I am a life-long Washington Bullets / Wizards Fan and even though he’s getting more attention, I wanted to point out that Caron “Tough Juice” Butler is the best Small Forward in the league not named LeBron James. 

He’s coming off of leading the Wizards to two straight 4th Quarter comeback wins over the Boston Celtics.  In Boston last night he converted on 2 three point plays, a driving lay-up and all his free throws in the final minutes of the game to lead the team from 14 pts back. 

As a Wizards fan, I find it especially pleasing that we got Caron Butler in a trade for the worst #1 pick in history, Kwame Brown.  I’m still shocked that Phil Jackson, who coached Scottie Pippen all those years, did not see that Caron Butler is another Scottie Pippen, only a better pure shooter.  Butler can handle and pass the ball, rebound, defend the opponent’s best perimeter player and would have been perfect playing Pippen to Kobe Bryant’s Jordan. 

In order to show just how great Butler is I put together comparisons between him and some of the top Small and Power Forwards in the League.  With the exception of LeBron James, Butler is tangibly and/or intangibly better than these other top players.

VS. DIRK NOWITZKI
Nowitzki takes more shots so he scores slightly more points than Butler and as a PF he does average 2 more rebounds, but Butler’s adjusted FG%, assists and free throw shooting are all superior to Nowitzki.  Butler also has a big edge in Steal to Turnover ratio.  Even though Nowitzki averages more rebounds, in my opinion 8.9 rebounds is 1 less than you want from a star PF.  Butler’s 6.9 is what you want from a star SF, so for his position I think Caron Butler is a better rebounder.

VS. JOSH HOWARD
I looked at Dirk’s teammate, Josh Howard, and again Caron Butler has the edge in more key stats.  Besides a 0.6 rebound advantage for Howard, Caron Butler has the advantage in every other statistical category.

VS. SHAWN MARION
Shawn Marion plays PF for the Suns so it is not surprising to see he has a 3.2 rebound per game edge over Butler.  He also has the advantage in adjusted FG%, but I think that has more to do with playing with Steve Nash.  Caron Butler does not have a great PG getting him the ball in easy scoring positions.  A lot of Butler’s offense is done off the dribble from 20 feet out and not on easy lay-ups and dunks.  If Butler were on the Suns I feel he’d have an adjusted FG% well over 60% thanks to his superior three point percentage.  It is also very good to have Butler’s 90% free throw shooting which gives the team another player who can handle the ball in the final minutes and hit from the free throw line consistently.

VS. PAUL PIERCE
I just watched Butler and Pierce face-off their last two games and Butler came out on top.  Pierce is an excellent player and this is a pretty even match-up, but I still like Butler’s big advantage in Steal:Turnover ratio and he is more reliable hitting those pressure free throws than Pierce.  Pierce’s advantages in assists and adjusted FG% have more to do with playing with extremely talented teammates like KG and Ray Allen.  I believe it is more impressive getting 4.3 assists passing to Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison than getting 4.9 dishing to Allen and KG.

VS. CARMELO ANTHONY
Carmelo gets more shots and has a slight edge in rebounding over Butler, but Butler has a big edge in all other categories, especially in adjusted FG%.  Carmelo should have a higher FG% given the attention that Allen Iverson gets from opposing offenses.  Butler plays with high scoring Antawn Jamison, but Jamison does not drive and draw double-teams like Iverson and he does not kick the ball out for wide open jumpers like Iverson. 

VS. GERALD WALLACE
Gerald Wallace is athletically superior to just about everyone, but Butler has the statistical advantage in every category below except for three pointers made.  When you factor in for team wins and losses then Butler really gets the big edge over Wallace.

VS. TRACY MCGRADY
Caron Butler has the edge in 4 of these 7 categories and the gap between he and McGrady in these categories is substantial.  If you factor in McGrady’s injury problems, then it’s clear that Butler is the better SF at this point in their careers.  Butler is also the better one-on-one defender, even though a young, healthy McGrady could have been one of the great defensive stoppers of his generation.

VS. KEVIN DURANT
Durant is too young and weak to even come close to Butler.  The shocking thing is how poor Durant’s 3PT percentage is.

VS. ANDRE IGUODALA
Iguodala is more of a Shooting Guard than Small Forward and he does have the edge in assists over Butler.  Iguodala is the only player in this comparison analysis who has a better steal to turnover ratio than Butler.  However, Butler’s advantage in 4 of 7 categories and the superior Wizards’ record give Caron the edge over Iguodala.

VS. RICHARD JEFFERSON
Richard Jefferson is scoring a lot of points this year, but his rebounding is down considerably from the 6.9 he averaged 2 seasons ago.  He also has a poor steal to turnover ratio and despite having Jason Kidd distributing the ball his adjusted FG% is much lower than Caron’s.  One could argue that the Nets have more talent than the Wizards without Gilbert Arenas, but Washington is 20-16 while the Nets are 18-19.

VS. LUOL DENG
Luol Deng was un-tradable in the off-season, but on paper he’s not nearly the player that Caron Butler is.  Both are good one-on-one defenders, but Butler is the superior player in every category below, except for rebounding, where both average 6.9 rebounds per game.

VS. RASHARD LEWIS
Lewis has lived up to his free agent expectations, and his prolific three point shooting does give him the edge in adjusted FG%, but Butler’s defense, rebounding and guard skills give him the substantial overall edge over Lewis.  The Wizards trail Orlando by 1.5 games so Lewis does have that edge, but Dwight Howard clearly is the key to Orlando’s advantage in the win column.

VS. KEVIN MARTIN
Kevin Martin is a tremendous scorer and is better than Butler in adjusted FG% and points per game.  However, Butler’s all-around abilities distributing the ball, playing defense and hitting the boards give him the overall advantage over Martin.

VS. LEBRON JAMES
No sane person would say Caron Butler is better than LeBron, even me.  James is the only player on this list who has the advantage in more statistical categories than Butler.  I also watched LeBron demolish the Wizards in the playoffs which is the most significant proof that LeBron is the best small forward in the league and probably the best player.

So based on the fact that Caron Butler has better overall stats than all of these non-LeBron forwards and he has led Washington to a surprisingly good record, including 2 straight wins over the Celtics you have to say Caron Butler should get serious consideration for First Team All-NBA.

The season is less than half-way over so the numbers and each teams’ records could change significantly, but at this point in the year I say Caron should get serious MVP consideration!