Jimmy Butler earned a reputation of being a bad teammate during his brief stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.
While many may agree with that notion, CJ McCollum isn’t one of them.
“They said he was a bad teammate,” said McCollum in the Twitter post. This coming on the heels of Butler wearing Tyler Herro’s high school jersey to practice.
And they said he was a bad teammate 🤣✊🏾 https://t.co/JW28vBsE9l
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) September 24, 2020
Butler has a winner’s mentality and always has; a fact the Warriors’ Draymond Green reiterated.
“They said he was a bad teammate because he wanted to win,” Green commented on McCollum’s tweet. “Smh… He found a group that want to win just a bad. He actually made that group want to win as bad as him. Found some Indians that just needed a chief. It’s fun to watch.”
It’s really easy to point out the disaster the 76ers are now, but you can also take a look at how the Timberwolves have struggled without Butler as well.
So, was it really Butler that instigated those situations?
Both teams clearly digressed to a high degree without Butler, which is counter to how teams usually respond when a toxic teammate is traded.
In Miami, Butler has found his role as a leader with a coach in Eric Spoelstra and GM in Pat Riley who share his focus on winning.
Players give Butler credit for helping their game, but he deflects the credit back to that player putting in work.
Butler now has the Heat one game away from making it to the NBA Finals for the first time since the Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh did it in 2014.
Butler’s will to win is one of the best in the league, and although his “no-nonsense” attitude may rub some the wrong way, he’s been embraced by his Heat teammates.
Miami takes on Boston Sunday in Game 6.