Joe Ingles On Jared Butler: ‘On Court He’ll Help Us’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Jared Butler likely didn’t have the start to his Utah Jazz career that he’d imagined. But that hasn’t changed teammate Joe Ingles opinion of the rookie.

After a brilliant preseason in which he led the Jazz in scoring and assists, Butler saw the pendulum swing against him in the team’s season opener when he finished the night with zero points on 0-5 shooting in nearly nine minutes.

In an interview with David James and Patrick Kinahan on The Zone Sports Network, Ingles gave Butler a vote of confidence.

“[It was his] first-ever NBA game so there was a lot on his plate,” Ingles said, “but I think he shows signs every time he’s out there of how good he’s going to be.”

Butler was named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after leading Baylor to a championship in April. While he was expected to be a mid-first-round selection in August’s NBA Draft, the guard slipped to the Jazz with the 40th pick in the second round where he quickly carved out a name for himself.

Butler led all rookies in scoring during the preseason at 18 points per game while adding an impressive 4.3 assists per outing.

The @utahjazz starters passed the test against the @Bucks, but it was the play of Jared Butler and Hassan Whiteside that should have fans most pleased.

"You're with a bunch of sharks," Butler said, "you've got to see if you're a shark."#takenote https://t.co/5sclIBHL46

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 14, 2021

Despite Wednesday’s slow start to the year, Ingles shared faith that the rookie’s high character and talent level will shine through during the regular season.

“Good kid, [he] works hard,” Ingles said. “And obviously on the court, he’ll help us at times this year.”

Snyder Preaches Patience With Butler

While nobody’s belief in Butler has waivered, Jazz coach Quin Snyder preached patience with the guard, even if he’s grown tired after answering questions about the team’s highly touted rookie.

“We’re really excited about Jared and for a lot of reasons,” Snyder said in Wednesday’s postgame media session, “but you guys have asked me more questions about Jared this preseason than Rudy [Gobert] and Donovan [Mitchell] combined.”

casual reminder: draft pick #40#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/loQeCVN9jl

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) October 14, 2021

Though Snyder may have soured on answering questions about the rookie, he was far from put off by Butler’s rocky game one.

“He’s going to make some mistakes, and there’s going to be a learning curve.” Snyder said, “And he’s going to make some really good plays and he’s going to keep growing. There’s no pressure on him to do anything other than play hard and get better.”

Butler and Ingles will share the floor again on Friday night when the Jazz travel to Sacramento to face the Kings.