Temper, Temper
Ex-Bull Jimmy Butler
told a Sun-Times’ sports’ columnist yesterday that he’s not mad at the Bulls,
but he is. Confused? Don’t worry.
Butler sounds that way, too.
He told ESPN in
November, “I said from the beginning, it was either gonna be me or the Fred
Hoiberg route.” Reminded of the comment
by the Times’ Joe Cowly. Butler said he didn’t mean it as “an ultimatum or
anything like that.” Huh?
Cowly’s column also
touched on something I’d long suspected, that we had a whole lot of Battlin’
Bulls on our hands the past few seasons, Butler and Pau Gasol vs. Derrick Rose
and Joakim Noah in Hoiberg’s first season as head coach, and Butler with Dwayne
Wade vs. Rajon Rondo last year. You
can’t win with divided clubhouses.
Butler noticed how the
current, very young roster is perfect for Hoiberg, allowing him to teach; this
is what he did with his teams at Iowa State.
Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen, the three players obtained
from the Minnesota Wolves for Butler and the Bulls’ #1 draft pick, look to be
good students. Butler looks to be a good
soldier who’s moved on while wishing things could have gone better with his
first team. I do, too.
The Bulls’
dysfunction in the front office cost them a quality athlete in Butler. They seem to have lucked out after trading him
for two, and possibly three, promising players.
Now, the front office needs to show it’s done with dysfunction. If not, you can expect Dunn, LaVine and
Markkanen at some point to sound as confused as Jimmy Butler.
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