Karl-Anthony Towns is the Minnesota Timberwolves’ most-talented player, Andrew Wiggins has the most natural physical gifts, and in Jimmy Butler‘s mind he’s by far the hardest-worker.
The All-Star guard made an explosive return to practice Wednesday, and he was brutally-honest during and after the run.
Here's an abridged version of my conversation with Jimmy Butler. We'll have more on #TheJump at 3p ET/noon PT on ESPN (including a little backstory on "keep that same energy") https://t.co/Bkzc1y5SRO
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 11, 2018
Butler expressed some regret about how he handled himself, but made it clear that his team could benefit from that sort of unrestrained passion.
Per ESPN:
So do you think it was the wrong thing to do, or was it an OK thing to do?
Butler: “I think that I was honest. Was I brutally honest? Yes. But I think that that’s the problem. Everybody’s so scared to be honest with one another. If you didn’t like the way I handled myself in practice, one of the players come up to me. Somebody say something, anybody. I’m not gonna take it as offense, it’s not personal. “Jimmy, you shouldn’t have done that.” “Yeah, you probably right,” and I would’ve said, “I ain’t hooped in I don’t know how long. I’m passionate about it. I love the game and I love to win.” And that’s all I was out there doing. I went into practice today and I competed.”
Well, look, your two most high-profile teammates — KAT and Andrew Wiggins — according to this, you got into it with them today too.
Butler: “But I was seeing red. Whatever color was in front of my eyes, I was — it was emotion, it was passion. That’s what it was. And to tell you the truth, this is the truth. I didn’t go at those two. One of them came at me. One of ’em came at me and I just …”
Which one?
Butler: “KAT. KAT came at me. We’re up in practice and he said, ‘Anybody can get this work!’ I said, ‘Do it to me.’ That’s all that I said. I said, “Every time I get switched out onto you, you pass it.” I’m a competitor, I’m in here talking, come at me. If you score on me, I’m gonna tap you on your butt. You got the best of me — but you got to do it every time. Am I being tough on him? Yeah! Yeah, that’s who I am. I’m not the most talented player. Who’s the most talented player on our team? KAT. Who’s the most god-gifted player on our team? Wigs. Wigs got the longest arms, the biggest hands, can jump the highest, can run the fastest. But like who plays the hardest? Me. I play hard. I play really hard. I put my body on the line every damn practice. Every day in the games. That’s my passion. That’s how I give to the game. That’s how I give to you guys.”
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