Jimmy Butler: ‘I’m not satisfied until I win a championship’
By Nam Tran
Jimmy Butler spoke to Vice Sports and said that he won’t be satisfied until he wins a championship title.
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Jimmy Butler is one of the fittest and toughest players in the league. He’s also undeniably one of the best guards in the NBA as well.
But despite being a three-time All-Star and a three-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team selectee, he is still hungry for more success and still continues to work out hard every day.
Speaking to Vice Sports’ Michael Pina, Butler talked about him wanting to be great and expecting others to want to be great too and to put in the same hard work that he puts in. However, he did admit that he is wrong in expecting others to want what he wants.
"“I think it’s wrong for me to think that people want what I want because in reality they don’t. Some people are OK with getting drafted. Some people are OK with playing two years in the league, four years in the league, six years in the league. Some people are OK with just scoring a basket in an NBA game. I’m not OK with any of that. I’m not satisfied until I win a championship,” he says. “I want everybody to work the way that I work and it’s wrong for me to think like that because people don’t do it! But in my mind I’m just like why? Why don’t you want to chase greatness the way that I do?”"
Ever since Butler’s first season in the NBA, he has shown how hard of a worker he is. Back in 2014, after a mediocre season with the Chicago Bulls, Butler cut his cable and internet so that he had nothing to do but train and workout. After that offseason, his points per game jumped from 13.1 the previous season to 20. His field goal percentage also rose and he was voted an All-Star for the first time in his career.
Butler, who is believed to be “addicted to working” according to his personal skills trainer Chris Johnson, has a lot of work cut out for him next season. He is on a new team that has a young roster with little experience.
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In the 2016-17 season, the Timberwolves ended it near the bottom of the Western Conference with 31 wins. But maybe Butler’s work ethic and knowledge of the game will help evolve this team into a playoff contender.