The Miami Heat had managed to play themselves into being a top team in the Eastern Conference prior to play stoppage. Guess Jimmy wasn’t coming to retire.
As the Miami Heat were off attempting to secure the services of their newest superstar player in Jimmy Butler last summer, the jokes were wild and rampant. You heard and saw things such as “why would he go to Miami” and “there’s no way he goes to the Heat”. Well, you heard them until… he did just that and joined the Miami Heat.
After he joined the Heat though, the jokes didn’t stop, they just changed. You heard and saw a ton of things after that point as well.
Here were a few of the hits or some of the most said things. He was just coming to Miami to “party”, or to “retire”, or “it wasn’t a basketball move”. Fast forward six months and I bet all those people are looking rather wet in the face, unlike Jimmy though, it isn’t from the warm waters of the Biscayne Bay.
Not only was Jimmy Butler not coming to retire, but he was coming to work harder than he ever had before. Other than the early morning workouts before the sun even got up, if you take a look at his statistics, he is actually working as hard as he has ever worked across any year of his career.
His cute stats are down as far as scoring overall, field goal percentage, and three-point shooting numbers, but his raw work numbers are all pretty much career highs. When you take a look at his free throw numbers, his rebounding numbers, and his assists numbers, they are as high as they have ever been across his career.
So, to address those false narratives once again. If you thought that Jimmy to Miami was a move for anything other than winning basketball games and competing at the highest level, the joke’s on you! Happy April Fools Day!