Hard work pays off and in the NBA more often than not a bigger contact is usually the reward. This is what happened to Chicago Bulls player Jimmy Butler, who went from the guy who guarded LeBron James in the 2013 Playoffs to the focal point and star player for the Bulls. But according to ESPN.com’s Nick Friedell on a podcast with the Washington Post, the heart of the Bulls issues may come from locker room tension toward Butler and his new luxury/mindstate of being the go-to guy.
Transcript of Friedell’s comments are from NBC Sports
“I don’t think that the tension between Jimmy and Derrick was ever as bad as it was made out to be. But the tension now, moving forward off the Derrick talk for a second, between Jimmy and other players in that locker room is bad.”
Friedell also questions whether Butler has let the new deal get to his head. Butler this past summer inked a 5 year, 95 million dollar max deal to stay with the Bulls. With Joakim Noah taking a reserve role and Derrick Rose only the shell of the former MVP he once was, Butler has assumed he’s now the team leader. Apparently, there are questions about this.
“Because you can’t just say, “I signed this new deal. I’m the leader.” That respect has to be earned over time. Nobody is questioning Jimmy’s work ethic. He’s worked his tail off. But they are questioning whether Jimmy can be the leader that this group needs with so much turmoil going on around them.”
Being humble and mum for words isn’t Butler’s trademark anymore according to Friedell, but this isn’t surprising. Money could change someone’s thinking easy.
“But this was a kid that loved saying he was from Tomball, Texas and that he was just a role player on a really good team. And now he wants all the trappings that come with being a star in the league.”
All of this has caused Butler to rub some of his teammates the wrong way. What makes it worse, according to Friedell, is that he believes the Bulls front office has taken notice.
“He’s really rubbed some people the wrong way with how he’s going about things. So, it’s something to watch for, and it’s something that I know is on the minds of the front office in that, “Can we trust this guy to go out and to be who we need him to be every night, and can he lead us the way that a championship-caliber team needs to be led?” And early on, the returns have been no.”
With report after report coming out against Butler, it might be in the best interest of the team for Butler to get traded soon or by the trade deadline.