The newest Timberwolves player made his first public comments after the trade that brought him to Minnesota on draft night.
It’s no secret that the Chicago Bulls had discussed trading Jimmy Butler for the better part of a year. Whether it was more due to the not-so-symbiotic relationship between head coach Fred Hoiberg and his star or simply that the front office didn’t think that Butler could be ‘the guy’ on a championship contender, the former Marquette guard’s days in Chi-town were numbered.
After nearly trading for Butler on draft night last June, Tom Thibodeau pulled the trigger during the 2017 NBA Draft this past Thursday. By now, we’re all familiar with the deal: Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and #7 overall draft pick Lauri Markannen for Butler and Justin Patten, the #16 selection.
Butler was on vacation in Paris and was reportedly shocked to hear of the trade. While ESPN tried to spin this (ever so slightly, but not exactly subtly) into a Butler-doesn’t-want-to-come-Minnesota situation, it was clearly more a case of Butler’s frustration with the Bulls organization culminating in a relatively surprising trade.
Late last week, Butler spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times and bared his feelings about the trade. First, he spoke about being the ‘face’ of the Bulls franchise.
"“I guess being called the face of an organization isn’t as good as I thought. We all see where being the so-called face of the Chicago Bulls got me. So let me be just a player for the Timberwolves, man. That’s all I want to do. I just want to be winning games, do what I can for my respective organization and let them realize what I’m trying to do.“Whatever they want to call me . . . face . . . I don’t even want to get into that anymore. Whose team is it? All that means nothing. You know what I’ve learned? Face of the team, eventually you’re going to see the back of his head as he’s leaving town, so no thanks.”"
While this is certainly venting at the expense of the Bulls and their front office, it’s positive that the sentiment from Jimmy isn’t simply that he knows he’ll be the face of the Timberwolves. He knows that Karl-Anthony Towns is the headlining young player in the Western Conference, and while Butler is the better player as of today, the ‘face’ of the Timberwolves is technically in question.
And if it doesn’t matter, well, even better.
It’s refreshing to have a player come to the Wolves and know that they’re coming into a better situation than the tumultuous one that they’ve left. Odd, but refreshing.
Butler also discussed his relationship with Hoiberg, conceding the well-known fact that he and the former Timberwolves player and front office executive have different styles, methods, and ideas, they both are all about winning and that he has “no bad things to say about Fred”. Butler also discussed his love for Thibodeau, which we’ll no doubt hear plenty of in the coming weeks and months.
And, the obligatory comment about how good the Timberwolves should be this year. But, encouragingly, Butler talked about the team’s level of toughness.
"“We’re going to be really good. I believe that. We’re going to be — at least I’m hoping — the toughest team that takes the floor every night. That’s what we can bank on. That’s something we can control. If we can do that to the best of our abilities, we’re going to win some games.’’"
At any rate, we’ll all be looking forward to Butler’s introductory press conference that will surely take place in the coming days. We’ll pass along information on that here at Dunking With Wolves as soon as we have it.
Next: Timberwolves Targeting Kyle Lowry In Free Agency
Stay tuned for some additional takes on free agency, especially in light of the Butler trade…