Jimmy Butler is now the figure of the Miami Heat after a couple of seasons wandering around the NBA. His career started with the Chicago Bulls, where he worked his way to the top of the league, becoming the star he is right now.
The turning point for Butler happened in the summer of 2014, where he decided to step up his game and got to work that summer. In November of that same year, Jimmy was leading the Chicago Bulls to be one of the best teams in the East, taking the reins of the team after Derrick Rose went down with an injury.
Talking with Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated, Butler revealed the regime he adopted to improve his game.
Butler and his friends rented a house for the summer so that they could spend time together, but he says he purposefully chose not to furnish it.
“I wanted to be so good at the game that we didn’t have cable, we didn’t have the Internet,” he recalled. “Whenever we got bored, all we would do is go to the gym. We’d eat, sleep and go to the gym. We’d go three times a day because we didn’t have anything else to do. We were sitting on the couch, looking at each other, saying, ‘What the hell are we going to do all day?’”
Jimmy Butler in the summer of 2014 wanted to improve so bad that he got rid of cable and internet.
“I'd eat, sleep and go to the gym 3 times a day.”
• 2013-14 averages:
13.1 PPG – 39.7% FG – 28.3% 3PT
• 2014-15 averages:
20.0 PPG – 46.2% FG – 37.8% 3PT pic.twitter.com/EVpv7zmEOq
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The results were visible. His number got better, he became a better player and the leader that the Bulls needed after D-Rose left the team. He recorded 13.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists, shooting 39.7% FG and 28.3% 3PT.
In the 2014/15 season, Jimmy averaged 20.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists, shooting 46.2% FG and 37.8% from deep. Butler hasn’t been one of the most spectacular stars of all, and he’s received a lot of criticism from people who consider him a bad leader. Well, this man has worked his way out to the elite of the league, and everything changed that summer of 2014.
After he left the Bulls, he went to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Philadelphia 76ers before signing with the Heat last summer. Alongside Kendrick Nunn, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, Butler was leading the Heat to the 4th spot in the East, surprising several people around the league.
