From the abandoned child to the leader of an NBA East finalist: Jimmy Butler’s victory

At age 13, his mother kicked him out of their home, something he believed made him the man he was. After controversial moves in Minnesota and Philadelphia, he took another step toward his first ring.

At age 13, at Jimmy Butler His mother spoke to him some words he never thought he would hear: “I don’t like the way you look. I want you to go“. That’s what Jimmy said what a day he was left on the streeta situation that led him to rely on the kindness of his friends to have a roof over which to sleep, until he was “adopted” by a family with seven children. Today, built as one of the leaders of Miami Heat towards the NBA finals, the basketball player from Houston He overcame the hardships of his childhood and had a chance to win his first championship ring.

Despite its low origin, Butler was never interested in his career seen in the light of his childhood.something he managed to say in one of his interviews on the night of 2011 where he was selected by the Chicago Bulls in 30th place in the Draft: “I knew they were going to do an article, but I only had one request in my story. Don’t write in a way that feels sorry for me or in my past, I don’t like when people feel sorry for me because there is nothing to regret. I actually like what happened to me, because it made me who I am, those challenges shaped me“.

Jimmy Butler and his controversial moves to Minnesota and Philadelphia before arriving in Miami

Certainly, the events that hardened him from a young age helped shape his extremely competitive personality, which It even caused him trouble during his stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.two teams where he tried to show the quality he had, but where he had more shadows than lights.

In the Minnesota franchise, He had a big run-in with coach Tom Thibodeau and teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. He even exploded in front of GM Scott Layden, where he shouted: “You need me, damn it!“. When asked by ESPN In this regard, Butler did not abdicate responsibility: “I am enthusiastic when I play and I love the sport, I do it for no other reason but to compete and show that I am up to the best. All my emotions poured out of those moments. Is this right? No. But I can’t control it when I’m competing“.

In Philadelphia — the team he joined after forcing a trade from the Timberwolves —, Nor is he a stranger to controversy.. His ongoing feud with the coach, Brett Brown, led to him leaving the franchise again without a title in his hands. Your fate? The only team he swore he would never play for when he was young: Miami. In his second year as a professional player, he was asked in an interview what one thing he wouldn’t wear: “A Heat jersey.”

Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and Miami Heat, the keys to Jimmy Butler’s resurrection

Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra seem to have done what Chicago, Minnesota and Philadelphia have never done: make Butler a positive leader and avoid the locker room problem.. And boy, did it pay off: His average stats jumped across all categories to exceed his career numbers in his first season on the team, when he reached the 2019-20 NBA Finals: 19.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6 assists per game. The same thing happened in the Playoffs, with 20.7 points, 4.5 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game.

Now Jimmy buckets He stepped again towards his first ring of NBAwho lost the finals in 2020 at Los Angeles Lakers. Before, he will have to go through the finals of the Eastern Conference, instance where he will face the winner of the series in between Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks.