Miami Heat: Jimmy Butler’s gritty leadership deserves endless praise

Jimmy Butler’s leadership tactics often get criticized, but he deserves genuine praise for how he transformed the Miami Heat back into contenders.

Before joining the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler’s name was synonymous with controversy. First, as a member of the Chicago Bulls, where he and former teammate Derrick Rose were reportedly in disagreement over Rose’s work ethic after the team missed the postseason in 2015-16. The main issue was that Butler apparently, “doesn’t have a lot of respect for his work ethic.”

The move led to Rose getting traded and the Bulls handing Butler the keys to the franchise, only for him to be traded the following offseason to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was here that one of the most fascinating events in Butler’s career took place, the infamous scrimmage where he led the third-stringers to a win over the starters in practice.

Butler requested a trade from the team a month prior, and the team did not comply at first, leaving him to showcase his displeasure on the court. Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, he specifically went at young stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins repeatedly during the scrimmage, having reportedly shouted things at the pair such as “they soft” and “they ain’t s–t.”

By the time Butler and the third-stringers defeated the starters, he had only scored once, a testament to how he elevated those around him. ESPN’s Rachel Nichols interviewed Butler about the incident and did not hold back on his harsh tactics against Wiggins and Towns.

"“Am I being tough on him? Yeah, that’s who I am. I’m not the most talented player on the team. Who is the most talented player on our team? KAT. Who is the most God-gifted player on our team? Wiggs. … Who plays the hardest? Me! I play hard. I put my body [on the line] every day in practice, every day in games. That’s my passion. Everybody leads in different ways. That’s how I show I’m here for you.”"

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It may have seemed like Butler was too harsh on his teammates, but his tactics were beyond justifiable. He simply wanted the team to work harder, but instead, they got humiliated by Butler and the backups. The team’s lack of heart showed when Butler was off the court, as their season took a drastic turn midway through.

Before having suffered an injury in the season, Butler had led the team to the 4-seed in the Western Conference and the team dropped to the 8-seed without him, having made the postseason with a victory on the final night of the regular season.

With Butler, the Timberwolves were a team with home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and a borderline playoff team without him. Still, because of his unorthodox leadership, but transformed into a “villain” and finally received his wish to be traded, having landed with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Now paired with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, Butler saw much more success than with Minnesota and played a significant part in that. Butler was the team’s main guy down the stretch, one of the league’s most clutch performers.

This Philadelphia team had all the pieces needed for success, and if it was not for one incredible shot made by Kawhi Leonard to send the 76ers home in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, they might have achieved it.

With their season over, the team’s first priority was undoubtedly re-signing Jimmy Butler, but he elected to go to the Miami Heat on a four-year $141 million deal. Much like in Chicago an Minnesota, Butler was reportedly unhappy with the lack of work ethic some players displayed in Philadelphia, which ultimately led to his exit.

The move puzzled many at the time because the 76ers had much more upside than the Miami Heat, and they could offer more money. Many also believed that Butler was not capable of being “the man” to lead a team to a championship potentially, and made a grave mistake leaving.

However, Butler elevated the Miami Heat to one of the premier contenders in the Eastern Conference this season and transformed them into one of their best teams in recent years. Butler tends to get characterized as a bad teammate because of his harsh tactics, but Heat sharpshooting rookie Tyler Herro refuted these claims.

"“Jimmy has taken me under his wing since the summer and really pushed me and showed me the right way and has given me the confidence and has really put me in the right spots.”"