SAN FRANCISCO – Considered by some the NBA’s most notorious burner of bridges, Jimmy Butler III says he is delighted to be in a region known for its bridges. And not because he has so many targets to set ablaze.
It’s because Butler senses the Golden State Warriors possess an unrelenting quest for victory that matches his own.
Though Butler did not say his previous stops within the league – Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat – were comfortable with losing, the insinuation is that non-basketball issues and less dedicated circumstances have rubbed him the wrong way.
“I’m always about winning, winning at all costs,” Butler tells NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest episode of the “Dubs Talk” podcast, which debuted Monday. “So, when it doesn’t stay about winning, it can become about many different things. If it ain’t about winning, I’m telling y’all right now, I’m not here for it.
“It’s got to be about winning. Everything we do, it’s got to be about winning.”
Consider that a warning. If things start getting political or subjective within the Warriors, or if they tolerate unseriousness on the roster, Butler might reach for his lighter and start scouting the Golden Gate.
Butler need not worry. All evidence seen and heard during the 15 years that Joe Lacob and Peter Guber have owned the Golden State franchise is that winning is both everything and the only thing. Consider, for example, their early moves, notably bringing in Jerry West and Rick Welts. And their wonderfully executed recruitment of Kevin Durant. And their investment in the cash cow that is Chase Center.
Consider, too, the expensive acquisition of Butler in February.
“We had to get better on the basketball court,” general manager Mike Dunleavy told NBC Sports Bay Area in March. “But we needed to get better, emotionally. We’d lost our way. And to be able to accomplish those two things, there’s not many players out there that can do that. And I felt like Jimmy was one of those guys. It’s tough in this league to make trades because there’s very few really good players that are available. And in this case, Jimmy was.”
Butler was available because, turned off by criticism of Heat shot-caller Pat Riley and the lack of a contract extension, he had burned his bridge in Miami. Butler twice led the Heat to the NBA Finals during his five-plus seasons in Miami. The epilogue to his fourth NBA team was a fourth bridge torching.
“If it’s about winning, if it’s about winning it – the championship – I’m all for it,” Butler says. “If it’s not, and there are any other agendas, y’all won’t like it. Because I don’t care. I’m literally just here to win. That’s it. I don’t care about anything else.”
The Warriors, with a disappointing xx-xx record (PLEASE UPDATE), are not meeting their standard. They also are not meeting Butler’s standard and goal. As it stands, he’s a six-time NBA All-Star and very probable Hall of Famer. What he is not is an NBA champion.
That is, as he says, why he is a Warrior. And, yes, he believes it is possible.
“(It’s) the practice,” Butler says. “The work that everybody’s putting in afterwards, and how they care about doing right. It doesn’t always go our way, and we make mistakes, but that’s just the game. That’s just human nature. Nobody’s perfect.
“But the intent is what really matters. If you’re trying to do right, you’re trying everything that you have to win, it’s going to work out more days than not. And I see that amongst our group. I see that in the coaches. They work relentlessly at trying to figure it out. And then we’ve got to go out there and we got to actually do it. But they’re putting us in all the correct situations.”
If there is anything Butler has more faith in than those in the locker room, it is those in the executive suites upstairs. It’s Dunleavy, Butler’s teammate for three seasons in Chicago, who has shown a willingness to make big moves. And it’s Lacob, whose ambition always operates at the speed of light.
Butler has bought into the ways of the Warriors, starting with those at the top. Andrew Wiggins, who went to Miami in the swap that brought Butler to the Bay, never wanted to leave, partly because he won a championship with Golden State and partly because he marveled at the “top-notch” management of the franchise.
Butler, in his 10th month as a Warrior, is in full agreement.
“They would do anything and everything for you to just make sure that you can compete at a high level – whatever it is,” he says. “When your kids are here, your kids are going to be well taken care of. My daughter got every allergy known to humankind, probably, and just to make sure that when she’s around, all her allergy needs or like taken care of goes a long way for me, goes a long way for anybody.
“. . . They have the most incredible people throughout this organization and it’s just always a good place to come into work. You want to be here. You’re smiling. You’re having fun. And then whenever you leave, you’re like, ‘OK, it’s a good day today at work. Can’t wait to go back tomorrow.’ That’s when I knew. I was like, ‘Yo, this place is legit.’ It’s special.”
A joyful Jimmy means the Bay Area bridges are safe, at least for now. But that winning thing, well, it has a lot of work ahead to start fulfilling the promise in which Butler believes.
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