It’s so easy to forget about Caron Butler.

He’s receiving the least playing time of his career at fewer than 26 minutes per game and taking two fewer field goals per game than he did last season and four fewer than the year before.   

A 12-pound lighter Butler has improved his efficiency this season. (TheDailySportsHerald/Creative Commons)

Butler’s teams have only advanced past two postseason rounds over the course of his 11-year professional career if we exclude the Mavericks’ 2011 championship run in which Butler did not play a single game thanks to an injured right knee. He just wants to play for a championship-caliber team.

Before last season’s playoff run, Butler hadn’t suited up for a team that won a playoff round since before George W. Bush was reelected in 2004.

In four and a half years as a Wizard, Butler was one of THE guys expected to shoot and score with great regularity. That resulted in a grand total of two first-round playoff exits and two other years without a postseason appearance.

A motivated Butler showed up to camp this offseason 12 pounds lighter and who knows how much lighter emotionally? The 6-foot-7 small forward’s contributions often get lost in the shuffle with electrifying players like Jamal Crawford and Eric Bledsoe performing entertaining feats, but he plays his role masterfully.

Butler has made half of his three-point attempts, up from 35.8 percent last season. He’s also stretching the floor with a reliable mid-range-to-long-two-point game, shooting 48.6 percent from the field. That’s the reason Butler’s points are down just 0.9 despite taking two fewer shots per game: his field goal percentage has gone up by eight percentage points.

Butler won’t likely shoot 48.6 percent all season, nor will he remain at a 50-percent clip from beyond the arc, but so what? He’s stretching the floor and forcing opponents to respect his shot. With such a talented and deep roster, it’s difficult for teams to guard all these skilled players. It appears Butler has finally found his niche. To help the team, he’ll happily take just nine shots a game. It’s not even sacrifice, because Butler is finally part of (and healthy for...) a team that could do huge things by the time the summer rolls around. 

Reach Senior Sports Editor Aaron Fischman by email, or follow him on Twitter.