Jimmy Butler beefed himself off the Timberwolves with one scrimmage and one interview
Jimmy Butler likes beefing his way out of a bad team situation - bad for him, anyways. One legendary target of his beefing was the entire Minnesota Timberwolves organization.
Butler is a force on the court, and a force as a person with a big ego and bigger expectations. That meshed well with Tom Thibodeau, but didn't mesh well with his fresh faced teammates, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
So, he did what any rational person would do - picked a fight with them and Minnesota's entire front office during a scrimmage heard round' the world (and by Rachel Nichols like an hour after it happened).
Butler is a force on the court, and a force as a person with a big ego and bigger expectations. That meshed well with Tom Thibodeau, but didn't mesh well with his fresh faced teammates, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
So, he did what any rational person would do - picked a fight with them and Minnesota's entire front office during a scrimmage heard round' the world (and by Rachel Nichols like an hour after it happened).
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Jimmy Butler likes beefing his way out of a bad team's situation.
00:05Bad for him, anyways.
00:06He's done it multiple times throughout his career.
00:10One particularly legendary target of his beefing?
00:13The entire Minnesota Timberwolves organization.
00:17Jimmy's foundation for beef began off-rip at the start of his NBA career.
00:25He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2011 and joined head coach Tom Thibodeau on a quest
00:30to create a new era of Bulls basketball that was not synonymous with Michael Jordan.
00:36Jimmy being drafted to a team led by Thibodeau was like discovering peanut butter and jelly
00:40are a good combo.
00:42Both fierce competitors with a focus on defense first, they took Chicago to the postseason
00:46four years in a row together.
00:50That success meant nothing to a Chicago front office known for alienating their coaches.
00:56Anyone who watched The Last Dance is familiar with their game.
01:00Despite Thibodeau being the perfect complement to their rising star, he was unceremoniously
01:04fired.
01:05The Bulls blamed a departure in culture, but really, it just felt like Thibodeau and the
01:10front office didn't get along.
01:13After that firing, the team hired Fred Hoiberg to the skipper position.
01:17Hoiberg and Thibodeau could not be more different in their coaching styles.
01:21Hoiberg was brought in to focus on building a better offense, while Thibodeau had been
01:25there to build and maintain a top defense.
01:28Hoiberg was also brought in to connect with players and build a winning program with a
01:32roster Thibodeau built up.
01:35Unfortunately for Hoiberg, this left Butler in a tough spot.
01:39He played well under Thibodeau, and suddenly he was thrust into a new system with a new
01:44coach that, well, didn't fit his learning style, let's call it.
01:49One of the first signs of Butler's misalignment with Hoiberg came after a loss to the New
01:53York Knicks in 2015.
01:56Butler was quoted as saying he believed they probably have to be coached a lot harder at
02:00times, adding that Fred is a laid back guy and I respect him for that, but when guys
02:05aren't doing what they're supposed to do, you gotta get on guys, myself included.
02:11Another sign, Butler and another veteran left behind after Thibodeau's firing, you
02:15might know him, Dwayne Wade, called out the team after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks in
02:202017.
02:21Anyways, the beef with Chicago came to a head with a trade.
02:25Chicago wanted players to come in who fit Hoiberg's vision on offense, but they conceded
02:30the team's grit and identity by trading Jimmy away.
02:33Not exactly a beloved move at the time.
02:36Butler, who at that point was considered one of the best two-way players in the league,
02:41was given up on by the city he thought he'd play for forever.
02:44More importantly for our beef though, Butler's former coach, and now coach slash president
02:49of basketball operations for the Wolves, Thibodeau, is who traded for him.
02:54So Butler went back to a coach he loves, and Thibodeau got his favorite player back, right?
03:00Well, Butler was also the veteran presence brought into play alongside N'Teach, Karl
03:05Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins.
03:08Catt, who was hailed as the quintessential modern NBA big entering the draft, and Wiggins,
03:14who was getting comparisons to greats like Tracy McGrady before his draft, looked to
03:18be Butler's next best chances at reaching the postseason.
03:21It just meant Butler would have to be a teacher.
03:25With the acquisition of Butler, and with two young stars to compliment him, a beautiful
03:29redemption arc seemed to be in the works for the two former Bulls.
03:33Neither really accounted for the impact new characters in their respective arcs, Wiggins,
03:38Catt, and general manager Scott Layden, would have.
03:43See, at this point, Catt and Wiggins were extremely unproven.
03:48They were young guns and had a lot of potential, very high ceilings, etc. etc.
03:53But they were struggling to get wins, and hold leads, pre-Butler.
03:58And neither had really shown the ability to really grab the bull by the horns.
04:03This was on full display during a November 2017 regular season game where, despite starting
04:08the game off strong against the 11-9 Washington Wizards, neither Catt or Wiggins seemed committed
04:13to getting stops.
04:15So playing defense.
04:17You know, the very thing that makes Butler and Thibodeau tick.
04:20There were several moments in the fourth quarter of the loss that were just clear indicators
04:24of how young and inexperienced the Wolves duo of Catt and Wiggins were.
04:29A turnover by Catt that could have been prevented had he just been paying attention to the players
04:33around him.
04:34A double-team from Catt and Wiggins that couldn't contain Otto Porter Jr. in the paint.
04:40And a late closeout from Catt, all compounded into a very bad vibes loss.
04:47Jimmy was brought in to inject a defensive identity and help teach the younger Wolves
04:51how to close games.
04:53Something that very clearly didn't happen in that loss.
04:57And don't get me wrong, he did bring that sort of identity to Minnesota.
05:01They managed to get to the postseason for the first time since 2004, and that was largely
05:05due to Thibodeau's coaching and Butler's all-star caliber of play.
05:10But games like the Wizards loss stuck with the team and with Butler.
05:15His comments after that game were proof of that.
05:18Butler implied to reporters after that game that he wanted his Wolves teammates to start
05:22accepting tough love if they wanted to succeed with him.
05:26But again, they made the postseason.
05:28Objectively, the Butler experiment was, at least at first, a success.
05:33The Wolves were eliminated in the first round by the Houston Rockets, but still, they clearly
05:38had a good foundation to work with.
05:40Then, it was time to re-sign Butler.
05:43Enter our third disruptive character to this beef, Layton.
05:47Butler reportedly did not like the number given by the Wolves.
05:51Minnesota offered him a four-year, $100 million contract extension, but he was looking for
05:56either more money on that four-year deal or more years in Minnesota.
06:01In short, he felt low-balled and undervalued by the team and Layton.
06:06In addition to the math not mathing, Butler struggled with how differently his fresh-faced
06:11teammates were built.
06:14Another sign things were awry?
06:16Butler didn't even fly back with his teammates after being eliminated by the Rockets.
06:21He flew instead to Los Angeles for some R&R, and he did not go through end-of-season physicals.
06:28Butler was all but fed up with what he felt like were his teammates' nonchalant attitudes.
06:34That same report mentioned his fed-upness also mentioned that Butler was leaning towards
06:39not signing the extension offered by Minnesota, regardless of them finding the space to pay
06:44him more.
06:45Andrew Wiggins' brother added some spice to the extension rumors, looking pretty excited
06:50about potentially not having Butler on the team anymore.
06:53Butler subbed him back because, of course he did, this is Jimmy Butler, he's not going
06:57to let you win a game of trying to be funny for clicks, that's his gambit.
07:01Hallelujah.
07:02Keep that same energy.
07:03Let the church say amen.
07:05So at this point, we've got teammates not getting along.
07:09A contract extension not getting signed.
07:11And a new season imminent.
07:13And training camp is starting.
07:16And according to Taj Gibson, a previous teammate with Butler back in Chicago and teammate again
07:21in Minnesota, he was starting to get nervous about Butler even showing up to training camp,
07:26let alone participating.
07:29In October 2018, Woes reported on a very heated Wolves practice, saying Butler yelled at Minnesota's
07:35front office during a scrimmage and said, you fucking need me, you can't win without
07:40me.
07:41Woes, by the way, was clearly very excited about this drama, a true reality television
07:46lover like myself.
07:47Jeff Teague, who was on the Wolves at the time and has become a premier source of all
07:52things NBA history, went into the most detail we've gotten yet on this incident on his
07:56podcast Club 520.
07:59Teague paints the picture of a tension so thick, in Minnesota's training facility,
08:03you could cut it with a knife.
08:04So we were at practice one day.
08:06He comes three days after training camp starts.
08:09We all think Jimmy about to practice, like Jimmy ain't practicing.
08:11Teague says that basically everyone on the team is trying hard in his practice, diving
08:16for loose balls, actually practicing.
08:18Meanwhile, Butler is just getting stretched out and massaged on the side, until...
08:24Tibbs said, we're going to scrimmage, Jimmy, hop up.
08:27I'm playing.
08:28Tibbs apparently named starters for this scrimmage and includes Butler, which he shuts down immediately.
08:35He didn't want to play with the starters, according to Teague, but preferred playing
08:38with the third stringers, or as Teague called them,
08:41He picked the bad news bears.
08:44No offense, but everybody in there, they weren't going to make the team.
08:46So ball goes up, game starts, and of course, Jimmy having something to prove, he goes and
08:52defends Cat immediately.
08:55That leads to a quick steal and the gym is going nuts.
08:58They jumped the ball.
08:59We throw it to Cat first play.
09:00Jimmy steal it.
09:01Butler is relentless on Cat in this very meaningless scrimmage, and he lets Layton and everyone
09:07else in the room know he's him.
09:09Jimmy start talking to the gym, everybody in the gym, y'all better mother effing pay
09:13me.
09:14I'm like that.
09:15I'm like, he is nuts.
09:17It feels like based on the way Teague is retelling this story, this game went on for hours.
09:23That's how intense it was.
09:24In reality, they only played till Butler's ragtag team scored 18 and allowed just six
09:30points to the starters.
09:31Man, Jimmy going crazy.
09:34Y'all think that team can win without me?
09:36I'm him.
09:37Pay me.
09:38Pay me.
09:39Butler won't stop chirping at the execs in the room throughout this entire thing.
09:45Teague says he and the other starters wanted to replay Butler, but when they went looking
09:49for him, he said Jimmy was long gone.
09:51He like, I just beat through with the G leaguers.
09:54This is your starters?
09:56According to Teague, he ran right out of the gym very fast.
10:00And right to Rachel Nichols, it seems.
10:03Nichols' interview is, I think, the funniest part of this beef.
10:07You just demoralized, or at least tried to demoralize, your team in front of top brass
10:12because you want to get paid.
10:14The team caught a stray in the form of total dominance on the court and then had to relive
10:19said stray on national television the same day.
10:22Why are they in it?
10:24Anyway, back to the interview.
10:26Butler told Nichols that his, uh, passionate words to the front office and teammates came
10:32from a place of not having played basketball in so long due to injury.
10:36So of course he had to come in guns a-blazing.
10:39Butler doubled down on the scrimmage, just being a passionate response to management
10:43telling him he had to practice and having nothing to do with any players specifically.
10:48In another interview with JJ Redick, one month after being traded off the Wolves.
10:53So now you didn't lit the match, but ain't nothing on fire yet, you just lit the match.
10:58The Wolves canceled practice that was scheduled for the next day after the scrimmage, but
11:02the flames were fanned.
11:04The match Butler mentioned being lit in that practice was fully blazing.
11:08Finally, in November 2018, one year after the Wizards loss that opened the floodgates
11:13for Butler's distaste for the team, and one month after the scrimmage, he was traded to
11:18the Philadelphia 76ers.
11:21Kat and Wiggins got to stay with their team, and Butler got to go in content.
11:26And this beef sort of faded away.
11:29Minnesota of course retooled around Kat, choosing him over Butler and Wiggins, and adding a
11:34complimentary piece or two.
11:37Butler was able to contend with the Sixers, but even that ended in a beefy way.
11:41Daryl Morey decided to throw a bag at someone who, let's just say Butler had a pretty bad
11:47reaction to who got a bag from Philly, and he let them know how he felt about it after
11:51he beat them in the postseason the following year.
11:57Butler then ended up with the Miami Heat, and he thrived with them.
12:01Miami, the so-called toughest, meanest, most conditioned, nastiest, and owner of ugliest
12:06court decal on earth team, went to the finals twice with him.
12:11That was complimentary of Butler's time in Minnesota, while Butler hasn't spoken about
12:17them at all since the Nichols interview.
12:19Seems like all is well for Butler- oh man, is that Pipe Riley's music?
12:24Just kidding.
12:25Seems like Butler literally cannot get enough of getting caught beef-handed by whatever
12:29team he's leading.
12:31That's just raw Jimmy.