Always Bet On Yourself

Somewhere Friday night a little kid watched game 5 and Jimmy Butler became their favorite player. The hustle, determination, and passion he's played with during this postseason is the stuff of legends. We're witnessing a player elevate his game to an apex only he knew was attainable.

Us as fans routinely put a glass ceiling on the capabilities of athletes and feel vindicated when we're proven right. We don't take into account that different situations can either maximize or hinder talent. In Chicago Jimmy was a neophyte that evolved into an all star caliber player. Eventually the Chicago Bulls decided to scrap the whole team that was initially built around Derrick Rose and rebuild. That led to Butler being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the rights to Lauri Markkanen. In 1 season with the T-Wolves Jimmy assisted them in reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2004. The following season things took a sharp turn and the perception of Jimmy Butler in the minds of many people shifted as he grew tired of the lack of determination of his teammates and took action. The infamous practice followed by the infamous interview with Rachel Nichols made Jimmy seem like a bad teammate to the outside world. A trade request soon landed him in Philly where he spent one season and summer 2019 free agency landed him in Miami. I mean….his 4th team between June 22, 2017 - July 6th, 2019 looks nuts. Although the growing narrative about him as a teammate took on a life of its own it appears that he's found a home in Miami. He finally has a team of his own where he's the leader with guys that have adopted his mentality towards the game. The drive to win that he's displayed in these finals has made what once seemed like irrational confidence really a testament to who Jimmy Butler has always been. Then absorbing all this and relating it to myself I think we all could learn a lot from what we're seeing right now. We should never settle. We should never accept minimal effort from people that we are working alongside to accomplish a goal. We should never believe in glass ceilings. We should never back down from any challenge. The Lakers were viewed as Goliath going into these finals but Jimmy Butler wasn't viewed as a possible David. Right now as game 6 is just hours away and this series could possibly end tonight I want to thank Jimmy Butler for his competitive drive and truly embracing Mamba Mentality. Even as a long time Laker fan (I'm not one of these new niggas) I admired the fight he's put up. When the world counted him out he believed in himself.