Life is about balance.
Steph Curry changed basketball with his one-of-a-kind 3-point shooting that has altered the NBA over the past decade-plus. While that's worked in favor of the Warriors ever since, leading them to six NBA Finals appearances and four championships, it hasn't saved them over the past couple of seasons.
Change was needed, and since acquiring six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline last week, that change was found. Butler brings a different type of offensive threat to the Warriors that they haven't really had since Kevin Durant's departure. It's what excites former Warrior and Hall of Fame guard Mitch Richmond most about the Butler addition.
"One thing I like about him, and I think the Warriors really truly needed it, you need a guy to get people in trouble. And that means in foul trouble," Richmond said Wednesday on NBC Sports Bay Area's "Warriors Pregame Live." "Taking advantage of who's guarding you. Sometimes we haven't seen that a lot in this game. We don't see that many people in foul trouble. What Jimmy does, he goes all the way down the roster. You going to put a small on me? You going to put a big on me? You going to put two on him? He gets you in foul trouble.
"And that's the one thing I like because you slow the game down a little bit. You put guys on the bench and the momentum comes to you because of how you play the game. And I like that because it's kind of the old school way of playing."
It's a small sample size, but it's difficult not to recognize the different ways Butler is impacting the game for Golden State.
In three games, Butler is averaging 22 points on 46.3-percent shooting, with 6.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals in 31.7 minutes. Most notably, though, he's shooting 82.4 percent from the free-throw line on 11.3 attempts per game. For reference, Curry averages 4.3 free-throw attempts over his 16-year NBA career.
Golden State Warriors
"It's old school," Chris Mullin said in agreement. "And he's a combination of Tim [Hardaway] and Mitch. He gives his teammates confidence as Tim did for us. He's a leader. He's vocal. He's very physical offensively and defensively. And he gets in the post like Mitch did and draws fouls. So this is not only acquiring a great player, it's acquiring a need that was glaring for this Warriors team.
"They became so reliant on the 3-point shot. We could sit here every night, if they didn't make a high percentage of 3s, they really had no chance. So now all of a sudden they got a guy who can get in the post, face the basket and be a threat and also make plays."
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It hasn't taken long for Jimmy Buckets to receive a prestigious stamp of approval from Run TMC.
