How Jimmy Butler Exposed The NBA Media

i'm just going to read a little bit of adrian worjanowski's report on what happened there that you were loud emotional passionate we like to say targeting coach tom thibodeau teammates like karl anthony towns and andrew wiggins that you told gm scott layton quote you essing need me he's just a bad locker room guy a lot of outbursts took place throughout the season that's why the boys kind of parted ways with them jimmy butler's reputation at the moment is as clubhouse cancer come off their bench that they believe it once again butler drives falling away got it again jimmy butler puts the heat back up by the jumper jimmy butler and he knocks it down as the shot clock expires [Music] jimmy butler is one of the most polarizing players in the game today the way his career evolved from a forgettable bench player to one of the biggest stars of today's game is a story that all nba fans should know outside of basketball his youth was hard enough he was kicked out of his mother's house at the age of 13 because she quote unquote didn't like the way he looked at first there wasn't a single notable college that wanted him on their team he put his head down and worked even harder having a promising first year at tyler junior college and transferring to marquette soon after for four years he continued to improve his play until he was picked by the chicago bulls at the 30th spot and the rest was history many fans loved discussing how incredible his rise to stardom was but far too many don't talk about what happened after this people forget that he was one officiating call away from going up three to one against the lebron james lead cavs in 2015 fans don't remember that the 2017 bulls were up 2-0 on the number one seat seated celtics until rajon rondo fractured his thumb he forced his way out of minnesota to much criticism from the nba media being called a locker room cancer and of course if not for the kawhi shot the 2019 sixers had a real chance of beating the raptors and winning the championship the jimmy butler story is one of the most controversial in recent nba history and this book's first chapter began in the 2011 draft jimmy was the 30th pick selected by a stacked bulls team because of this he would receive little to no minutes in his first season hard to believe that somebody who averaged a measly 2.5 points in 8 minutes a game would evolve into a star practices were a whole different story jimmy was often challenged by the players around him whether it was being dared to shoot deep jumpers or being singled out on the defensive end butler's already tough mentality was targeted by his all-star teammates this helped him grow into a player who also challenged and expected the very best effort-wise from those around him the 2012-13 season saw a huge uptick in butler's minutes going from 8 to 26 the one strong team around him had begun facing their own injury issues which opened jimmy to joining the rotation he capitalized on this new opportunity by increasing his scoring times four he was now putting up a respectable eight points a night bulls fans began to notice his mentality was different from the rest he would die for loose balls and offered to guard the best player on the opposing team some saw his potential others believed he would fade out into nothing of significance but all that mattered to jimmy was that he was getting an opportunity he showed flashes in the first round of the 2013 postseason averaging 15 points per game in the final four games versus the nets to win the series in seven if that wasn't impressive enough he picked up even more attention for the way he guarded lebron james in round two seeing this level of defensive hustle from a 23 year old was special and more fans began to hop on the jimmy butler bandwagon the bulls lost the series in 5 despite surprising many with a game 1 win and the season was over with derrick rose set to return the following season chicago was picked by many to make the deepest playoff run in years 2013 14 was another huge jump for the two-way forward butler upped his points even more now he was a consistent starter and a valuable piece to a contender he averaged 38 minutes per game which was top in the league not bad for a guy who was getting just eight minutes a game two years ago his finishing at the rim was borderline elite he became the defensive leader for his squad and even got into a fight with lebron james jimmy was taking strides in his game however his team struggled derrick rose returned from his acl injury only to suffer more setbacks and the team struggled as a result chicago was the fourth seed a far cry from when they were at the top just three years prior a first round exit followed where the bulls were simply out talented by the wizards butler put up solid numbers with 13 at night the most notable moment of that series being his fight with nanae and that is how the 2013-14 season ended for the bulls jimmy finished the season averaging a career-high 13 points per game strong numbers for sure most late lottery picks never make it to this level but he was different butler wanted a bit more than to be a reliable starter he desired greater accomplishments than just being a role player and the 2014-15 season was the perfect opportunity to showcase what he's got all of his stats took a major leap he was now a 20 points per game scorer on 46 shooting and 37 from downtown she easily took home the most improved player award earning the name jimmy buckets to go along with it opening the season with a game winner versus the hawks butler only got better over time and developed a clutch gene to go along with his defensive play he was player of the month for games played in october and november and earned his first all-star appearance at the age of 25. once looked at as a role player jimmy g buckets had taken an unprecedented jump and devolved into one of the most elite two-way athletes in the game jimmy's regular season is always fun to watch but the playoffs were when the real action began the 2015 postseason started out in round one versus the giannis-led bucks the bulls being the third seed butler opened up playing like a superstar averaging 25 points per game in a six game series this was his first true playoff explosion and many would follow his squad won by 54 points in game 6 to advance to a date with lebron and the cavs what many forget about this series is that chicago had a 2-1 lead and they should have taken game 4. the ref should have called a tech on david blatt with 9 seconds left for trying to call a timeout when the cavs had none left but they didn't lebron ended up hitting the game winner and the bulls fell apart soon after butler played very well though even scoring 29 in a game 5 loss this was the best shot for chicago to win a title outside of 2011. had they beaten this cavs team there was a very real chance they could have gone all the way however things were a little more clear in windy city jimmy butler was the real deal and had proven it on one of the biggest stages he earned a five-year 95 million dollar extension as a result of this a much earned bag for the rising star the 2015-16 season was one of more improvement for jimmy buckets his defense continued to take strides and his value was skyrocketing however the once formidable chicago squad was now out of the playoff race and sat at the ninth seed missing the postseason for the first time since 2008. a tough season changes were needed and made they brought in rajon rondon dwyane wade two former stars passed their prime who could still bring a huge impact this came at a steep price they traded derrick rose and led joachim noah walk losing two players were once looked at as franchise pieces there were fresh new faces in chicago the team was built around jimmy g now and it was time to win however before the following season began reports of jimmy butler beef with his teammates began coming out from reputable sources there was word that butler didn't approve of derrick rose's work ethic and that he and joakem noah were getting into fights as well to add on to that fred hoiberg the rookie head coach that had been hired the year previous wasn't living up to the standards jimmy had set these rumors would continue to grow but for now the 2016-17 season begin with promising expectations for this new bulls team however winning didn't come in fact the only positive of this season was the improvement of number 21 everything else was a complete disaster rondo and wade suffered a multitude of injuries and failed to meet any expectations that were said of them the relationship between hoiberg and butler continued to worsen jimmy publicly criticizing him at times the post-game interviews weren't that fun either butler and wade often called out their teammates for not playing hard enough rajon rondo went to instagram and called out both of them for talking to the media about this which created even more turmoil this led to many nba media members calling butler a locker room cancer despite many of the argument rumors being overblown that nickname would follow him for a few more seasons the 2016-17 season came to a close with the bulls as the 8th seed and many wrote them off as an easy first round exit however what followed was the opposite the bulls surprisingly won games 1 and 2 versus the celtics in blowout fashion with rondo wade and butler leading the way people genuinely believe the bulls could take the series in dominating fashion until it all came crashing down after rajon rondo hurt his thumb chicago lost the final four games and lost in six what could have been an exciting upset crumbled in an instant the jimmy butler chicago era to this point had been riddled with what ifs locker room issues and lost potential because of this rumblings of a trade began forming the bulls didn't believe that they could win a championship with jimmy as their number one guy the thing is butler had no problem with the team and even wanted to stay surely the bulls would understand and work to build a contender around him he was traded to minnesota that's right the jimmy g buckets chapter in chicago was over and he was on his way to the tea wolfs the timberwolves had andrew wiggins and carl anthony towns who were considered two upcoming stars if you add jimmy to the mix there was a real chance the wolves can make some noise in the playoffs and it certainly started out that way 29 and 16 was an incredible record for a franchise that hadn't seen the playoffs in years in late february of that season the t-wolves were 11 games above 500 as they set to face the rockets in this game butler suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee and would miss the next few weeks a crushing blow to a team with championship hopes any chance of them grabbing a top three seed were destroyed in the matter of an awkward landing minnesota went eight and nine without him and dropped all the way down to the 8th seed jimmy returned in early april dragging the team to 3 straight huge wins to secure a final spot in the western conference playoff race this performance showed that butler could put any team on his back when needed and that he is more than capable of being the top guy on a contender after all they were 37 and 22 with him a fair sample size that showed potential regardless the t-wolves entered the 2018 playoffs with zero expectations and got absolutely crushed by the houston rockets they did win game 3 as jimmy put up 28 but that was the only bright spot as more losing followed after game 4 butler was quoted as asking himself why his teammates don't work as hard as he does once they got eliminated he refused to fly back with his team for exit interviews and went to la instead a rocky ending to an up and down season but one thing was for certain that 37 and 22 records should have been in every timberwolves fans mind it was the most winning they had done in a decade and a half they needed to keep this core together and run it back healthy that did happen on the surface however in the background was a bit of messy noise regarding contract extensions and mentality on july 3 2018 a chicago sun's time report said that butler was quote-unquote fed up with the nonchalant attitude of his younger teammates specifically carl anthony towns ten days later andrew wiggins the former first overall pick who was expected to be a superstar signed a five-year max contract unsurprising news at the time and number 22 also felt he deserved to be paid just as much you saw how great the tea wolves were with butler on the floor he deserved every penny for bringing minnesota back to basketball relevance the timberwolves front office agreed and offered him a four-year 110 million dollar deal butler rejected this and hoped the front office could move around some pieces to restructure his deal and give him more money as a free agent in the summer of 2019 butler could be offered 188 million for 5 years or 139 million for four years this put things in a bit of an awkward pause jimmy wanted to be paid but those issues couldn't be resolved just yet one week before media day on september 19th butler meets with tom thibodeau and request a trade according to other reports this wasn't the first time he had expressed his unhappiness in minnesota yet thibs was unwilling to get rid of him nick wiggins the brother of andrew wiggins tweeted out hallelujah upon the news breaking the social media and jimmy responded how jimmy does hallelujah keep that same energy the 2018-19 season arrives and immediately more problems began arising in the twin cities a few weeks before tip off word came out about a verbal altercation butler had between him and the rest of the team he took the third stringers during practice and beat the starters while only shooting the ball one time humiliating his teammates and yelling at the management who were on the sideline saying you need me right after practice ended conveniently he had a meeting set up with rachel nichols and expressed further criticism of the team saying there was nothing that could be done to fix the situation the day after he set up a players only meeting and told his teammates that he'd be willing to compete with them but still wanted out an absolute mess of a situation that blew up in what seemed like the snap of a finger the t-wolves went from playoff contenders the previous season to an absolute mess now and it seemed like they had no choice but to trade jimmy butler requested a trade because his teammates did not work as hard as he did plain and simple he wanted to be surrounded by players who were just as willing to compete for a championship as he was his reputation took a hit for this the media was calling him a locker room cancer even louder this time and how could you deny it this is now two straight teams he's had issues with it had to be his fault that drama followed him everywhere he went right this disaster continued for a few more weeks until the timberwolves finally traded him to the philadelphia 76ers a bit of a shocker as the sixers had quite the excellent group with ben simmons and joel embiid jimmy joining them could push the squad to elite championship contending status that's exactly what happened the team showed nothing but good chemistry and positive vibes for the first few months of the season simmons and number 23 both wore matching headbands and embiid love jimmy for his mentality almost immediately a few reports here and there came out about possible turmoil between butler and the head coach brett brown but they were brushed aside as the sixers kept winning games they then acquired tobias harris at the trade deadline adding another star piece this was jimmy's best chance to win a title the playoffs arrived and philly squared off against the brooklyn nets in round one butler was ejected in game four for getting into a trash talk battle with jared dudley who had pushed embiid anyone who had called him a bad teammate was shushed jimmy was willing to be kicked from the game in order to defend his squad the sixers won in five and faced the toronto raptors in round two or they ended up losing in a heartbreaking seven games jimmy g played well this series perhaps the best player on his team and hit countless clutch shots it wasn't enough though as a few bounces decided the sixers fate and put an end to their season perhaps one of the most devastating endings in recent nba history yet if philly kept their team together and ran it back they could have a chance of bringing a title home jimmy butler entered the 2019 offseason open to the idea of returning to philly the situation gets complex from here on out but what we know is that somebody in the sixers organization asked if they could control jimmy somebody told me that uh a main reason that i i didn't go back was because somebody asked can you control him like can you control jimmy if you can control jimmy we would think about having him back yeah i was like you don't got to worry about it what was also bugging jimmy was how the sixers switched ball handling responsibilities from ben in the regular season to butler in the postseason the issue with this is that a few months before the playoffs jimmy had asked brett brown multiple times to give him a bit of the ball handling control but brett declined the entire year ben had the ball the entire year ben had the ball yeah so you mean to tell me that in one playoff series you just switch it up like that i would be like he was i would be i would feel a type of way that's not all there's also mixed reports on whether or not philly offered him the five-year max deal which brings up even more questions they had no problem giving this money to tobias harris a player who was much worse in the postseason yet declined to pay that amount to jimmy these contract issues combined with the disrespectful comment and poor coaching communication led to him wanting to leave so where should he go miami seems like the perfect spot not only did they prioritize a winning culture and hardworking mentality but they had a nice young core to go along with it jimmy approved of this and signed for a four-year max deal and a signing trade to land in miami however while heat fans around the world were celebrating the nba world began to question this decision it made no sense for butler to leave a surefire contender in the sixers to join a team that couldn't even make the playoffs his personality was questioned his drive to win was questioned and the locker room cancer nicknames began coming out once again the 2019-20 season began with mediocre expectations for the miami heat nobody believed in their ability to make a deep playoff run yet they shocked every doubter the team began 24-8 jumping to the second seed in the east and eventually finishing at the fourth seed an exciting season where jimmy had the best year of his career becoming an all-star once again and proving that he could lift a team to contending status however the playoffs were when many believed the heat would waver little to no experience outside of butler left many convinced they'd be in early exit the heat first squared off against the indiana pacers convincingly sweeping them as butler locked up the red-hot tj warren the semi-finals were when fans really expected the heat season to end they played the milwaukee bucks led by the two-time mvp and giannis antetokounmpo shockingly the heat continued their amazing run and gentlemen sweep them miami looked unstoppable and jimmy was in the eastern conference finals for the first time in his career then the celtics came to town with a trip to the nba finals on the line and the heat stepped up it wasn't butler who made the headlines though this time it was tyler hero and bam adebayo taking control miami 1 6 one of the greatest postseason runs in nba history had just unraveled and it was all led by the locker room cancer the 2020 finals was very challenging the heat simply ran out of energy and were out talented as they lost in six the outcome was forgettable but jimmy butler was unforgettable he put up 26 a night including two triple doubles in games 3 and 5 giving everything he could possibly give to bring home a ring the end result wasn't what he wanted but the nba world praised him for one of the most memorable performances in recent history as we all know the season following this excellent run was nothing more than a complete dud the team struggled with injury issues and the shortened offseason and they were out talented by the much improved milwaukee bucks in round one they've bounced back from this defeat by acquiring all-star point guard kyle lowry to pair with butler and adebayo the expectations are sky high for what should be a revenge season and if there's anybody who's ready for the task ahead it's jimmy butler those who had criticized him in chicago were proven wrong those who had called him a locker room cancer in minnesota were silenced it had become quite apparent that the teammates around him weren't working hard enough and didn't have a winning mentality he showed those in philly that they were incorrect as well he was right about brett brown as a coach and he was certainly correct about ben simmons as a player yet throughout all of that his name was tarnished and his reputation was negated to nothing more than a distraction in the locker room [Music] [Applause] you

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Length: 22min 9sec (1329 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 18 2021