Chicago Bulls: 5 most polarizing figures of the 2010’s
By Ryan Heckman
4. Guard Jimmy Butler (2011-2017)
What an interesting case Jimmy Butler was and still is. When his career got started in Chicago as a first-round pick out of Marquette, Butler came in as a very quiet and soft-spoken player — or so it seemed, to the fans.
He hardly played his rookie season, but as his minutes started to increase year over year, Butler improved drastically. He became one of the league’s top two-way players, and most would consider him a star in this league by his fourth season.
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Prior to the Bulls trading Derrick Rose in 2016, there were whispers of some sort of rift between Butler and Rose. Because Rose was amidst his injury-ridden days at the time, and there were so many questions around why he wasn’t ready or playing if he was cleared, it was easy to point the finger at Rose.
Many fans had grown to believe that Rose was to blame, and that Butler was still this humble, soft-spoken guy.
As it turns out, Butler ended up being traded two years later — and we all saw the truth about him and his character. Butler would go on to the Minnesota Timberwolves where he proceeded to throw his two well-known teammates under the bus on national television. Needless to say, it was easy to take the side of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, regardless of whether or not Butler had a valid point.
Butler was then traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where even then, there were reports of him being unhappy — go figure. Butler is now with his fourth team in five years and many would agree it was wrong of Bulls fans to assume he wasn’t at fault in Chicago. Apparently, this guy is never going to be happy.