The NBA has placed an emphasis on eliminating non-basketball moves from play this year, with officials no longer calling fouls when players do “unnatural shooting motions”. Many believe that the league-wide shooting slumps are due to some perimeter players being affected, as they don’t get the same easy attempts at the line after taking shots on the perimeter.
Jimmy Butler was one of the leaders in FTA last season, with his 9.1 FTA per game being enough to put him in the top 5. However, the new rule change hasn’t affected him much, as he is still shooting 9.0 attempts at the line in the 2021-22 season. An article by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel shared some of Jimmy Butler’s words on the matter, with the Heat star noting that he doesn’t “flop” and that he does actually get fouled.
I don’t think that I flop. People actually foul me and if you don’t call it, you don’t call it. I’ll be alright.
I’ll just go down there and get a stop, get a steal and get into the open court to make up for it. But if they don’t call a foul, I won’t complain. I know that they miss some calls or they’re looking to not call them. That’s fine. It’s just part of it.
Jimmy Butler’s former teammate, JJ Redick, has previously explained that Jimmy Butler isn’t trying to “trick” anyone and that a lot of his fouls come from drives. That naturally means that his FT attempts wouldn’t be subject to the new rules.
Free throws or not, Jimmy Butler is having a spectacular year thus far in the 2021-22 season, averaging 25.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, and 5.6 APG through 7 games. The Miami Heat will hope Butler’s stellar performances will continue, and perhaps we’ll see him lead them back to the Finals this year.
