


After that flight, Butler averaged 24.4 points on 16.2 shots with 5.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists, all while putting up a usage rate of 26.5 percent. Prior to the November outburst on the flight, Butler was putting up modest averages of 17.4 points on 14.3 shot attempts with 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game to go with a usage rate of 22.4 percent. Others think it happened prior to that overtime loss, but perhaps that night was the nail in the coffin.
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Butler was there to show them how to win under Thibodeau. He was the best player on the team, but he knew going into that experience it wasn’t his team. Butler slow-played the start of the 2017-18 season. He was sacrificing his own personal glory to get the Wolves up to speed on how to win. On the flight to New Orleans, Butler ripped into the Wolves. That disconnect with a coach Butler trusted, and the resulting bad defense on the floor, was enough. He’s scrutinized at the NBA level as some sort of loser by some folks. Bro won a (national championship) at Syracuse. “Karl failed to recognize that everybody is good in college. “Nobody gives a fuck what you did in college once you get to the NBA,” a source close to the Timberwolves told The Athletic. As Thibodeau pleaded for icing pick-and-rolls and being in position to cut off the paint, Towns often talked about the way he and his teammates defended at Kentucky in their nearly historic and perfect season. He felt he knew what it took to win, and he knew what it took to win under Thibodeau. But the concept of “work smarter, not harder” didn’t seem to shine through for them.īutler demanded more. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins both worked hard individually, by most accounts. The work being put in by the veterans familiar with the system wasn’t being matched by the young stars the franchise committed to grooming. Butler had his own opinions, but he also played the role of go-between for the coach and the young players failing to grasp the raspy barks from the sidelines. The defense, supposedly a calling card of all Tom Thibodeau-coached squads, posted the fifth-worst defensive rating in the league. The Wolves had actually been outscored up until that point on the season, despite their winning record.
