags. It is true there have been points in his career he was at least a competent three-point shooter, but this is perhaps the part that is the most difficult to explain. This playoffs he made 12 in 5 games at .444% vs the Bucks. Lately, he hasn’t been taking them and only went 1-9 vs the Knicks in the next 5 game series, but it’s not been at the expense of his performance. He’s simply a master at taking what the defense gives him.

The Jimmy Computer

It’s just incredible, and my estimation is the guy just continues to get smarter and smarter on the court. This is the player above almost anyone else I can think of that has improved the most since getting to the NBA and as you track his game I believe he’s continuing to improve his knowledge base. He was the 30th pick in the NBA draft and the first three seasons in the league there was very little indication of any of this. He was a 13 PER defensive role player essentially who really only took off at the age of 25-year-old which is late for this kind of level of star. I believe he’s continued to build on his footwork and pump fake skills, and knowledge of breaking down defense and learned how to manipulate the defenses to take advantage of them.

The best explanation I can come up with for why it’s on a different level during the playoffs is he takes this accumulation of knowledge and perfected footwork, pumpfakes etc he’s built over years that has now arrived at it’s peak in the last 18 months. Whereas athletically he is certainly in decline but enough remains that he can still execute them at the greatest level he ever has. Some of the fade away mid-range shots and footwork looks very reminiscent of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

This season was in fact the greatest PER season of his career by a significant margin and at the advanced age of 33. That’s basically unheard of for a wing, especially when it’s not being driven by some fluke three-point shooting or assist. When we studied this previously there were really only a couple of examples of star players peaking after 30 years old.

He’s not the fastest most athletic player, but he is strong, and it’s kind of an old man fill you out take contact type of game and take what they give you. Where other players shrink he certainly has the mental makeup to rise to the moment. Perhaps it is the regular season bores him in a way that the hyper-focus of the playoffs doesn’t that supercharges it. Whatever it is its fun to watch.

Where does Jimmy Butler Rank right now?

We will rank the NBA after the playoffs are complete. We do this because the playoffs are a much more serious level of basketball compared to the regular season. While it’s a smaller sample it certainly gives you better trends. Jimmy Butler is without a doubt a Top 5 playoff player in the last 14 months and with his career-high regular season PER as well he’s moving up. That is for sure, so stay tuned for that release later next month.