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Eric
was able to adapt his defensive game to take away the strengths of the
opponents best players.
Eric Butler is a twenty-six year old Canadian playing with a British
passport. In the last year and a half with the Kapfenberg Bears,
Eric has been an essential component of the most successful team in
Austria. After arriving in Austria in late February 1999, Eric
played an integral role in the Bears playoff run that took them all the
way to the league finals. In the 1999-2000 season Eric showed
himself to be a great player who knows his role on the team, and the
Kapfenberg Bears were rewarded with appearances in both the finals of the
League and the Austrian Cup. Eric is a coaches dream, the type of
player who will do whatever is asked of him, whether it is defensively or
offensively, in training or in games. Kapfenberg used this
versatility by always giving Eric the defensive assignment of guarding the
opponent's top outside player. Whether the game plan called
for 40 minutes of full court pressure on the point guard, following a
shooting guard through screen after screen, or stopping a 3-man's post-up
game, Eric was able to adapt his defensive game to take away the strengths
of the opponent's best players. Eric's defensive intensity and
versatility was a key factor in the Kapfenberg Bears' league leading
defense. In fact, last year the Bears actually gave up 120
points fewer than anyone else in the Austrian Bundesliga.
Eric approaches the offensive side in the exact same manner as he does
defense: he is more concerned with winning than with personal
statistics. By looking at his shooting percentage, it's clear that
Eric takes quality shots within the team structure. He approaches
basketball the way many coaches think the game should be played; work the
ball around for as long as it takes to get a good, high percentage
shot. He'll look to get his team-mates the ball in the right
position and will finish a high percentage when they do the same for
him. Eric can play either the two or three positions. As a
6'6" two man, Eric can pose problems for smaller guards by offensive
rebounding hard and by posting up. As a three man, Eric's speed on
the wing and movement coming off of screens can make it difficult for
bigger players to guard him. Eric averaged 9 points per game over
the whole year and almost 12 points per game during the playoffs, for a
team that scored just under 74 points per game.
1999-2000 Statistics
Games- 36
Min/Game- 28
2pt FG- 63/105 or 60%
3pt FG- 51/136 or 38%
Free Throw- 76%
Points- 320 or 9ppg
Rebounds- Offensive 41 Defensive 63
Reb/Game 3.0
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