Lots of you have already dug into these players and learned a lot about them but wanted to share some of the things I've learned in reading & watching material as well as speaking with a few folks who have some familiarity with his situation....
** Lamont Butler was widely regarded as a tough as nails player you could reliably stick on the other team's best offensive guard and he would fare well. However, there was some concern about his free throw shooting late in games. At the halfway point last season Butler was under 50% from the line for the season. He obviously improved for the overall numbers to come up the last couple of months but that is definitely something to watch with a guard who tries to drive into the defense at times.
** One of the big emphases for Butler over the past couple of years has been getting to the rim and attacking on offense to get things started for the Aztecs. He's not well regarded as a shooter but started to do a better job of getting downhill especially when other things weren't working for SDSU, the ball movement was not always reliable.
** Butler hit the contested mid-range jumper against FAU that sent the Aztecs to the national championship game last season. Confident player who can at least get his own look because of the elevation on his jumper. Butler would go on to say that he felt his sister's help on that shot. She was shot and killed in 2022.
** After that big shot Butler started "The Butler Did It Foundation", designed for 7-18 year olds who don't have access to team sports are able to play.
** There was a sense that Butler and some of the other players could have been more effective offensive players but offense was just not much of a structural emphasis there in terms of pushing tempo, getting good easy looks, etc. That's meant to underscore that even if a player comes in with offensive questions you do have to wonder how a change of system and scenery could impact, and going from SDSU to Mark Pope means you probably get that great defense (3 year starter, it's part of the wiring) but maybe the different offensive approach unlocks something.
** Butler threw out the first pitch at the San Diego Padres' game in the offseason after that Final Four run. At the time, there was a conversation over whether he should leave early for the pros. The plan was to wait until later in May that year so they were serious about the process. However, the convo was really because of Butler's iconic moments in SDSU's run to the title game as before that he wasn't getting traction as a first round pick. He's a guy who will be a second rounder or undrafted.
** The San Diego Tribune had a story after that '23 season with Butler Sr (father) saying you'd be shocked at some of the NIL amounts you hear from other schools, while Butler himself left the door open to portaling and making more NIL money. That happened one year later with him going to Kentucky. They saw last year as the springboard to the NBA year but will run that back at Kentucky.
** That 2023-24 Final Four team went into the season not with Butler regarded as one of their top couple of players but by the end of the season he was somebody who had become a leading player for them.
** One thing SDSU fans got frustrated about with Butler at times is passing up open looks. While the 3-point numbers aren't great, he knocked down plenty of those jump shots and for stretches of this past season he was trigger shy, maybe a little more unselfish than he needed to be. You don't want him turning down open looks to drive the ball into traffic and how many of those open looks he's able to knock down will determine whether he's somebody who can be a help or a hindrance on offense. He's not somebody who instinctually plays at the right speed all the time, knowing when to attack, when to pull up for the mid-range, etc. One task for Pope will be getting Butler's mindset right on offense so he is crystal clear about his role on that end and what's expected.
** We have seen that when a player in that point guard role is not a threat to knock down open looks it can dramatically affect the entire offense, so who Pope plays alongside Butler and if he can knock down those shots will determine whether he is one of UK's best overall players or a defensive specialist.
** Expectations were extremely high for Butler coming into this season because of how he elevated the Final Four team and took his game to another level. At times this year he didn't show the kind of improvement a lot of fans were hoping for, however, there was more on him.
** Butler broke his wrist on a dunk last season and missed about a month of action, with the coach calling it "like a skateboard accident". That and the death of his sister made the 2022-23 season really about more than off court stuff than on the court stuff a lot of the time.
** The bottom line on Butler is he is not a pure point guard and he is not a pure shooting guard. If you are expecting him to give you the best that the best point guards give or the best that the best shooting guards give you will be disappointed, he gives you a little bit of both of those positions and is elite on the defensive end. Offensively it's more about how he fits in with the parts around him.
** Lamont Butler was widely regarded as a tough as nails player you could reliably stick on the other team's best offensive guard and he would fare well. However, there was some concern about his free throw shooting late in games. At the halfway point last season Butler was under 50% from the line for the season. He obviously improved for the overall numbers to come up the last couple of months but that is definitely something to watch with a guard who tries to drive into the defense at times.
** One of the big emphases for Butler over the past couple of years has been getting to the rim and attacking on offense to get things started for the Aztecs. He's not well regarded as a shooter but started to do a better job of getting downhill especially when other things weren't working for SDSU, the ball movement was not always reliable.
** Butler hit the contested mid-range jumper against FAU that sent the Aztecs to the national championship game last season. Confident player who can at least get his own look because of the elevation on his jumper. Butler would go on to say that he felt his sister's help on that shot. She was shot and killed in 2022.
** After that big shot Butler started "The Butler Did It Foundation", designed for 7-18 year olds who don't have access to team sports are able to play.
** There was a sense that Butler and some of the other players could have been more effective offensive players but offense was just not much of a structural emphasis there in terms of pushing tempo, getting good easy looks, etc. That's meant to underscore that even if a player comes in with offensive questions you do have to wonder how a change of system and scenery could impact, and going from SDSU to Mark Pope means you probably get that great defense (3 year starter, it's part of the wiring) but maybe the different offensive approach unlocks something.
** Butler threw out the first pitch at the San Diego Padres' game in the offseason after that Final Four run. At the time, there was a conversation over whether he should leave early for the pros. The plan was to wait until later in May that year so they were serious about the process. However, the convo was really because of Butler's iconic moments in SDSU's run to the title game as before that he wasn't getting traction as a first round pick. He's a guy who will be a second rounder or undrafted.
** The San Diego Tribune had a story after that '23 season with Butler Sr (father) saying you'd be shocked at some of the NIL amounts you hear from other schools, while Butler himself left the door open to portaling and making more NIL money. That happened one year later with him going to Kentucky. They saw last year as the springboard to the NBA year but will run that back at Kentucky.
** That 2023-24 Final Four team went into the season not with Butler regarded as one of their top couple of players but by the end of the season he was somebody who had become a leading player for them.
** One thing SDSU fans got frustrated about with Butler at times is passing up open looks. While the 3-point numbers aren't great, he knocked down plenty of those jump shots and for stretches of this past season he was trigger shy, maybe a little more unselfish than he needed to be. You don't want him turning down open looks to drive the ball into traffic and how many of those open looks he's able to knock down will determine whether he's somebody who can be a help or a hindrance on offense. He's not somebody who instinctually plays at the right speed all the time, knowing when to attack, when to pull up for the mid-range, etc. One task for Pope will be getting Butler's mindset right on offense so he is crystal clear about his role on that end and what's expected.
** We have seen that when a player in that point guard role is not a threat to knock down open looks it can dramatically affect the entire offense, so who Pope plays alongside Butler and if he can knock down those shots will determine whether he is one of UK's best overall players or a defensive specialist.
** Expectations were extremely high for Butler coming into this season because of how he elevated the Final Four team and took his game to another level. At times this year he didn't show the kind of improvement a lot of fans were hoping for, however, there was more on him.
** Butler broke his wrist on a dunk last season and missed about a month of action, with the coach calling it "like a skateboard accident". That and the death of his sister made the 2022-23 season really about more than off court stuff than on the court stuff a lot of the time.
** The bottom line on Butler is he is not a pure point guard and he is not a pure shooting guard. If you are expecting him to give you the best that the best point guards give or the best that the best shooting guards give you will be disappointed, he gives you a little bit of both of those positions and is elite on the defensive end. Offensively it's more about how he fits in with the parts around him.
