Jimmy Butler might have 6 All-Star selections to his name, but for the Miami Heat, the headaches he brought with him simply weren’t good enough. Earlier this year, on January 27, the Heat suspended Butler yet another time, effectively ending their 6-year-old partnership. At the time, it was believed to be curtains for his 14-year-old career in the NBA, but since then, Butler has found a new home with the Golden State Warriors.
Butler’s career has been an example of extreme highs and the lowest of lows. He led at least 2 of his 4 teams to the NBA Finals. As a matter of fact, all 4 teams he had been a part of have struggled to replicate the level of success they had with him on their roster since his departure.
So, it must have been quite something that managed to at least annoy enough people at the franchise to say, enough is enough, it’s just not worth the hassle. But for anyone who has keenly followed Butler’s career, this wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.
All 4 teams he has been a part of before the Warriors have seen him pick fights with teammates, coaches, basically pushing everyone in the direction of whatever he wanted. By the time the Heat had had enough, he had already missed 9 out of 12 games by being suspended!
Heat legend Goran Dragic, who spent many years in the locker room with Butler and considers him a good friend and has claimed that the American was probably a Balkan in a previous life on the 104.3 WQAM podcast and spoke about the difficult situation.
When asked if the Heat stars would breathe a little better without the additional drama, Goran said, “I really believe they can because it’s really tough to play when you have drama around yourself. The situation that happened last year with Jimmy it didn’t help nobody. It didn’t help Jimmy, it didn’t help the team.”
Calling it a messed-up situation, Goran asserted that when a player sees their teammate or team deal with something like this, it affects how they prepare and play as a team. “I definitely believe that this year there is going to be more calmness. Spo [Erik Spoelstra] is going to be more calm, the coach is going to be more calm. They are going to have time to prepare the team. When you are calm, you perform better.”
The Miami Heat have a rather young roster going into this season. Even though the team’s ceiling is expected to be too high on paper, they will hope that this young squad can take a step forward in the right direction. Besides, with the state of the Eastern Conference, things might just be up for grabs.
In Butler’s absence, they will want Bam Adebayo to become the dominant big man the Heat had hoped he would be. Moreover, they need Tyler Herro to finally live up to his potential and become their primary scorer. That said, at this point, it’s a lot of prayers, and Heat fans will hope that the team has a better strategy than that.