Things have been near perfect for the Golden State Warriors following the acquisition of Jimmy Butler, having now moved to 9-1 in the 35-year-old's 10 games with the franchise so far.
The Warriors have been one of the best teams in the league on both ends of the floor over the last month, having ranked second in defense and fifth in offense since Butler's arrival.
The top five offense is somewhat surprising given Butler's yet to find his best, not to mention that Golden State have been without talented forward Jonathan Kuminga who was averaging nearly 25 points in six games prior to his injury on January 4.
Jimmy Butler is yet to find his shot with the Warriors
Having shot a career-high 41.4% from 3-point range with the Miami Heat last season, and a respectable 36.1% in 25 games before the trade, Butler hasn't been able to find the same shooting rhythm to start his Warrior tenure.
The 6x All-Star isn't a noted 3-point shooter to begin with, but his 2-of-20 (10%) shooting with Golden State so far is less than ideal. The Warriors have overcome that problem to date, and the fact Butler is shooting so poorly may actually provide optimism of what the team can do once he does find a rhythm.
However, if the shooting woes do continue, then it could only become more problematic for Golden State over the remainder of the season. Not only will they start to face tougher opposition than they've faced over the last 10 games, but the imminent return of Jonathan Kuminga will only add an extra factor to the scenario.
Once Kuminga re-integrates himself and is off a minutes restriction, it's easy to envisage Steve Kerr wanting to utilize a five of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Butler, Kuminga and Draymond Green for large periods. Yet the viability of that lineup will almost assuredly come down to the perimeter shooting of Butler, Kuminga and Green, and whether or not they can get away with the obvious spacing concerns that are likely to exist.
Needless to say that Butler needs to at least make himself a threat, even if teams are never going to close out to him in a way they do for Stephen Curry obviously. Not only is that going to be a major factor in how the rest of the season plays out, but could also impact what the Warriors do in the offseason where Kuminga will be a restricted free agent.