Butler Adds Two Transfers, Yame Butler and Jalen Jackson

The Butler Bulldogs have been very busy in the transfer portal, landing some impressive talents, including Jalen Jackson and Yame Butler. The Bulldogs have also landed Michael Ajayi (Gonzaga, Pepperdine before that) with more to come, but this piece will just be about the former two.

Yame Butler

Starting with Butler’s first commit, Yame Butler. Butler transferred in from Drexel, who averaged 13.6PPG and 4.6RPG, while shooting 48.6% from the field and 36.5% from beyond the arc.

Yame started his career at Fordham in the 2020-21 season, playing in just 11 games that season. He then transferred to State Fair Community College for one year, and then Drexel for his past three seasons. This is Yame’s last season of eligibility.

Butler is a very physical and strong driver. One thing that stands out to me is his basketball IQ, which is often on display with his driving and passing ability. Butler has really good footwork and knows how to use his body to create space and score. 

I was particularly impressed with his passing ability. He’s not a main ball handler, but he is a guy who can have the ball in his hands in pick and roll actions, and make the right decision much more often than not. He finished in the 91st percentile as a Pick and Roll Ball Handler, with some highlights here:

Yame also has a good jumper. He particularly excelled on corner threes, where he shot 54% on the season. His jumper isn’t elite, but he shot 36.5% from three, making 1.3 per game. He’s very serviceable in that area and was put in good situations with Drexel, which I would expect to translate to Butler.

Defensively, I have some questions. He’s a good physical defender, but he isn’t the quickest laterally. Quicker guards can blow past him, but Yame does play with an edge on that end. He’s physical and took pride in some of the tougher assignments he drew.

Overall, Yame Butler is a good player. He’s perfect in that fifth starter/sixth man role, and a role-playing ball handler, who will know his role and make his team better. His basketball IQ is very high and he does a little bit of everything. He’s a good ball handler, a good passer and has a good jumper. He will not command too much attention, but will subtly make this team better by being a part of it. He does a lot of the little things, and adds another tough ball handler, which is the exact archetype this team was missing last season.

Jalen Jackson

Jalen Jackson from Purdue Fort Wayne is the much bigger name of these two. Jackson led the Horizon League in scoring last season with 19.2PPG, and was a member of the All-Horizon League First Team. Jackson also won the Horizon League Sportsmanship Award.

Much like the aforementioned Yame Butler, Jackson is a very physical and strong driver. Jackson is at his best when he is going downhill, but particularly thrives in pick and roll situations. He makes the right decision in the pick and roll just about every time, and punishes switches.

I was impressed by his ability in the pick and roll, and am excited to see how that translates to the Big East. Much like Yame as well, Jackson’s basketball IQ looks pretty high and Jackson was in the 91st percentile as a PnR ball handler, with highlights below:

Jackson finishes at the rim in very savvy ways with either hand, multiple scoop layups, going up strong against a big man, or hitting a floater from the free-throw line over an outstretched arm. He’s very creative with how he’s able to score, which should help him as the competition gets tougher.

Jackson played up a lot, as PFW ran a lot of really small lineups with three guards. In their games against high major teams, he drew the Danny Wolf and Keyshawn Hall assignments, two very tough covers, especially for a 6’2” guard. Jackson will be able to defend guys his own size in the Big East, which should help him.

The slow reveal of the 6'2" Jackson covering the 7'0" unicorn Danny Wolf (13.2PPG, 9.0RPG, 3.6APG, 33.6% 3PT) got me, I will not lie. Did not see that coming.

Jackson also played a lot of SF, but was also a lead ball handler a lot in their bigger games. He’s shown that he can run a team at the Horizon League level, but the Big East is a different level. And that transition could be very tough, especially for a guard who relies a lot on physicality, now going against bigger, stronger, and tougher guys.

Another thing that stands out in Jackson's game is his ability to draw fouls. Jackson was 29th in the country and first in the Horizon League in Fouls Drawn per 40 minutes. His ability to create mismatches in the pick-and-roll and create space out of thin air enables him to put pressure on the defense and force them to foul him.

Jackson’s jump shot doesn’t leap out to me. He ended the season ice cold, which hurts his numbers, shooting 26.4% from three. His jumper is just over his right shoulder, which is pretty uncommon at this level. He made less than one three a game last season, and is a career 33.1% shooter from beyond the arc.

One thing I like to look at when assessing a transfer coming up a level is how they performed in the games against high-major teams. Jackson performed admirably in these games last season, scoring 31 points against Penn State and 27 points against Michigan. There are some questions about how Jackson will be able to create in isolation situations, or how he’s able to take a step up as a leader and run a team in the Big East, but the talent is there.

However, just thinking about fit next to Jackson, Butler could really use a floor-spacing guard, who can create a little bit, but primarily can shoot the ball, and has size so that Jackson doesn’t have to be an undersized two guard again. AKA Finley Bizjack.

I think these two fit well next to each other. Butler wanted a guard who can handle the ball and create in the pick and roll next to Bizjack, and they found one. Jackson fits as a PG at this level with his size, and should have much more room to operate next to a sniper like Bizjack. 

Overall, there are certainly some questions that I’m very excited to see answered. I like the player profiles of both Yame Butler and Jalen Jackson, and their sky-high basketball IQs and ability in the pick and roll really stood out. How well these two fit together as primary slashers will be interesting, but also broadly speaking, the archetype of a bruising up transfer gives me a bit of pause, and why I took some time to dig into the tape here. These guys used physicality to their advantage and are now going up against bigger, more physical guys every single day. But I am encouraged by Jackson’s performances against high-major competition, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw from Yame.

I wouldn’t say either of these two are the quickest guys in the world, so I would hope Butler targets an athletic big man that can erase shots at the rim and clean up on the glass, especially if Jack McCaffery or Colt Langdon will be playing decent minutes at the four. Their floor spacing will be crucial next to slashers like Jackson and Butler. Jamie Kaiser is the forgotten man in all of this. He’s a multi-positional defender who didn’t shoot it well in his lone season with Maryland, but shot it well in his HS career.

As the Bulldogs look to round out their roster, these two additions give potential to what hopefully is a return to form for Butler Basketball.