For the Miami Heat, the headaches Jimmy Butler brought with him far outweighed what the six-time All-Star brought onto the court. Earlier this year, on January 27 to be exact, the Heat suspended Butler for the umpteenth time in what proved to be the final straw in their six-year partnership.
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Back then, with the Heat-Butler tiff raging, it was believed to be curtains for the small forward’s 14-year-old career in the NBA. But since then, Butler has comfortably settled into his new home, the Golden State Warriors.
Butler’s career has been an example of magnificent highs and the lowest of lows. He led at least two of his four teams to the NBA Finals. As a matter of fact, all four teams he had been a part of before the Warriors (the Bulls, Timberwolves, 76ers, and the Heat) have struggled to replicate the level of success they had with him on their roster.
So, Butler’s Miami antics might have must have been quite something, or at least he managed to annoy enough people at the franchise that they said: Enough is enough. But for anyone who has keenly followed Butler’s career, this wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.
In all the teams he was a part of before the Warriors, he had picked fights with teammates, coaches, basically pushing everyone in the direction of whatever he wanted. By the time the Heat pulled the plug, he had missed nine out of 12 games through suspension.
Heat legend Goran Dragic, who spent many years in the locker room with Butler, considers him a good friend. He has claimed that Butler was probably a Balkan in a previous life while commenting on the difficult situation that developed in Miami.
On the 104.3 WQAM podcast, Dragic was asked if the Heat players would breathe a little better without the additional drama. “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,” he replied.
Calling it a messed-up situation, Dragic 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,” added the Slovenian.
The 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 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. They will also 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.
