Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, star of the Miami Heat, is making some noise.
Speaker 1: There have been rumors over the last several weeks that
Speaker 1: indeed he wanted out, even though his agent, Bernie Lee,
Speaker 1: had denied it at that time. Nevertheless, it's been made
Speaker 1: official because we heard from Jimmy Butler himself, and boy
Speaker 1: did we all hear from him when he spoke up.
Speaker 1: It was not that pleasant. If you are pat Riley
Speaker 1: in the Miami Heat, this does not seem to be
Speaker 1: a star that wants to stay near South Beach. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: you don't usually hear such things from a player playing
Speaker 1: for pat Raleigh, but you heard it last night.
Speaker 2: Listen for yourself.
Speaker 3: I want to see me get my joy back from
Speaker 3: playing basketball. And wherever that may be, we'll find out
Speaker 3: here pretty soon. But I want to get my joy back.
Speaker 3: I'm happy here, you know, off the court, but I
Speaker 3: want to be back to somewhere dominant. I want to
Speaker 3: hoop and I want to help this team win.
Speaker 2: Right now, I'm not doing that. Can you get your
Speaker 2: joy back here on the court?
Speaker 1: Probably not, Damn, ladies and gentlemen, I've been covering the
Speaker 1: NBA for close to thirty years.
Speaker 2: In that time.
Speaker 1: I don't recall hearing anybody that has played for pat
Speaker 1: Riley when pat Rally was a coach, since pat Rally
Speaker 1: has been president of the basketball operations that have spoken
Speaker 1: that defiantly against an organization run by pat Rally.
Speaker 2: It has never happened. Well, it's happened now.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler wants out, and I'm here to tell you
Speaker 1: I can't blame him. When you look at the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: presently a top six seed in the Eastern Conference, seventeen
Speaker 1: to fifteen, two games over five hundred at the time
Speaker 1: that we are recording this show. Nevertheless, nobody has them
Speaker 1: in the championship equation.
Speaker 2: And when you.
Speaker 1: Listen to Jimmy Butler, what essentially is it that he
Speaker 1: is saying. I'll tell you what he's saying. He're saying,
Speaker 1: we're not very good and we're not going to compete
Speaker 1: for a championship.
Speaker 2: We're likely not better than the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1: We're probably not better than the New York Knicks, we
Speaker 1: definitely ain't better than the Cleveland Cavaliers, and we damn
Speaker 1: sure ain't better than a reigning defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: In other words, we.
Speaker 1: Have no chance at this particular juncture with the team
Speaker 1: that we presently have in this assembled. If you are
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat, you can be a bit salty for
Speaker 1: how Jimmy Butler has chosen to handle this, and we
Speaker 1: would all understand that, but respectfully, how wrong is he?
Speaker 1: We hadn't heard anything from Jimmy Butler up to this point.
Speaker 1: And when we look at pat Riley, a person that
Speaker 1: I've known for years, that I revere and I have
Speaker 1: a lot of love and respectful even have him in
Speaker 1: my book Straight Shooter, in terms of the contribution he's
Speaker 1: made to my life and my career, there is no
Speaker 1: getting around the fact that pat Riley, the Great pat Riley,
Speaker 1: the Winner Within, that was the name of the book
Speaker 1: that he authored, The Winner Within, who's been a champion
Speaker 1: on every level as a player, as a coach, as
Speaker 1: a president of basketball operations. This man knows how to win,
Speaker 1: and he knows how to build a culture, and he
Speaker 1: knows how to have structure in order to an organization.
Speaker 1: He is a leader, and there's no question about that.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to Jimmy Butler or the Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler ever in Miami, one could easily ask what have
Speaker 1: you done for him lately? Bam out of Bayer can play.
Speaker 1: But this is not Joe ellen Bider, Nicola Yokich to
Speaker 1: somebody of that caliber that we're talking about. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: just get that out of the way right now, that's
Speaker 1: not what's.
Speaker 2: Going on here.
Speaker 1: And when you look at Jimmy Butler, a player option
Speaker 1: for next season, a fifty two point four million, who's
Speaker 1: being paid over forty nine million.
Speaker 2: Now just look at some of the stats. Look at
Speaker 2: this here. Think about it.
Speaker 1: Minutes per game thirty point eight, fewest since.
Speaker 2: Twenty twelve, twenty.
Speaker 1: And thirteen, scoring average seventeen point six Lewis twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen. Now you will look at those numbers to say, well,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, that's on you, right uh uh Hold on.
Speaker 2: Brother shooting fifty five percent for the field, fifty.
Speaker 1: Eight percent on two pointers, which means that when you
Speaker 1: give him the.
Speaker 2: Ball for him to shoot the basketball.
Speaker 1: It goes in more times than it doesn't. Why isn't
Speaker 1: he getting it more? Why am I looking at a
Speaker 1: usage rate of twenty point three percent of the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: which is the lowest on the team.
Speaker 2: Some dude named.
Speaker 1: Heyward high Smith has a higher usage.
Speaker 2: Rate than Jimmy Butler. How how it makes no sense.
Speaker 1: Tyler hero can ball, but he shoots a difficult shot
Speaker 1: at Tomso shots elections, leaves a lot to be desired.
Speaker 1: Bam out of Barer can ball, but he's not that
Speaker 1: kind of a stud offensively. Jimmy Butler's the one that
Speaker 1: got you the two NBA finals in a four to
Speaker 1: five year period, and what has he been clamoring for
Speaker 1: over the last three summers?
Speaker 2: Are so help Now you're the Miami Heat.
Speaker 1: You had an opportunity to get Kevin didn't work out.
Speaker 1: You had an opportunity to get Damian Lillard didn't work out.
Speaker 1: Not only did you not get Damien Litlan, not only
Speaker 1: did you not get Kevin Durant. But it's in the
Speaker 1: aftermath of losing Lebron James because Lebron James felt.
Speaker 2: That it was too tight of a ship that Pat
Speaker 2: Raley was running.
Speaker 1: I don't know how true that is, because we all
Speaker 1: know that, like the Lebron James had aspirations to go
Speaker 1: back to Cleveland and make amends for departing from them
Speaker 1: before delivering a championship to the City who was enduring
Speaker 1: a fifty two year curse before he ended it in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. But still, in all it leaves the question
Speaker 1: what help has Jimmy Butler gotten? The answer is minimum,
Speaker 1: and because of that is why he's probably said enough,
Speaker 1: and why he spoke out is because after acknowledging that
Speaker 1: he wanted out, pat Raley came out last week and
Speaker 1: said we ain't trading them. So he's making it clear
Speaker 1: I don't want to be here, and if he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to be.
Speaker 2: There, why keep him there?
Speaker 1: To me, it's very very simple, ladies and gentlemen. I
Speaker 1: don't think there's anything to think about here. When I
Speaker 1: think about Jimmy Butler, his four options that he would
Speaker 1: prefer Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets,
Speaker 1: number one, number two.
Speaker 2: He's probably worried that par Rally.
Speaker 1: Gonna send them some place that he don't want to
Speaker 1: go to, to a MORI enfranchise more than basketball purgatory.
Speaker 2: That has a shot in hell of winning anything.
Speaker 1: Because when you speak out, Pata Rally's not gonna do
Speaker 1: you any favors now. But if I'm Jimmy Butler, or
Speaker 1: shall I say, if I'm one of those teams interested
Speaker 1: in Jimmy Butler, Listen, there's a case that could be made.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler with Luca and Kyrie. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you need that, but.
Speaker 2: It's not a losing proposition.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler with the Houston Rockets, a young team, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he can help their veteran leadership, but they already got
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks and Fred Van Vliet. But Jimmy Butler doesn't hurt.
Speaker 1: Let's call it what it is. The Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, you need another Klay Thompson. You don't need
Speaker 1: a Jimmy Butler. In my estimation, even though Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: would Traymond Green in the same locker room, that's some
Speaker 1: fire for.
Speaker 4: You, bro.
Speaker 1: That could go either way, but I think it would
Speaker 1: be a positive more so than the negative personally, because
Speaker 1: I think they're both winners. The ideal landing spot for
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler is the Phoenix Sons.
Speaker 2: I don't mean to be disrespectful.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you what I know based on reporting
Speaker 1: on their league for all of these years. The Phoenix
Speaker 1: Son's an ultra talented team with a lot of offensive firepower.
Speaker 2: Nevertheless, they are.
Speaker 1: Considered as a team as soft as cotton nelt tissue.
Speaker 1: Nobody is concerned about their toughness, and toughness is what
Speaker 1: gets it done for you in the playoffs. If you
Speaker 1: are the Phoenix Sons, you should get on your knees
Speaker 1: if you have to, and beg Bradley Beial to wave
Speaker 1: that no trade claws and take his ass to Miami.
Speaker 2: So no state in come taxes there.
Speaker 1: The weather is beautiful, along with various other things that
Speaker 1: we won't mention here.
Speaker 2: And you should look forward to.
Speaker 1: Go on the South Beach, No state in come taxes,
Speaker 1: warm weather, got hurricanes in the summer time and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But damn, you ain't gonna be there. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be in one island, one island or another.
Speaker 2: You know I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Wonderful wife, wonderful family, Bradley Bill's good people. Go to Miami.
Speaker 1: Dog go to Miami. Let Jimmy Butler go out to Phoenix, Arizona.
Speaker 1: Because Jimmy Butler in that locker room with Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: and Devin Booker as his teammate, with Mike Budenholzer as
Speaker 1: a coach, with skilled but soft ass Nurkic as your
Speaker 1: big man. Let me tell you something that culture would
Speaker 1: change quick fasten than the Ari. That's where I'm at
Speaker 1: with Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler should be a Phoenix sun.
Speaker 1: It's brand. The rest of Phoenix's hierarchy.
Speaker 2: Do what you.
Speaker 4: Can to get your hands on Jimmy Butler, and then
Speaker 4: you won't be in the middle of things in the
Speaker 4: Western Conference.
Speaker 2: You'll be at the top of the heap. You feel
Speaker 2: what I'm saying.