Since Rajon Rondo was sent to the Bulls’ bench on Dec. 30, Jimmy Butler has received a promotion. He’s taken on more of the responsibility on offense, and the results have been nothing short of stunning. Through those three Rondo-less games, the Bulls are 2-1 and Butler is averaging 33 points on 48 percent shooting, with eight rebounds, and seven assists.



What has caused Butler’s leap to the next level? It’s not the Rondo-for-Michael Carter-Williams swap in the starting lineup. Anyone who has seen Carter-Williams shoot recently knows that he’s not spacing out the floor.



Rather, the Rondo benching has given coach Fred Hoiberg the opportunity to experiment with his lineups again, and he’s found that surrounding Butler with shooters yields productive results.



The Bulls had previously been playing Butler with four non-shooters in the beginning of the season, and defenses were loading up on him. Ricky...