In an in-depth profile of his life, former Chicago Bulls star Jimmy Butler opens up about his life before his rise in the NBA, his training and diet and topics surrounding his time with the Bulls before being traded.
Before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason, Jimmy Butler completed the best season of his basketball career and was easily on his way to becoming one of the best players to ever play for the Chicago Bulls.
But, some behind-the-scenes rumors and issues behind closed doors, plus a change in direction for the organization sent Butler to a new conference, a new city and a new team.
In an awesome profile written by VICE Sports’ Michael Pina, Butler and those close to him really opened up about Butler’s life on and off the hardwood. One of the notable parts of Butler’s profile was discussing matters surrounding him before his departure from Chicago.
According to Pina, this is “some” of what Butler had to say on the topic(s).
"“I’m confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go. Not everybody’s like that. [Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg] is not that coach, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There are different coaching styles and people are gonna say—which is what they did say—’It’s gonna be Jimmy’s team or it’s gonna be Fred’s team.’ Two total opposite ends of the spectrum. They’re either gonna try to win it now or they’re gonna go young. And you see which way they went with it. Completely fine. Yo, it’s y’all’s business. It’s y’all’s organization. It’s cool. And now I’m in Minnesota and couldn’t be happier.”"
The relationship between Butler and Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg never seemed too volatile partly because of Hoiberg’s calm and cool demeanor.
But, with the infamous “we need to be coached a lot harder at times” line from Butler after a loss to the New York Knicks a couple years ago or the time Butler shook off but didn’t actually shake off Hoiberg after he appeared to want Butler to call a timeout, you can see why their relationship was examined closely.
It’s basically the new guy in town at the helm in Hoiberg and the face of the franchise in Butler. It’s going to be a topic of discussion every time when the head coach and star of the team appear to have issues.
The entire profile is really a good read and is definitely worth your time.
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Other topics include: how former Bulls head coach and current Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau blows up Butler’s phone all the time, Butler’s reach into other business ventures and Hollywood, why he’s good friends with actor Mark Wahlberg, who put Butler on the Bulls’ radar and his tireless work habits.