If the Miami Heat make the 2023 NBA Finals - Jimmy Butler is guaranteed to be a Hall of Famer

murksiderock

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I'm gonna disagree with everyone saying he was a Famer before this season. I think it was likely but he wouldn't have been 1st or 2nd ballot...

This postseason is locking him in as first ballot without a doubt...

As far as his All-Time standing. He didn't register on 99% of heads Top 75 before this season. He's on there now, so his historical place is rising. How high is up to him and how he is able to steer the remainder of his career. He isn't rising to no damn Top 20 in one season after not even being in Top 75 conversation beforehand šŸ˜†...

But he's getting in somewhere in that bottom 20 off this season. The bottom 20 of the Top 75 generally consists of some order of the following:

Unseld, McGrady, McAdoo, Melo, Vince
Rodman, Chief, Cowens, English, Dame
Maravich, Dwight, Schayes, Pearl, Arizin
Tiny, Pau, Parker, Greer, King

So its more about where is he gonna fit within this group. He's in there...

The other two guys who have gone from not in the conversation the last two years (because of their youth, though), to firmly within it now, are Embiid and Jokic. And Jimmy hasn't risen quicker or higher than Jokic. Embiid is more debatable, but those two guys have also put themselves on the All-Time boards...
 
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All this. He's been there.






That's a stretch. No one has jumped into all-time status like that in a single run. He's never even made 1st-team All-NBA or been an MVP candidate.


No one has also carried a team of undrafted castaways to an NBA title, themselves as an unheralded second round pick. If Jimmy somehow defies the Basketball Gods on some Clash Of The Titans shyt and makes it happen then heā€™s a special case and therefore deserves special consideration.

I donā€™t think people truly understand how astronomically outstanding such a feat would be. This man would have led his team not only past the first, second, and 4th best teams in his conference, but also would have to beat either a team led by the greatest player of his generation or a team led by a European whose currently playing like every white person in the world is extending theyā€™re hands to the heavens and lending him their energy to create a basketball spirit bomb. It would literally be an UNHEARD of accomplishment.


When you do the impossible there is no such thing as a ā€œreachā€. Your just a legend. Simple as that
 

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its crazy, because he isnt a 30 ppg game during the regular season, but he turns it on in the playoffs and takes it to a different level

And only the last two years too, until 2022 he had never averaged more than 22.9ppg in a postseason. Even in that 2020 run, he damn near disappeared as a scoring option for stretches (19.0ppg in the ECF, fourth on the team).

In part it's gotta be a reflection of how fukking hard he works and manages to keep improving his game.
 

murksiderock

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Heā€™s top 15 if he wins a title
Top 20 is more or less considered some version of this:

Mike, LeBron, Kareem, Magic, Wilt
Bird, Kobe, Russell, Duncan, Shaq
O, KD, Dream, Logo, Moses
Mailman, Steph, Erving, Baylor, KG

So he's going from being on virtually no one's Top 75 board to being better than Malone II, Steph, Dr J, Baylor and Garnett, while also knocking down someone else above that level?
 
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