Like it or not, Bulls players now realize it’s Butler’s team

There might be a few veterans who still roll their eyes or try to pass a snide comment off as jest, but the Bulls are now Jimmy Butler’s team. The two-time All-Star guard knows it, coach Fred Hoiberg knows it, and the front office knows it.

With Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol sitting out the final two games after the Bulls failed to qualify for the postseason, Butler ran the point Monday night in New Orleans, putting in 29 minutes against the Pelicans, then opting to come back in with six minutes left to deliver in crunch time. The Bulls won 121-116.

Did Butler have the option to sit out, too?

“Nobody can make me do anything,” he said. “I’m a grown man, first and foremost. I wanted to play. That’s that. [Hoiberg] came and talked to me, and he knew how to talk to me. He said, ‘Hey, you may have to run point guard.’ Oh, it’s a wrap. I’m playing now. He knew what to say to make me really, really want to play. But I was going to play anyways.”

Play he did, scoring 23 points with 11 assists.

“I don’t like to lose, period,” Butler said. “I don’t care if we’re in the playoffs, out of the playoffs. When I play, I play to win. And if Coach is like, ‘Jimmy you gotta play 48 tonight,’ I don’t care what anybody says, that’s my decision.

“I almost didn’t want to come off the floor when he asked me to, but then I realized it’s a team game and other guys need their reps. Other guys need to build their confidence. But I’m here to win, I’m here to play.”

While there has been resistance from some veterans to Butler emerging as the leader — especially from Joakim Noah, according to a source — the young players have embraced him. How do you become popular with the younger guys? Sweat with them, bleed with them, win with them. For Butler — who could still be here through the 2019-20 season — it’s about establishing winning habits and molding younger players in his style. On Monday, he finished off the Pelicans game with Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio.

“It’s very important because I was in their position at one point and time in my career — not too long ago, actually,” Butler said. “So I know what it feels like to want to get reps with the guys that play a lot more than you do. No offense to those guys, but that’s just the way that it is, so when they see me out there competing and fighting with them, they’re going to always give me everything they have, every possession that they’re on the floor. Moving forward, I just want them to compete, continue playing hard, continue working on their game.”

Butler’s attitude isn’t just contagious with teammates, either.

Asked about Butler playing Monday while other veterans sat, Hoiberg said, “It says a lot. It shows he wants to be the leader of this thing and go out there.”

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Email: jcowley@suntimes.com