Rasual

Butler

The Heat believe Dwyade Wade’s best position is shooting guard, so they could try to get him more time there. Since that shifts Eddie Jones to small forward, Butler has been coming off the bench. Van Gundy hasn’t decided whether it’s a starting lineup he’ll go into the season with.

If Butler does indeed start, the starting five is expected to be Butler, Dwyane Wade, Eddie Jones, Udonis Haslem and Shaquille O’Neal, if healthy. The alternative to Butler would appear to be Damon Jones.

Coach Stan Van Gundy admits, “I’m pretty much where I was early in the year. I know that Dwyane [Wade], Eddie [Jones], Udonis [Haslem] and Shaq [O’Neal] are going to play, and everybody else is situational.” In other words, Damon Jones and Butler still have to prove some things to the coach. Butler’s competition at the three include Shandon Anderson, who has been used out of position to backup the power forward slot recently with the injury to Christian Laettner, and newcomer Qyntel Woods.

Butler has been out all season with a broken hand.

Disappointing that Butler wasn’t able to produce more given the opportunity. He started in place of Caron Butler, who was out with the flu.

Butler signed with the team in Spain less than one month ago, but has already left the team for “personal reasons”. It’s not clear if he plans to resume his playing anywhere at this point.

This move was made today to allow Butler to sign with a team before the playoff free agent deadline on Friday. Butler had fallen completely out of the rotation with Linas Kleiza and James Johnson emerging in their roles in Toronto.

Kleiza had played himself into a roster spot in most fantasy leagues with his strong play of late, but health has always been a question mark holding him back. With his knee acting up again, Leandro Barbosa or Rasual Butler could get extra run in his place.

The Jazz apparently are content with their roster for the most part, and are looking for veterans to fill around their young squad. Raja Bell would appear to be the favorite for backup shooting guard duties, but may be available for trade, and these could be the pieces the Jazz are looking at to replace him.

Butler has started all nine of the Raptors’ games so far, but is shooting 24.0 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from the 3-point stripe. His leash has to be getting short. Johnson is an intriguing defender that is averaging 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals while playing just 22.3 minutes per game this season. Deep leaguers need to have Johnson on their radar now.