What has Heat learned about Butler? ‘That competitive nature, it’s stronger than I thought.’
The Heat knew it was getting an All-Star in Jimmy Butler when it acquired him this past summer.
But during the first 21 games of the season, Heat players and coaches have had the opportunity to learn the different layers of Butler’s game and personality. The four-time All-Star is averaging a team-high in points (20.1), assists (6.5) and steals (2.4) to go with six rebounds this season.
“He’s not about the numbers,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said, with the Heat (15-6) starting a four-game homestand Friday against the Wizards. “He’s a superstar in this league, but he wants to win. Sometimes he would rather pass than score. That’s a quality that not everybody has. You can see it. He tries to get everybody involved first, then when he needs to close the game, he does it.”
Butler, 30, is one of five NBA players averaging at least 20 points, six rebounds and six assists this season. That list also includes James Harden, Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
On defense, Butler has limited players he has guarded to 36.2 percent shooting this season — 8.4 percent worse than their usual shooting percentage.
Butler also leads the Heat with a plus/minus of plus-134. Center Kelly Olynyk is a distant second at plus-74.
“He’s just willing to do whatever it takes to win,” forward Justise Winslow said of Butler. “That’s the biggest thing. He’s super competitive. He’s good if not great at pretty much everything out there on the basketball court. He’s super easy to play with. He’s super unselfish. But just that winning nature, that competitive nature, it’s stronger than I thought.”
Recently, the Heat has seen a different side of Butler. With Miami looking for quality wins during the three-game trip it completed Wednesday in Boston, Butler took over in certain spots and led the way in “clutch” situations to push the Heat to wins in Brooklyn and Toronto.
Butler averaged 26.3 points while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 47.4 percent on threes, 8.7 rebounds and six assists during the Heat’s 2-1 road trip. He scored five of Miami’s final 10 points during its game-winning 10-0 run to close out Sunday’s victory over the Nets, scored eight of Miami’s 13 overtime points as part of a triple-double performance in Tuesday’s win over the Raptors, and finished with a season-high 37 points in Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics.
“Spo always says, ‘Playoff Jimmy, we’re going to need him,’” Heat rookie guard Tyler Herro said. “There are two different Jimmys. There’s Jimmy and there’s playoff Jimmy. I think [in Boston] we saw playoff Jimmy. Shoot, the last three games, I think we’ve seen playoff Jimmy, for sure. He’s a great player. I just keep learning from him. He’s solid.”
For Winslow, playing with Butler has been a unique experience.
“Just an All-Star caliber two-way player. It’s just that simple,” Winslow said when asked what Butler has brought to the Heat. “We had D-Wade, we had Chris Bosh for a while. Probably those two guys are the best two players I played with. But I never really played with a guy that was in his prime like that, really. Maybe my first year a little bit with D-Wade, but he wasn’t ‘06 D-Wade. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Butler’s Heat teammates can confirm the ultra-competitive reputation that has followed him in the NBA. Following Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics, Butler sat in front of his locker staring at a boxscore lamenting glaring issues that hurt the Heat.
“He’s super competitive,” Olynyk said. “But you realize how unselfish he is on and off the court. He really just feeds into the team and wants everybody to do well and be successful. He’s a great leader for us. I think obviously, you knew what he could do. But I didn’t know the extent, obviously. You play against him, but you don’t see it 82 games in a row. He’s super, super talented. He just knows how to play the game.
“He’s an elite two-way player on both ends of the floor.”
Off the floor, Butler’s reputation of being a difficult teammate hasn’t proven to be true with the Heat.
“He just likes to have fun. He likes to joke around,” Winslow said. “Everything that people might have thought or assumed about his personality in the locker room and how he fits, we haven’t had any problems at all. Nothing. Not one complaint. If anything, he has kind of brought our team closer.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 12:08 PM.
