The Miami Heat are off to a stunning start this season and so is Jimmy Butler, but why isn’t anyone talking about enigmatic swingman’s play thus far?
The Miami Heat are off to a 15-6 record this season and mostly behind the stellar play of their prized free-agent acquisition from over the summer in Jimmy Butler. While Butler doesn’t quite take the James Harden or even the LeBron James approach of initiating or running everything through him, he does find a way to make a key impact on every play when he needs to.
He is averaging 20.1 points, six rebounds, 6.5 assists, and is tied for the league lead in steals at 2.4 per game. If the steals aren’t enough, just watching him lets you know he is also still one of the premier defenders in the world.
Butler is also on the list when it comes to MVP Candidates thus far, at least according to some. With these things in mind though, why aren’t more people talking about a player as described above at the helm of what looks to be one of the best teams in the league? There are two reasons that stick out more than any other and here they are.
When Butler first decided to join the Miami Heat, there were primarily two narratives that followed. The first was “why would he want to join a team that would struggle to make the playoffs?”, while the second was ” He was only doing it for the money”.
When thinking about the first narrative, the one where the Heat would end up being something in the range of a middling to bottom-feeding Eastern Conference team, people may think it’s a bit early to eat crow. While it may still be a bit early, this Miami Heat team is a top three to four seed in the eastern conference, maybe even higher. This, of course, isn’t something that we didn’t try to tell you before the season started though.
When looking at the second reason, the one where he was only coming to Miami for the money and to enjoy the weather because he surely wasn’t coming here to win, that looks like bologna now as well. The explanation in the first answer kind of fills in the blanks on this one as well, but there is another factor there.
Jimmy Butler didn’t only come for the money, as he turned down more money to be in Miami, he came because he and the Heat are a perfect fit. The things that Jimmy Butler stands for on the basketball court and in terms of how he approaches playing the game of basketball perfectly mirrors everything that the Miami Heat strive to be and look for in their players.
He came to Miami because it seems as though it was the place he was always meant to be. In the Miami Heat’s latest game against the Boston Celtics and with the Heat down about 17 points with around six or seven minutes to go in the game, Jimmy Butler was still going as hard as anybody on the court.
While that’s his job as a professional, that isn’t something that you see from every star NBA player and that is if they’re even in the game at that point. Things like that reflect on why he chose Miami, they believe in the same things and are put together with the same kind of stuff.
Those are the reasons why people aren’t talking about Jimmy Butler. They still have the defense mechanism of it being early in the season to fall back on before eating crow on the whole Jimmy Butler to Miami scenario.
They said he was coming to a team that would struggle to be a bottom seed in the Eastern Conference, but they seem to be wrong. They said he was only coming for the money, but that too looks to be false.
They are starting to take notice. That doesn’t matter though, Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat will just be somewhere working hard and trying to get better.