Timberwolf to watch – Jimmy Butler
While Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are clearly two of the league’s more talented young players, both men are still plagued by inconsistencies. As a result, not only is Jimmy Butler the team’s undisputed leader, but he’s also Minnesota’s best player too.
Butler has shown little hesitation in accepting a slightly different role than he’s had in recent years, and is playing at a very high level on the season to date.
Butler is averaging 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals, while shooting 47 percent from the field.
The one area where Butler is falling below expectations is in terms of three-point shooting, only averaging 33.9 percent from deep for the year. Considering how the Bucks often defend the three-point line, it wouldn’t be surprising if he was to find an extra gear against Milwaukee on Thursday, though.
Regardless, Butler will cause problems for the Bucks, and it will be interesting to see which of Milwaukee’s defenders spends most of the night guarding him.