This is the insane reason why Jimmy Butler is so intense on the court and puts legit fear into other NBA star's mind.
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00:00 How exactly did Jimmy go from a homeless and helpless kid to the possessed alpha male who
00:04 just arguably had the greatest playoff series in NBA history?
00:09 How did his dark past force him to develop his own unique version of the Mamba mentality
00:13 that let him go Super Saiyan and average 40 a game and send the two-time MVP to Cancun
00:18 in five games?
00:20 You may have heard bits and pieces of this story but after today you will truly understand
00:24 exactly why he's arguably the most intense player in NBA history when you hear this insane
00:30 story.
00:31 So gather around for story time.
00:33 Himi G. Buckets plays with an intensity of a predator, snarling at his prey on sight
00:37 then clawing through them mercilessly, a kill or be killed mentality that Jimmy acquired
00:41 as a child in order to simply survive.
00:45 Jimmy is from a small, humble town on the outskirts of Houston.
00:48 The town of Tumball only had a population of roughly 6,000 when Jimmy was born and 5,999
00:54 of them probably had an easier childhood than Jimmy.
00:58 Life was a challenge from birth.
00:59 Shortly after Jimmy was born the man believed to be Jimmy's father walked out on him and
01:03 his mom.
01:04 The family barely made enough money to pay rent and feed themselves on Jimmy Butler Sr's
01:09 working class salary.
01:10 Losing the breadwinner of a struggling household you'd assume that baby Jimmy and his mom
01:14 would be on the verge of homelessness.
01:16 Miraculously, Londa Butler was able to make ends meet as a caregiver while studying at
01:21 a local college to be a medical office receptionist.
01:24 But all that care Londa was giving during the day didn't make it back home to Jimmy
01:28 at night.
01:29 Even during the days when Jimmy was living at home with his mom she was checked out.
01:33 He did everything alone and his mother being spotted at any of his basketball games growing
01:37 up was as common as a Bigfoot sighting.
01:39 Jimmy didn't have the support he needed and deserved at home and things took a drastic
01:44 turn for the worse.
01:45 On one seemingly random day Jimmy Butler was kicked out of his house by his mom for no
01:49 real reason.
01:58 He was only 13 at the time with no other options, no father to turn to.
02:02 So Londa Butler kicking her child out meant that she was throwing him on the streets with
02:06 no remorse.
02:08 But why?
02:09 What was the motive?
02:10 Jimmy stayed out of trouble and the family was getting by financially up to this point.
02:14 The only explanation Jimmy was given was these cruel words "I don't like the look of
02:18 you, you gotta go."
02:20 Just like that Jimmy Butler was helpless and homeless at only 13 years old.
02:25 And for nearly his entire childhood he would stay that way.
02:29 Because it's so odd and unclear why Jimmy's mom tossed him out of the house many have
02:33 turned to one of the most infamous NBA conspiracies today as a reasonable explanation for Jimmy's
02:39 childhood abandonment as well as his athletic gifts and psychotic intensity.
02:43 The theory is that Jimmy Butler is Michael Jordan's long lost son.
02:48 It's said that Michael Jordan has an abandoned son.
02:50 9 months and 3 days before Jimmy was born Michael Jordan was in the Houston area.
02:55 Fast forward to the time of Jimmy's birth Londa Butler mentioned that Jimmy's father
02:59 needed to be out of the family picture in order to protect his name.
03:03 It's rumored that Michael Jordan paid off his mistress for 13 years to keep his estranged
03:07 son out of his life and the spotlight.
03:10 As we now know Jimmy was kicked out of the house at 13 years old.
03:13 When Jimmy's mom kicked him out of the house and left him with the final words "I don't
03:17 like the look of you" was she referring to how her son looks like Jimmy Butler Sr.
03:21 or Michael Jordan.
03:22 Truth is while we'll probably never see any paternal DNA test results we do know that
03:27 you don't create a hellacious psycho on the court that can single handedly take over
03:32 games with all time great performances with genetics alone.
03:36 Harsh living conditions, barbaric training and an obsessive work ethic molded Jimmy G
03:40 into the savage and success he is today.
03:43 The man that helped create Himmy Butler as we know him today will be revealed soon enough.
03:48 After Jimmy was thrown out of his house he couch surfed his way out of complete homelessness
03:52 throughout high school.
03:53 As a teenager Jimmy didn't have a home he could wake up in on Christmas morning with
03:57 presents downstairs underneath the tree waiting for him.
04:00 He didn't have a room or even a bed to call his own.
04:03 For Jimmy practicing and working out was an outlet but staying in the gym was also a way
04:07 he could stay inside with AC when his options to go anywhere else were running out during
04:11 the brutal Texas summers.
04:13 After going through almost his entire high school years without a consistent home to
04:16 live in he met someone that changed his life.
04:19 During the summer going into Jimmy's senior year a freshman at Tomball High School named
04:23 Jordan Leslie challenged Jimmy to a three point shootout.
04:26 By this time Jimmy was the team captain and Jordan had no business facing Jimmy in a shootout
04:31 but the two hit it off right away and grew close.
04:34 Jimmy would begin crashing at Jordan's place regularly and the two became brothers.
04:38 Soon enough Jimmy found himself in a permanent living situation.
04:41 Jordan's mom Michelle Lambert welcomed Jimmy into their home with their seven children.
04:45 Jimmy finally had a stable environment to call home and he was going to need the structure
04:49 now more than ever.
04:50 Jimmy was heading into his senior year and he needed to ball out in order to have a chance
04:54 at earning some scholarships.
04:56 Despite being Tomball High's team captain and MVP of the basketball team averaging 19
05:01 points and 8 rebounds per game he received zero D1 offers.
05:05 All the days and nights spent at the gym after practice obsessively working on his game when
05:09 he had nowhere else to go didn't earn him one single Division 1 scholarship.
05:14 But Jimmy's NBA dreams weren't dead.
05:16 A junior college three hours away from Tomball saw Jimmy's potential and offered him a basketball
05:21 scholarship.
05:22 Having the offer to attend school for free and play basketball was enough for Jimmy to
05:25 pack his bags and go play juco.
05:27 He had a solid run during his juco days averaging 18 points per game but it wasn't anything
05:32 special.
05:33 He was the 127th best junior college prospect, good enough to get respect but no offers from
05:39 any top programs.
05:40 It looked like Jimmy's final stop on his basketball journey was juco, a reality he
05:45 was forced to face.
05:46 Until he was accidentally discovered by Buzz Williams.
05:49 At the time Buzz was a scout for the University of New Orleans that happened to stumble upon
05:54 Jimmy playing while he was there to recruit another player.
05:57 What Buzz saw in Jimmy was untapped potential, a diamond in the rough but also a dog that
06:02 needed to be let off the leash.
06:03 And Buzz knew exactly how to bring the dog, the inner beast out of Jimmy and he'd do
06:07 so by any means necessary.
06:09 Buzz walked up to Jimmy after the game and told him "Jimmy you suck."
06:13 He just met Jimmy and watched him play for the first time but he knew exactly how to
06:17 get in his head and how to bring out the best in him.
06:20 As soon as Buzz Williams became the head coach at Marquette he offered Jimmy a life changing
06:24 scholarship, the opportunity of a lifetime to get one step closer to achieving his NBA
06:29 ambitions.
06:30 This opportunity came at the price of pushing himself to the brink of his physical limitations
06:35 on a daily basis.
06:37 Jimmy did not hesitate to accept the offer, signing the letter of intent and mailing it
06:40 back the same day he received it from a McDonald's.
06:44 As soon as Jimmy G arrived on campus to begin training, Coach Williams pushed Jimmy 10 times
06:48 as hard than any of his teammates.
06:51 Williams set up boot camps early each morning at 5.30am sharp.
06:55 Jimmy had to run twice as many sprints as his teammates and do double the drills.
06:59 Jimmy was pushed to exhaustion every day, it didn't matter what day it was.
07:03 Sometime before Marquette had a game against Seton Hall, Jimmy's foot exploded out of
07:07 his shoe in Zion fashion on the last sprint of the day.
07:10 But Williams didn't let Jimmy call it quits, he made Jimmy keep running with one shoe.
07:15 Even for a young, hungry Jimmy the conditioning was extreme.
07:18 He nearly quit basketball after enduring Coach Williams' winter boot camps in Wisconsin
07:23 Tundra.
07:24 Even Coach Williams admitted that he coached Butler in a manner that bordered inhumane.
07:28 But Jimmy came this far, he wasn't going anywhere.
07:31 Coach Williams was Frankenstein and Jimmy G. Butler was his monster.
07:35 After just averaging over 5 points a game in his first season at Marquette, by year
07:39 2 he became a team leader and the second highest scorer on the squad.
07:42 He then averaged 15.7 points per game during March Madness and led Marquette to the Sweet
07:47 16 as an 11 seed.
07:49 Jimmy was now on the map, a respected two-way player that was declaring for the 2011 NBA
07:55 Draft.
07:56 After Coach Williams put Jimmy through ruthless training that most athletes couldn't handle,
08:00 Jimmy was a dog off the leash by the time he was drafted by the Bulls.
08:03 Being drafted to a team led by the conditioning obsessed Tom Thibodeau, Jimmy fit right in.
08:08 With the Bulls being a contending team led by MVP Derrick Rose, Jimmy had to earn every
08:13 single minute he played.
08:15 By year 3, Jimmy earned plenty of minutes, leading the NBA in minutes played per game
08:18 with 38.
08:20 Jimmy Buckets outworked every teammate and every opponent every step of the way on his
08:24 path to find his true home with the Miami Heat.
08:27 Jimmy's insanity, his help and approach to the game became part of his DNA.
08:31 There was a time it made him one of the most misunderstood stars in the NBA.
08:36 After wrecking Carl Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves starting lineup alongside the
08:39 third stringers during a practice run, after requesting a trade from the Timberwolves and
08:44 leaving Philly for Miami, critics and analysts called Jimmy toxic.
08:48 But the thing about greatness is that it's often misunderstood.
08:51 The championship culture in Miami has brought out the best in Jimmy.
08:55 A culture Pat Riley built with the foundation of winning.
08:58 Coach Spoh welcomed the untamed version of Jimmy Butler from day one and it's paying
09:02 off.
09:03 Today, Jimmy G. Buckets is the perfect personification of Heat culture.
09:07 He plays with the intensity of a wildfire, unyielding and fierce, consuming everything
09:11 in its path with a hunger that can't be satiated by anything except an NBA championship.
09:16 I'm James and I hope you enjoyed Story Time.
09:19 If you thought this story was inspirational, go watch "The Sad Reason Kawhi is So Quiet"
09:24 on our channel.
09:25 This story is about the real Kawhi Leonard, the side of him fans have never seen, including
09:29 the reason why he built a wall that separates the world from his emotions.
09:34 Also make sure you subscribe and hit that bell so you never miss a story.