Miami Heat reporter Ira Winderman was a guest on Sirius XM’s “The Rap” of Mad Dog Sports Radio. He had a few interesting things to say about Jimmy Butler.
With the fourth of July and Independence Day being at the forefront of peoples minds, there weren’t any fireworks to speak of in the sports world on Thursday. The MLB had all but six teams in action, the NFL only had a bit of bad news(prayers up to Dolphins D-Lineman Kendrick Norton), and the entire NBA world was still on Kawhi Watch. Well, Miami Heat reporter Ira Winderman decided to bring his own light show to the radio, well not quite, but he did say some things that may fire up the base.
On Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio show The Rap and along with fill-in host The Big O, Orlando Alzugaray, Winderman had quite the take on the Miami Heat’s soon to be most recent signing. To put it out there, although a fan of the Miami Heat himself, Alzugaray seems to think that Butler is only good enough to propel the Heat to a seventh or eighth seed in the NBA Eastern Conference. He also has quite the bit to say about Butler and his motives, noting that he thinks Butler should have stayed in Philadelphia if he really wanted to win at the highest level.
In concert with Alzugaray, Winderman also seems to think that the Miami Heat didn’t improve that much with this signing. He tended to agree with the host that this move only would propel the Heat to the seventh or eighth seed a best, with a sixth seed being the best possible outcome for next season.
On the thought of Butler not wanting to remain in Philly, Winderman said that from what he was hearing from NBA people he’s talked to, there is confusion amongst the rest of the league about Philadelphia. The confusion specifically revolved around their core two pieces of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Winderman went on to say that there was basically a conundrum about whether the pair cared more about being an “icon or star” than they cared about being “a champion” and how much those very factors rubbed Butler the wrong way.
They went on to speak about a few other things, but one of the points of conversation that stood out the most was when Winderman rhetorically asked if Butler was “too much of a perfectionist”, if he was “too demanding”. He concluded these thoughts by asking if “that was a bad thing” and that he remembered another 23 that was a perfectionist, and even after he punched Steve Kerr in the face, he wasn’t looked at in a bad light.
Being a perfectionist isn’t a bad thing, and if expecting at least 90 percent of that effort from your teammates is a bad thing, then paint me confused. To address these notions and if Kawhi Leonard returns to the Toronto Raptors, the Miami Heat should minimally finish in the top four of the conference, with fifth being the bare minimum finishing position. If Leonard leaves the Eastern Conference and with Kevin Durant slated to miss the entirety of next season, the Miami Heat could end up being as high as the two seed.
This Miami Heat team does have a few sneaky good players. Over the past two seasons, what has hurt them is the fact that they haven’t had a guy of Butler’s current stature and abilities, a guy who could get and take his own shot in the closing moments whenever it was needed. While Dwyane Wade was capable of being that guy on a few occasions this season, he missed 10 games that were mostly following the birth of his daughter, and he could only give so much at this stage of his career when everyone knew his intentions in those moments.
Butler will be able to take and make a lot of those shots for this Miami Heat team, as they have the necessary pieces to help get them to these crunch time moments. The Miami Heat will be better than people expect and that includes Orlando Alzugaray and the great Ira Winderman.