Imrem: Butler fails as Bulls good-luck draft lottery charm
Jimmy Butler isn't exactly a Richard Lustig or a Joan Ginther.
Research and records show that Lustig won lottery game grand prizes seven times and Ginther won four times for $20 million.
The Bulls should have phoned them and asked whether they would represent the team at Tuesday night's NBA draft lottery.
Maybe the Bulls did and Lustig and Ginther told them that they associate with winners only.
So Butler represented the Bulls, who entered the process in the lottery's No. 14 hole and came out of it in the No. 14 hole.
No surprise there. If Butler were lucky, he'd be playing in a backcourt with Steph Curry instead of Derrick Rose on the Warriors instead of the Bulls.
Come to think of it, maybe the Bulls would be the lucky ones if Butler played for the Warriors instead of them.
Butler became a weird guy this season, from criticizing head coach Fred Hoiberg to executing a clumsy leadership grab to going Hollywood.
Regardless, there Butler was at the draft lottery as the face of the franchise.
Maybe it was the Bulls' way of designating Butler their team leader after sensing that no other team will trade for him.
Or maybe it was Jerry Reinsdorf, John Paxson and Gar Forman simply declining to show their franchise faces on national television.
If Butler were the superstar he began believing he was this season, maybe one of the high lottery teams would trade their pick for him, his huge contract and his new persona.
As things stand now, Butler will be back here unless trade winds surprisingly blow in their direction.
As for the lottery, it wasn't a preposterous to think the Bulls could move up. In 2008 they had a 1.7 percent chance to go from ninth to first and - bingo! - they hit the jackpot.
The next thing anyone knew, the Bulls drafted Derrick Rose, he became the youngest league MVP ever and life was good.
But the next thing anyone knew after that, fate scrambled Rose's knees and head and the Bulls landed back in the lottery.
This time the Bulls had a 0.5 percent chance at No. 1, believe it or not the same chance the Cubs have of winning a World Series in my lifetime.
Meanwhile, the Bulls had a 1.8 percent chance to climb into the top three overall, the same chance the Bears have of acquiring a true franchise quarterback in my lifetime.
But it's spring and baseball isn't the only sport in which hope springs eternal.
As evidenced by Mr. Lustig and Ms. Ginther, no law prohibits a person or team from winning multiple lotteries.
But the Bulls didn't.
The Bulls mistake was not monopolizing lottery picks by concocting a Ponzi scheme in which they traded Butler to every team positioned ahead of them.
The Bulls stayed at No. 14 in what many consider a two-player draft - LSU's Ben Simmons and Duke's Brandon Ingram.
The thought flashed through my mind that maybe one of the two teams at the top - the 76ers and Lakers as it turned out - would want a two-time, two-way, too-confounding player like Butler in exchange for its pick.
I ran that idea past a longtime NBA observer who scoffed and mentioned that the league noticed Jimmy Butler's limitations as a player and leader.
Tuesday night the Bulls learned his limitations as a lucky charm.
mimrem@dailyherald.com