After participating in full-court five-on-five on Monday for the first time since his injury, Jimmy Butler appears poised to make a return to the Timberwolves lineup sooner rather than later.
While there isn’t an official return date set — heck, there was never even an official timetable set regarding expected recovery — all signs point to Jimmy Butler returning to the Timberwolves lineup in short order.
USA Today’s Sam Amick reported on Monday that Butler had participated in his first five-on-five action since the late-February injury. Following the announcement from late last week that Butler had been cleared for contact, it was significant news.
On Tuesday, Butler was reportedly a full participant in practice.
Jimmy Butler was a “full participant” in practice. Taking it “day by day,” per Thibs. pic.twitter.com/pQSlDnstAG
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) April 3, 2018
There’s absolutely no word that Butler will play in Denver on Thursday night, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that he might play limited minutes before taking the “easier” of the two games off 24 hours later in Los Angeles. Then again, it’s possible that the Wolves won’t want Butler’s first game back to be at altitude in the Mile High City, so maybe they’ll skip Thursday and have him suit up against the Lakers on Friday.
It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but at least there appears to be a healthy amount of optimism surrounding Butler’s impending return.
Jimmy Buckets, on the other hand, had some harsh words for his teammates.
Jimmy Butler came out today and basically said the Wolves haven't been playing hard enough or tough enough. That's been their biggest issue, particularly on defense.
— Jace frederick (@JaceFrederick) April 3, 2018
And he was adamant that that's on the players, not Thibs
Jimmy Butler: "We just gotta get tougher. We gotta play like some dogs with a sense of urgency. Teams just do whatever they want against us. I don’t like it. Ain’t no coach in the world that can make somebody play hard. Ain’t no coach in the world that can make anybody want it."
— Jace frederick (@JaceFrederick) April 3, 2018
Butler isn’t wrong. The past two weeks or so have been ugly, and as our own Josh Bungum tweeted, having Jimmy G. back in the lineup will fix a lot — and quickly.
For panicked Wolves fans, here is your "Jimmy Butler fixes a lot" stat of the day
— Josh Bungum (@joshbungum) April 2, 2018
In games against teams 3-10 in the West standings, the Wolves are:
When Butler plays: 16-2 (!!!)
When Butler sits: 2-5
For all the negativity, the fix might just be getting their guy back
It also sounds like Derrick Rose should be back in the rotation on Thursday night after missing the past few games with a sprained ankle. He was available on Sunday in what was an emergency capacity.
We’ll have a few additional thoughts on the final four regular season games, as well as potential playoff matchups. Believe it or not, we’re less than two weeks away from playoff basketball, ladies and gentlemen.
Next: Could the Timberwolves trade for Kawhi Leonard?
Here’s hoping the Timberwolves will be part of the action…