NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

September 29, 2020

Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. Jimmy, I don't want to say your MO because it does vary from game to game, but you're very big on getting your teammates involved early, even some games pointing to the corner, telling Duncan go there and expect the ball and all those things. Do you expect that to be the way you're going to start the Finals, as well? Or do you have to kind of go out of character and look to get yours a little bit and get yourself going a little?

JIMMY BUTLER: I don't know. You know, we'll see as the game goes. But I think there's a lot of nerves for a lot of people, including myself. This is the first time being here, so I just want to make sure that everybody is comfortable. We've been playing a certain way this entire year. I'm not getting away from that. I think that's winning basketball for us, me making sure that everybody is involved. I think that's part of my role on this team, so we'll take it as the game goes, and we'll figure it out.

But I mean, I'm sure before the game, UD [Udonis Haslem], Dre [Andre Iguodala], Spo, they'll definitely tell me what to look for and how to start, I guess.

Q. Jimmy, wondering if the year you've spent down there getting to know Riley, and what he's about matches what you may have thought about him before you got there?

JIMMY BUTLER: Yep, every aspect of it. Everything that I've heard, obviously, from D-Wade and just around the league, it's everything I wanted to be a part of. He's the individual outside of basketball that everybody has said that he was, and definitely about winning and winning now. He's definitely about that.

He's been a huge part in our success of putting this team together, expecting greatness out of each and every one of us, and putting us in a position to be great. So without him, without him putting this thing together, I wouldn't be up here. We wouldn't have this great group of guys that we have. So, we're all very thankful for the Godfather.

Q. When you entered the league, LeBron was 26; is he much of a different player now at 35? And how impressive is it that he's been able to play at this level at 35?

JIMMY BUTLER: He's still at the top of his game at 35, at 26, at 21. He's still dominating. I mean, you've had to go through him at 26, 35, probably at 49.

But he's shown why he is the player that he is, why he's had the career and the legacy that he's continually building, and it's not going to be an easy task these next couple of games. If anybody is up for that task, the Miami Heat are.

Q. Obviously your decision to go to Miami seems to be paying off splendidly so far, but last summer there were a handful of teams with the cap space to be able to accommodate a player of your liking. And I wanted to know if there was any consideration on your part about seeing what the Lakers had to offer or going down that road at all?

JIMMY BUTLER: No, I knew the type of structure that I wanted and needed, and it was here. Heard about it, obviously, when I was meeting with Coach Spo, Coach Pat. It just felt right in every aspect of it, how there's just -- we've got a bunch of good people here. Not to saying that the Lakers don't got a great bunch of good people. But everything we’re about, just me working, we've got a group of guys that do that, as well as saying it like it is, holding everybody accountable and moving on from it. They said that that's how we do that. You get to come here and you get to be you, so I'm in.

Q. I know your time in Chicago didn't end the way that you liked, but how much time have you spent thinking about some of your old teammates, the Luol Dengs, the Taj Gibsons, the Joakim Noahs, the guys who haven't made it to this level? Have you spent any time in reflection thinking about that early part of your journey?

JIMMY BUTLER: I'm grateful for that part of my journey and for those guys. They showed me the way to being a pro, they showed me what hard work will get you and how you just can never give up. I talk to a lot of those guys still. I let them know how thankful that I am because I don't think that I'd be here without them, them letting me know that you have to stay ready, your time is coming, and that you belong here. They were constantly telling me how I could play in this league for a very long time.

So looking back on it, I guess I could say part of the reason I'm here is because of those guys.

Q. You said the other day that you don't like to be thought of as underdogs because you're a group of NBA players, but you did have 60-1 odds to be here. What is the identity that you do like to think of yourselves as, if it isn't underdogs?

JIMMY BUTLER: A really good team. That's it. A really good team. Not going to say that we're any better than anybody else, but I just don't think that we're underdogs. I don't. So what that nobody picked us to be here. That's okay. Pretty sure nobody is picking up to win, either. That's okay.

But we understand that. We embrace that, because at the end of the day we truly don't care. We're just going to go out here and compete, play together like we always have, and I'm going to see where we end up. But at the end of the day we're going to do this our way, the Miami Heat way, and that way has worked for us all year long.

Q. I'd like to ask you to go a little deeper on what you said earlier about going to Miami because you liked the structure there, because you were with a very talented team in Philadelphia and it didn't click. What is it about this organization or this structure that fits you so well and that allowed you to make the impact that you did?

JIMMY BUTLER: I think, like I said, I just get to be me here. I get to call it how I see it. Nobody takes it personally. I don't have to worry about anybody trying to control me, as it was said people were trying to do over there. But I have no hard feelings towards any of those players, anybody in that organization. I'm glad to be where I am. As you can tell, it's worked out, and that's where I'll leave it.

I knew what we could do here. We added some key pieces in the middle of the year, and we are where we are. So, I don't really look back at it too much. I've got to stay focused in on the right now and with the group that I have.

Q. For your career you've just been yourself and you're ruffled some feathers and that type of thing. Was there ever a point in your career you thought, am I doing this right or was it just, like you said, just finding the right place that would welcome you?

JIMMY BUTLER: Right by whom? Like everybody is going to have their own opinion. Nobody is in the locker room. Nobody is at the practices. It's all he said, she said to a point. So, nobody really knows what's really going on. I don't explain anything detail for detail. So, I just take being a bad guy. I like it that way. It doesn't bother me. It's not like I'm reading everything that's on the internet. I know who I am. I'm cool, I'm content with that, and that's where I'll leave it at.

I'm here now, and I belong here. I've belonged here for a very long time. So that's where I'm at. Here, me being, ruffling feathers, whatever you want to call it, it's okay.

Q. You talk about the Heat winning; what are going to be the key factors of the whole series for you? And also if you win the championship, will you bring free coffee from your coffee shop?

JIMMY BUTLER: I'm not giving nobody free coffee, ever. It's not going to happen. Except for Coach O [Octavio De La Grana]. Coach O, he gets free coffee.

And then as far as the first question, I just think a championship is going to be one that we have to do together. I can't exactly remember how you worded the question, so I'm just going to guess.

I know that together this group, it's how we want to win it. I think we enjoy each other's success so much, man, that you can tell every single day when we're in the hotel. Yeah, we talk about the game, but we also talk about how much joy it brings us to play with one another and how you can't take this for granted. With this group we've got the right number of young guys who are super confident, older guys who are super confident, and then guys right in the middle who are super confident.

For us, it brings us pure joy to watch us continually grow as a team.

Q. There was a great video of your guys' celebration of you walking in wearing an Erik Spoelstra University of Portland jersey. How did you get your hands on that, and what did he say when he saw it on you?

JIMMY BUTLER: Obviously he thought it was comical and I've got quite a few jerseys tucked away in my room. It's just when is the right time to pull them out.

But Spo has been huge for me in my growth here as a player, as a leader, as a human being, so I'm grateful for him. But just to keep it lighthearted and enjoy a win, knowing the most difficult part is ahead of us. I don't know, it was just a way to show my appreciation.

Q. You talk about Pat with such reverence, but I'm curious if you go back to the pre-Heat days and even maybe when you were a youngster, when did Pat Riley become a person who you were aware of? And when you went through free agency, you've talked about the meeting, but did you talk to D-Wade about Pat? Did you talk to LeBron about Pat?

JIMMY BUTLER: I mean, I played with D-Wade and I think that's where the whole thing started. Yeah, you know who Pat Riley is, but it's not like you're going in detail, because obviously I thought I was going to be in Chicago my entire career. But he would tell me about the way things were done there by Coach Spo, by Coach Pat, and it was like, man, that's my type of guy that I want to play for, that I want to be around.

Obviously, I get traded a couple times and end up here, and it's everything. I'm so comfortable with being myself more than I've ever been. Not saying I've ever not wanted to be myself, but now I know myself is the right way. Look where myself has gotten me now. And it's all because he empowered me to be able to do that with these guys. These guys love me, love who I am, and it's reciprocated towards those guys.

I'm just grateful for him and for him believing in me and giving me this opportunity.