The Chicago Bulls, alongside organizations like the Lakers and the Knicks, are two of the most globally recognized and acclaimed NBA franchises in no small part of their all time super star, Michael Jordan. After the dawn of the second decade of the 21st century, the Chicago Bulls were blessed to have the emergence of an explosive superstar point guard Derrick Rose, in an MVP season averaging 25 points and just under 8 assists a game, it appeared that the Chicago Bulls had their first superstar player since the great Michael Jordan departed. An athletic and extremely quick guard provided a highlight reel that not only brought pride to Chicago fans, but could capture attention globally with Rose’s signature style of slashing through the competition and finishing at the rim in a way that we have not seen before.
The Bulls organization knew that they had struck gold and inked a 5 year 94.8 million dollar contract extension with the young superstar, confident that they had a supreme all world talent to build around. But tragedy struck in the first game of the 2011-2012 playoffs when Rose, executing his patented jump stop slash to the rim, went up as Bulls fans had grown accustomed to seeing game in and game out, and in doing so tore his ACL, finishing early with 23 points 9 assists and 9 rebounds. Rose would go under surgery and continue to fight minor injuries for the next 4 seasons until he returned in crunch time in the conference semi-finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but not being used to NBA athletic requirements, he seemed to only be able to make an impact every other game and the Bulls were eliminated in 6 games.
That summer Rose was prepped and ready to return to the court, unfortunately in a preseason scrimmage Rose again fractured a facial bone and started the season gradually dawning a Rip Hamilton style face mask, Derrick rose played decently averaging 16 points in 66 games, a respectable total but not worth 20 million a year. After Rose voiced opinions on the salary cap, saying “It’d be stupid not to look and see what i can get” the general consensus is that Rose will be leaving Chi Town, or staying at a significantly smaller salary, if the market proves unloving for the 27 year old point guard fighting to stay on the court.
But the Bulls are not up the creek without a paddle, they are blessed with a top 5 shooting guard and all-star, Jimmy Butler. Jimmy butler excels at being an athletic inside scoring guard and his most notable strength, his out-standing defense. Butler has made the all NBA defensive second team for the past 3 years; while his skill set does not particularly lend its self to having a team built around him like an offensive power house player like Kevin Durant or James Harden, Butler has proven himself to be a great leader and rock like foundation of the Bulls organization.
Over the past few months Butler has appeared on several TV programs, such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Starters, and Inside the NBA, cementing the fact that Jimmy Butler is the new face of the Chicago Bulls franchise. While Bulls fans might be distraught over the end of a defense first era of play and the loss of a superstar in Derrick Rose, they can relish in the fact that they will have an all-star leader in shooting guard Jimmy Butler.
