Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors revolutionized the NBA with their 3-point shooting over the past dozen years, but they're now in the midst of their own much-needed transition following an underwhelming start to the season.
Jimmy Butler was always going to have a significant impact on the Warriors following the blockbuster trade for the 6x All-Star, but few would have predicted just how much the team has changed in the short time since his arrival.
It's taken just four games for Jimmy Butler to deliver huge impact
One of the biggest reasons the Warriors acquired Butler was to give them a second go-to scorer who does his best work in the mid-range and on the interior. Jonathan Kuminga is really the only player who provided those elements on the roster previously, but he's nowhere near as polished or experienced as Butler, and has also been out since January 4 through injury.
Butler's ability to get inside, draw fouls and get to free-throw line has already completely revamped the Golden State offense. In the 51 games prior to his addition to the lineup, the Warriors ranked 27th in free-throw attempts and 30th in free-throw percentage.
In four games with Butler, Golden State are third in free-throw attempts and fifth in percentage. So not only does the 35-year-old actually get to the line, but he actually makes his free-throws which is a welcome sight to a fanbase that had to previously watch their team be the worst in the league.
Butler has taken 40 free-throws in four games, 10 ahead of Curry and 27 ahead of the third-ranked Draymond Green. But while the former Miami Heat star does that exceptionally well, he doesn't particularly space the floor with his shooting, having made just 1-of-7 attempts from 3-point range in four games.
With he, Green and the imminently returning Kuminga all likely to feature heavily as 30-35-minute per game players, it's unlikely the Warriors are going to be one of the league's elite shooting teams anymore even despite the presence of the greatest shooter of all-time in Curry.
Golden State ranked 13th in 3-point percentage prior to Butler's acquisition, but have slipped to 24th in the four games since. If anything that should provide some optimism moving forward, having won three of their four games despite shooting just 31.4% from beyond the arc.
Four games is a small sample size, but when we're talking about a star-calibre player like Butler, it's enough to get a clear indication of how different the Warriors truly are already. A team ranked top five in free-throw attempts and bottom 10 in 3-point percentage? That's something that's scarcely been said over the past dozen years with Curry leading the way.