The Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler talks about the top five players he has had to guard
Jimmy Butler isn’t one for praising others.
His mentality, which he describes as “I really just don’t give a damn,” just won’t allow it. But that’s part of the reason why his recent Players’ Tribune piece was so alluring. In it, the Miami Heat forward momentarily sheds his tough demeanor to talk his five toughest defensive matchups.
The list was pretty predictable — LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and James Harden — but his descriptions were anything but. Why? Because they reeked of Butler’s patented honesty.
When it came to LeBron, Butler didn’t spare any flatteries.
“You can’t have a 5 Toughest list and not have LeBron on it,” he wrote before listing all the qualities that make the Lakers forward so spectacular.
LeBron, in a sense, serves as Butler’s measuring stick. It’s part of the reason why the four-time All-Star craves going against him.
“Like, if you can best LeBron, you’re doing something right,” Butler wrote. “And if you can’t, it’s just because you’re human, like the rest of us.”
On Kyrie, Butler praised the dynamic scorer’s ball handling ability which he deemed disrespectful.
“He toys with guys,” he said. “Like, he’ll have you beat, but instead of taking the bucket, he’ll pull it back and reset, like, No, no, no. Not yet. I’m not done. I got something else for you.”
Durant, however, presented a different challenge for Butler. His height, which the Heat star referred to plainly as “seven,” just makes everything more difficult for a gritty defender like Butler.
“To shoot like he can and also have the speed to run the floor, handles like a point guard and the athleticism to finish at the rim … and do it all at seven?” Butler wrote. “That’s cheat-code stuff.”
Similar to Kyrie, Butler primarily focused on one area when it came to Curry: shooting. For Butler, the Warriors guard’s greatness comes down to one simple fact.
“He can shoot — and hit — from anywhere,” Butler said.
The same is also true for Harden. From scoring to dishing to drawing fouls, the Rockets guard’s offensive arsenal is stacked. The step-back, however, was what most fascinates Butler.
“Some people say it’s a travel,” he wrote. “I say if the ref doesn’t call it, I’m all for it. Find a way to stop it, travel or not.”
Harden has become one of the players who teams build their entire defensive game plan around stopping but somehow still puts up 40. That ability, according to Butler, is why he doubled down on his opinion of Harden being “the most unstoppable player in the league.”
“If you asked multiple people who the most unstoppable player in the league is right now, it would be a toss-up between a healthy KD and [LeBron] James,” he wrote. “But if you ask me? It’s James Harden.”
While some may believe the words “most unstoppable” and Harden don’t belong in the same sentence, you can’t argue with a man’s opinion. Or maybe you can. In any case, Butler is here for the controversy.
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 1:06 PM.
