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CHICAGO — At the start of the season, Jimmy Butler decided to gamble on himself. He turned down the Chicago Bulls’ four-year, $40 million contract extension offer and decided to test his value on the market next summer. Now, a quarter of the way through the season, it’s clear that bet is paying off in a big way.



Butler isn’t just having a career year—he’s making a case for his first All-Star appearance. He took home Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors for November. His defense has been his calling card his whole career, but he’s become the Bulls’ most consistent offensive weapon as well. He’s 12th in the NBA in scoring at 21.5 points per game and has given Chicago consistent scoring production in the backcourt while Derrick Rose plays his way back to form.

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“I can’t say enough about what he’s done,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said on December 2, before the Bulls' game against the Dallas Mavericks. “Jimmy’s been terrific on both sides of the ball. He’s been a great leader, practices extremely well, prepares, studies. Doesn’t take any plays off.

“I think he’s built those habits through the way he practices, and you can see it. He’s got maximum effort on every play, he’s got great concentration on every play. If you do that, you’re going to be successful.”

A year ago, Butler wasn’t the kind of player opposing coaches had to game-plan for. Last season, he averaged 13.1 points per game and shot under 40 percent from the field. But what he’s doing this season has been impossible to ignore. His field-goal percentage has jumped almost 10 points, from 39.7 to 49.3, and he’s drawn 8.5 free-throw attempts per game, up from 5.0 last season.

Where he was an afterthought for opponents before, he’s become a cause for concern.

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“He’s a big problem in the post and a big problem in isolation,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle on December 2. “It’s as a hard a physical matchup at the [shooting guard position] as you’re going to find in this league, just the strength. There’s great players playing the 2, but there’s nobody quite like him in terms of brute strength."

“Jimmy’s getting better and better every year,” said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr on December 6. “The biggest thing with him is to keep him off the free-throw line. It seems like he’s there eight or 10 times every night.”

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With Rose in and out of the lineup, Butler’s steadiness has been an asset for the Bulls. Even now that Rose is playing consistently (the former MVP has played in the team's last eight games), his performance has been up and down. Having another reliable scorer on the wing to take the pressure off Rose is in large part why the Bulls are 13-8 in spite of a suspect defense and a litany of injuries.

“He’s become more of a featured guy,” said Carlisle. “With Rose missing games early, he’s had to be more of a focal point. Now he’s really not missing a beat. They’re still going to him a lot. He’ll be a guy people are talking about for most improved.”

The only person who doesn’t like to talk about Butler’s improvement is Butler himself. It’s impossible to ask him about his own performance without him redirecting it to praise the team. But he is embracing his new role as a leader, especially on the defensive end.

“I have to be the one to start it with the steal or the block or whatever,” said Butler after the Bulls' 105-80 Wednesday night home win over the Brooklyn Nets. “Especially when [Joakim Noah] is out, I have to be the energy guy.”

Even Thibodeau wasn’t expecting this big a jump.

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“He’s exceeded my expectations,” said the coach. “And I thought he would have a terrific season based on what I saw and heard from him this summer. The communication that I had with him, I felt confident in knowing that he had improved each year. To say I thought it would be as good as it has been, I never thought that. But nothing he does surprises me, because of the way he approaches things.”

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Before the year, the Bulls were unsure of Butler’s value. Now, he’s proven himself indispensable. To keep him, Chicago will undoubtedly have to pony up a max contract, as he's a restricted free agent next season. But it can’t afford to lose him. Replacing a 20-point scorer who also guards the other team’s best player on a nightly basis would be next to impossible.

Butler wasn’t letting his contract talks affect him before the extension deadline Oct. 31, and he isn't playing like they're affecting him now. He knows the work he’s put in and the results it’s led to. He’s going to get paid this summer, but there’s a lot of work to do before then. There’s only one set of numbers he wants to hear about.

“The numbers say we have a winning record,” Butler said. “That’s all I care about.”