Jimmy Butler invoking new Warriors jersey retiree Andre Iguodala as he revitalizes team's championship hopes
SAN FRANCISCO -- It wasn't part of the original plan, but the timing was impeccable.
There stood Andre Iguodala, receiving adulation from coaches, teammates and family members on the night that his No. 9 Golden State Warriors jersey was raised to the rafters at the Chase Center, just moments after the newest member of the organization, Jimmy Butler, made his home debut in a dominant 126-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Iguodala, the 2015 NBA Finals MVP and the first of the Warriors' unforgettable dynasty to receive the ultimate franchise honor. Butler, the man tasked with giving the remaining core one last shot at glory.
The similarities between the two players are both glaringly obvious -- the ideal basketball size, the chiseled build, the powerful athleticism -- and intriguingly subtle -- the elite basketball IQ, the mastery of fundamentals, the charismatic leadership.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr often referred to Iguodala as "the babysitter," someone who could rein in the glorious madness brought to the court by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Even with Thompson now playing for Dallas, Butler is already proving himself as the same kind of counterweight.
"That's what Jimmy has really added to our team is this sense of calm," Kerr said. "It really, frankly, complements the chaos of Steph and Dray. And I think that's part of our strength as a team, is the chaos that Steph and Dray create. But if it's not balanced, then it can be counterproductive. And so Jimmy is kind of balancing that out."
On Sunday, Butler's mere presence brought out an energy and optimism from the Chase Center crowd that's been depressingly absent since the early weeks of the season when Golden State jumped out to a 12-3 start. Since then it's been a steady nosedive from which Butler has only recently helped them recover. The Warriors are 5-1 since his arrival as they move toward their goal of reaching the Western Conference's No. 6 seed, which would avoid the Play-In Tournament.
And it wasn't just the crowd that was hype (or hyphy, in Bay Area parlance). Curry hit PJ Washington with the "night night" at the end of the third quarter, a likely retaliation for Washington invoking Curry's signature celebration after the Mavericks beat the Warriors two weeks prior.
Green was dancing on the bench. Butler gave Kyrie Irving a "too small" after hitting a turnaround baseline jumper over him. Butler and Brandin Podziemski giggled like toddlers on the way to the bench after Podziemski hit a corner 3 off a Butler assist. The fans serenaded their heroes with the iconic "Waaaaaarrrriiioooooors!" chant at multiple points during the blowout win.
The Warriors' swagger is back, and it's all thanks to Butler's arrival.
Butler has fit perfectly with the WarriorsYou'd think the contrasting styles that Kerr mentioned, the deliberate Butler and the chaotic Curry-Green pairing, would require a significant adjustment period. But that hasn't been the case, and Kerr credits Butler's unselfishness for his seamless transition.
"It's really not much of an adjustment because of the way Jimmy plays," Kerr said. "The ball moves when he's out there, and we've always thrived on ball movement. So he actually fits right into the way we already play."
Butler, who had 18 points and five assists on Sunday, has also given Kerr and the Warriors something they've desperately needed for the last two seasons -- an offensive engine when Curry is on the bench. Virtually every lineup that has featured Butler without Curry has been utterly dominant, and the fact that Green and Butler are generally on the court at the same time means that other teams have an incredibly difficult time scoring against them. In 150 minutes so far, lineups with Butler and Green are allowing just 108 points per 100 possessions -- the equivalent of the second-best defense in the NBA.
"I think Jimmy definitely brings a defensive mentality, goes and gets a lot of steals," Warriors forward Moses Moody said after the game. "He's intense, he's guarding the ball, he's in help [position], as well as Draymond doing what he does. That allows everybody else to kind of follow suit and pay attention on that side of the ball."
Iguodala, who brought a similar type of detailed defensive mindset, arrived in 2013 at a time when Golden State's young, rising stars were in need of guidance and direction. Butler arrived when the same guys, now sage veterans, craved a jolt of hope and a not-so-gentle nudge back up the mountain.
"When they're on the floor, usually good things happen," Curry said of the similarities between Iguodala and Butler. "You love players like that who understand the game, have high IQ, lift the level of everybody around them. That's a hard thing to do and it's such a commodity in the league."
Curry and Green needed a third star to give them a realistic shot at their fifth championship as a tandem. Instead of a Thompson replacement, they received a carbon copy of Iguodala who has energized the organization for at least another few months, which is more than they could have said before the trade.
"There's a sense of urgency just because you know you're not going to be able to do it at this level forever. We talked about that pre-trade [deadline], which is why Jimmy is here," Curry said. "We all love expectations, we all love playing for something meaningful, and the only energy you're putting out there is to try to get it done."
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