Thank you for reading The Dope.
Jimmy Butler is poison, except when he’s helping teams win. The Miami guard is currently on his third suspension by the Heat in the past month, locked in a stare-down with team president Pat Riley, a longtime front-office star and self-styled franchise savior.
Score update: Egos 2, Movement 0.
Butler keeps getting suspended because he is trying to bad-behavior his way out of Miami. He has acted out during games and missed team flights and stormed out of practices. He has decided that it’s over.
The Heat are Butler’s fourth NBA team in a 14-year career that has been marked by spectacular heights and, inevitably, horrible divorces: Bulls, Timberwolves, 76ers, and now this thing.
Butler is also in the middle of a maximum veteran contract extension that pays him a little more than $48 million this season, with an option — his option — to pull down another $52 million next season.
That’s a fair amount of dough, and it says without need of further explanation that Butler is valued as an absolute superstar. Still, things went south in Miami because…because…
Things went south.
(Dunno. Too much time, maybe.)
This is the Butler pattern, one of superior performance followed by Jimmy fatigue. He is the instigator and the creator. It’s all him, and it is always something.
Most recently, the Heat made it clear that Butler had made clear he wants to be moved to another team and will not consider a further contract extension with Miami. Butler is dissatisfied with the direction of the club, has fallen out of love with coach Eric Spoelstra, doesn’t seem to care about his teammates too very much — the whole package.
The club issued a statement: "Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded; therefore, we will listen to offers."
I love that. “They” wish to be traded. Not subtle: Pat Riley is making sure everyone knows that Butler’s people are in the middle of things. Those “adviser” days are long gone, baby.
So here is a player who, when he goes bad, goes really, really, sour-milk bad.
Butler is also, in a down year, averaging 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists on 54 percent shooting, albeit in only 25 games because of the suspensions and all. He averaged at least 20.8 points in each of the four seasons before that. He has lifted teams — Bulls, Sixers, Heat — to major improvements and turnarounds. They’ve usually been short-lived, because after that, Butler just gradually unspools.
He’s untradeable* — except for the part about teams continually trading for him through the years. His short-burst effect on franchises can be — and often has been — enormous, and the guaranteed ensuing fall is at the very least an entertaining little reality show. The NBA’s trade deadline is Feb. 6. Something to watch.
*Yes, you can spell untradeable this way. You can also spell it untradable, which looks weird but is considered correct by many dictionaries.
Jimmy Butler…the Antonio Brown of the NBA…? Too good to pass up…too much trouble to keep…(SMH)