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About Jared Butler
• Jared Butler is a dynamic ball handler who emerged as the engine of a breakout Baylor team as a sophomore before helping lead them to a National Championship as a junior. Regarded as one of the top-125 prospects in the high school class of 2018 following his senior year at Riverside Academy (LA), Butler enrolled at Alabama before receiving his release and becoming immediately eligible at Baylor. Emerging as a key player for Head Coach Scott Drew’s Bears as one of the younger true freshman in the country two years ago, he scored in bunches on several notable occasions in his first year with the program. Averaging 16 points and 3.1 assists per game as a sophomore, Butler declared for the 2020 NBA Draft but opted to return to Waco to pursue an NCAA Championship. Averaging 16.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.8 assists, Butler achieved that goal, earning NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and Consensus All American 1st Team honors in the process.
• Standing 6’3 with a 195-pound frame and decent length, Butler has nice size for a point guard, but has solid quickness and the talent as a ball handler to magnify it—sometimes in impressive fashion.
• Spending time on and off the ball for a team deep with backcourt talent, Butler showed the ability to create for himself and others out of the pick and roll, score in bunches from the perimeter, breakdown opposing defenders, and find ways to make things happen offensively with great instincts.
• Competing with toughness and timing defensively, Butler was a key part of Baylor’s defensive renaissance two seasons ago and remained one of peskier guards in college basketball as a junior.
Advanced Stats
• Splitting ball handling duties for a Baylor team that rotated four talented guards, Butler is a versatile jump shooter whose ball handling ability allows him to create separation to score and create opportunities for teammates. Frequently operating out of pick and roll and isolation situations, he was aggressive off the dribble but also flashed promising efficiency playing alongside another facilitator.
• A very deceptive ball handler, Butler’s ability to break down defenders shined at times last season as he is extremely creative with his dribble. Averaging 0.93 points per pull-up jump shot in the half court [77th percentile], he showed the ability to stop and pop with range prolifically for stretches over the last two seasons but has some room to improve his consistency. He is not an overwhelmingly explosive slasher and averaged 1.07 points per shot around the rim in the half court [40th percentile], but he scored in bunches when he ran hot from three and his ability to get defenders off balance and make shots from all three levels made him a tough matchup in the half court.
• Finding the open man out of ball screens and doing a nice job using his ability to probe to create for others, Butler found a nice balance between scoring and passing as the talent around him at Baylor evolved.
• With two-thirds of his field goal attempts in the half court coming from the perimeter, Butler did some of his best work as a set shooter. Scoring a massive 1.51 points per catch and shoot jump shot in the half court [98th percentile], he did not need much time or space to get his shot off and did an excellent job using screens. Few lead guards in the country capitalized on their opportunities to slide off the ball as well as Butler.
Defensive Analysis
• Playing with good intensity defensively and flashing very quick hands, Butler held his own guarding on the perimeter and forced an impressive volume of turnovers. A well-rounded defender who stays active off the ball, he helped set the tone for one of the top units in the country last season.
• He may not have obvious versatility but is a scrappy defender who guarded a variety of players on the perimeter last season and allowed 0.61 points per one-on-one possession [67th percentile].
— Profile by Synergy Sports
