Former Chicago Bulls: Jimmy Butler toasts another past team of his

A powder keg in the locker room, former Chicago Bulls star Jimmy Butler shared his opinion on his separation with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The former Chicago Bulls star small forward Jimmy Butler has been around since his tenure in the Windy City ended in the summer of 2017. Since he left the Bulls in that famed trade around the 2017 NBA Draft, Butler played for three different teams. He seems to have controversy to some degree that followed him at two of the stops too.

According to a piece from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Butler hinted at why he left his former team from last season (the Philadelphia 76ers) in free agency over the offseason. After less than a half season with the Sixers, “Jimmy Buckets” wound up leaving Philly to join up with head coach Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat. That seemed like a perfect fit between Butler and the Heat.

However, there is one trend that sticks out for Butler no matter where he goes. He’s very demanding of his teammates and makes his motivations and mindset known in the locker room and in practice. That did cause issues inside the locker room at times with the Bulls, Sixers, and during his brief stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nothing boiled over too much at any one point, but there is usually some drama with him involved.

In this piece from Haynes and Yahoo Sports, Butler opened up on his feelings about the separation from the Sixers are signing with the Heat in free agency. It looks clear that Miami was one of the landing spots that Butler desired all along since he was traded from the Timberwolves last year.

"I tried to get to Miami earlier than June, if you remember me coming out of Minnesota."

Butler seems like a great fit with the whole Miami persona too. He can be a veteran star leader that enforces toughness for a young and promising team on both ends of the floor. Butler also had some fiery viewpoints about the way his separation from the Sixers was covered earlier this year.

"Like for real. Just think about that. Like I can’t come in and make a huge difference. I’m not going to say ‘carry a team’ because nobody can do it by themselves and I mean that. I’m not putting it all on myself, but I know what I’m capable of. I know what I bring to any and all situations, and the group of guys that we have is the group of guys that I want to play with."

The point here is that Butler is the type of personality that knows where he wants to be and is only a good fit with very specific teams. When he left the Bulls, it came with good reason as the relationship between the front office (mainly John Paxson) became very stale. That could be more of a fault with Paxson and Gar Forman, though.

The Bulls aren’t much different from stage Timberwolves or the Sixers in the sense that Butler wasn’t happy at all near the end of his stints with each team. Miami might be the best spot for him, but we should know that before too long.