The Chicago Bulls made a huge move this year in the NBA Draft when they traded their best player, Jimmy Butler, to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The trade was seen as a very bad move for the Bulls, who experts said gave away their top player and got very little in return. While it seemed like a shocking trade, Butler was quiet about it at first but then finally spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times about the move and said he wasn’t angry but still had some strong feelings about the move.
Jimmy Butler as the ‘Face of the Bulls’
Jimmy Butler said that he was called the face of the Chicago Bulls organization by the franchise itself.
However, while a player like Michael Jordan was also the face of the Bulls at one time, they never considered trading him to another team. Butler said that being the face of the Bulls organization now isn’t as good as he thought it would be. Jimmy said being the face of the Bulls led to them trading him so it meant nothing.
However, while he seemed a little put off by the trade after the Chicago Bulls called him their “face,” he said that he isn’t made about the trade at all. As a matter of fact, Jimmy Butler said that he is just excited to now no longer me the “face” and to just become a Minnesota Timberwolves “player.” Jimmy said that is all he wants to do – play basketball for whatever team he plays for and win games.
As far as Butler is concerned, he doesn’t care whose team it is and he just wants to play basketball.
Chicago Bulls vice president John Paxson dismissed the idea of not trading Jimmy Butler when he said the only player in NBA history who was untradeable was Michael Jordan. Paxson said that everyone can be traded and they never lied to anyone about that fact.
He said that he doesn’t understand the comments by Jimmy and that should be the end of the discussion.
The new Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler does have the advantage of playing or a familiar head coach since the Minnesota Timberwolves are led by former Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau. Butler said that he doesn’t really want to become the face of the Timberwolves because the Bulls prove that the face is just the back of the head when they are showing you the door.
The biggest rumors of the trade came when Jimmy Butler and Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg seemed to clash. Butler said that was never a problem because both men wanted to win and he had nothing bad to say about Hoiberg at all but he is excited to reunite on the Minnesota Timberwolves with Thibodeau, someone he said put the toughest team on the floor every night.
