Has anyone her drawn a comparison of Butler to Pierce? I know they aren't identical, but they play the 2/3 and are similar size (Pierce stronger) and both have the ability to create their own offense. I tend to think of PP as the superior offensive player and JB as the superior defensive player -- but frankly I don't see enough Butler to be sure. But the bottom line is that PP in his prime was probably right around where Butler is in terms of NBA ranking. If we use a truly unscientific metric and say that JB is essentially the PP comp, that maybe IT (more or less) is RA (IT is offensively more diverse than RA was at 33; but defensively not big enough) and uhhhh AL is KG... Obviously a dramatic downgrade on the AL-KG comp, but it allows one lens through which to view contending readiness. Of course, the competition will determine true readiness.
Not ready to contend still with Butler, but maybe within shouting distance?