Get to know new Timberwolves forward Jimmy Butler
The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired a three-time all-star forward when they swapped Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and first-round picks with the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler.
This you know. But, Timberwolves fans, do you really know the player also known as Jimmy G. Buckets (the G stands for "gets")?
AWARDS
First, we’ll get the boring stuff out of the way. Butler has been voted to play in the last three NBA All-Star games, dating back to the 2014-15 season when Tom Thibodeau was still pacing up and down the Bulls’ bench.
Butler was named to the All-NBA third team for the first time in his career in 2017. However, he was recently snubbed of a fourth consecutive All-Defensive NBA second-team nomination.
Are there more awards? You betcha. Butler was voted the Most Improved Player after his outstanding 2014-15 season. He’s been named the NBA Player of the Week four times (Dec. 29, 2014, Nov. 21, 2016, Jan. 9, 2017 and April 3, 2017) and Player of the Month once (Nov. 2014).
Butler also received the NBA Cares Community Assist Award in April 2017 for his efforts to empower the at-risk youth in Chicago.
NBA FORWARD BY DAY, NFL RECEIVER BY NIGHT
Butler made headlines during the 2016 Summer Olympics when he joked that he’d be a better NFL player than wide receivers Antonio Brown of Pittsburgh and Denver's Demaryius Thomas.
In response, Brown gifted Butler with a football. Jimmy Buckets brings that football with him everywhere, looking more like a running back with a bad fumbling habit than a perennial NBA star. Butler even brought the football to his first time visiting Thibodeau and the Wolves at their practice facility.
He might be on to something, though. Hauling a football full-time has proven to benefit him on the court.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTDYSikhogZ/?taken-by=jimmybutler&hl=en
And his offseason program to become the next two-sport professional athlete continued this spring:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUnovFsh7bs/?taken-by=jimmybutler&hl=en
And again. Ok, this is getting too real!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BI0OGYbAS5r/?taken-by=jimmybutler&hl=en
NEED TO WATCH
If you’re not sold on the Butler trade yet, will his moving rendition of Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” convince you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfC-76Kers4
Think Chicago fans will miss Jimmy Buckets? One Bulls fan: “I’m moving to Minnesota.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYudKQC1RFk
It’s fair to say Butler has matured over his six-year career in the NBA. Before his third all-star appearance, Butler critiqued an interview from his rookie year. Hilarity ensued.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CnTkpikKiU
This next video is just a simple advertisement for the annual, best-selling NBA 2K video game. But take a closer look, and you’ll see Butler and our own Karl-Anthony Towns jogging together at the 52-second mark. Get used to it, Wolves fans!
https://twitter.com/JimmyButler/status/774314964169347072
A littler-known fact: Jimmy Butler is actually LeBron James’ father … according to this, uh, unique rapper Froggy Fresh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0spXnX0l638
And we’ll end with that.
