3ammy3uck3ts wrote:We’d win if Jimmy would wake the fuxk up. It’s that simple.
Here's something I think is a problem and it's not good because there's no fixing it this year. Right or wrong (we know it's wrong), there's nothing pushing Butler to give great effort each night or even specific nights. It's really simple, regular season games don't get him going anymore. When we see him talking **** on the court you know you're getting effort from Butler, I've rarely seen that this year.
2019-2020, Butler was energized as the main guy in Miami and then the key was adding Crowder, Jae Crowder was a guy Butler had got up for whenever he played against him (Marquette guy), they had a rivalry which when they became teammates, Crowder continued to push Butler and I would suspect they played a lot of competitive one on one games.
2020-2021, Miami let Crowder walk, Miami got to the playoffs as an 8th seed and were swept in the first round.
2021-2022, Miami added a friend in Lowry but also a tough competitor in PJ Tucker which Butler seemed to create a strong bond with and I suspect Tucker was able to push Butler with his tough play on the court. Not only that, a regular who one on one'd with Butler was Strus who played hard also and "the starters" asked for him to be put in the starting lineup for Robinson.
2022-2023, Butler still had Strus to push him.
2023-2024, There is NOBODY on the roster who probably stands up to or pushes Butler to engage more. UD is gone, Strus is gone, Bam's not going to do it at this point in his career (too nice), Herro isn't going to do it, Robinson's not going to do it, Highsmith, Love, Martin aren't going to do it but hopefully Rozier will at some point stand up to Butler on the effort level once he feels comfortable enough on the roster.
This isn't limited to Butler, lots of vets talk from time to time about not being able to get up for a regular season game on their own, they need to create tension talking **** or have someone they respect push them. Miami needs someone who is willing to get in his face and tell him his effort is ****. I had hoped Pat Bev would end up in Miami and take that role but that didn't happen. Sometimes you need a certain type of personality in the locker room, Miami's missing that tough guy who won't take **** from anyone.
Basically, Butler is too comfortable and does what he wants, although it's dangerous this close to the playoffs, maybe if Spoelstra benches him citing you don't care tonight could wake him up, maybe calling him out more in film sessions would help? The effort he's giving is embarrassing for a player getting the max, he's going through the motions because he just doesn't care all that much anymore (at least in the regular season) and doesn't have the talent to coast because his talent/play style is tied to effort.
If has decided to not give much effort, sub Jaquez Jr in for him and show Butler what type of effort he used to give looks like.