Yahoo Sports NBA writers Jake Fischer and Dan Devine hop on the the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast to discuss Jimmy Butler’s incredible playoff performances so far, and explain why he might be the most trustworthy player in the league in the postseason.

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Video Transcript

[INTRO MUSIC]

DAN DEVINE: Jimmy Butler, he says play off Jimmy's not a thing. The results, certainly, seem to suggest that it's a pretty big frickin' thing.

What he does in the playoffs is a little-- it is a little bit different, just in terms of turning up his own volume, like the amount of times where he's being the centerpiece of the offense, to the point where he's taking a ton of shots. It's not just getting to the free throw line. It's also the amount that he's running the show.

JAKE FISCHER: Taking the 3's, let alone anything else. Just taking that-- just shooting the ball from behind the 3 point line.

DAN DEVINE: When he decides he's going to control the offense more often, everything really flows out of that. There are other guys that are involved, like Kyle Lowry had a 13 point second quarter last night. He's been sensational all postseason. But the stuff that Jimmy does that makes him such a valuable player during the regular season, such a darling of the advanced statistical community-- all the all in one stats absolutely love Jimmy, say he's a top five player in the league, more often than not. All of that stuff gets the volume turned up because the usage rate goes up. The turnovers don't. And the scoring goes up. So you add those things together, it just makes you an incredibly valuable offensive player.

Guys who have had a usage rate north of 30%-- so that's like a superstar level, number one engine of an offense kind of number. Usage rate north of 30%, turnover rate below 80%-- so, like, you never turned it over-- in a single postseason, minimum of 10 games played. Jordan did it four times. Iverson did it the year that the Sixers went to the finals. Dominique Wilkins did it in 1988, the year they had that seven game war with Bird in the second round. LaMarcus Aldridge did it once in 2014. And Jimmy, now. So where Jimmy is right now, in terms of offensive engine, it's Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Iverson, while also being top flight defensive player.

And I feel kind of insane saying this, but the guy on the eighth seed team is the one I trust more than any single other player in this postseason. And I mean no disrespect to Nikola Jokic, or LeBron James, or Anthony Davis, or the Celtics guys. I just don't know how you could trust anyone more than you trust Jimmy Butler, right now.