It's Bad, You Know

Ex-Bulls’ forward Jimmy Butler appears to have gone off the deep end in Miami, where he’s just been suspended for seven games. According to the Heat’s front office, “Through his actions and statements, he [Butler] has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team.” For his part, Butler says, “I want to see me getting my joy back playing basketball.” [today’s Tribune] Isn’t this all a little weird? Butler was the Bulls’ first-round draft pick back in 2011 and spent six productive seasons in Chicago. But the Bulls are the Bulls, and part of what makes a bad organization bad is not knowing when they have it good. See Butler, Jimmy, and ever so many more. Bad, bad teams are like the Hornets and Wizards, who never seem to get it right. The Bulls are more crazy bad. In Chicago, Butler was pretty gung-ho, team-first all the time. Things soured when he started opening his mouth about the blah roster around him. I doubt his criticisms included Bobby Portis, another Bulls’ first-round pick. Butler and Portis played together for three years, 2015-2018. That, my friends, was a pretty nice foundation to build around. Instead, Butler got traded for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen while Portis was basically traded away for nothing after punching Nikola Mirotic at practice. Yes, fighting is both bad and dangerous, But Portis was just like Butler, gung-ho and team-first. Mirotic? Nikola first and foremost. A dangerous mix of personalities there. So, now the Bulls are thinking about trading LaVine. For Butler? If only a time machine could be part of the deal.