Quote (Trust100Percent @ 28 Sep 2020 20:34)
I never quite understood the Butler hate over the last couple seasons, he got that bad rep after his stints with the Twolves and Sixers but his reasoning for wanting out of both has been completely on point. TWolves are soft and can't get wins despite the talent, that practice rant he had reminded me so much of Kobe criticizing his teammates in practice for the same shit. Then the Sixers are completely dysfunctional especially when he was there with the coaching problem, no surprise he wanted out looking back at it. It's great to see him shine in Miami with some young motivated talent, I will say that as great of a player I thought he was, absolutely did not see him leading this team to the finals.
I see it that way, too. Partly it was on him to be a better teammate, but he had good reasons for being angry. I saw his talent as almost wasted during those points in time. He was doing work but he was also doing it under poor circumstances, and there's no way his star would really shine at that time. That's the story of a fair number of players, even if they aren't at his level--they get stifled due to favouratism, a bad system, being beneath the talent of a superstar, and so on.
I don't think people realize that Demar Derozan had a f*cking insane gf, his dad was really sick, and he had put a huge amount of pressure on himself to be a superstar. It's no wonder he kept choking in the playoffs. I saw him play against GSW a few years ago (Jan 2018), and in that game, he was the best offensive player in the game. Not Curry, not Klay, not even KD (however, KD wasn't playing in top form). Derozan was spectacular. But he wasn't consistently spectacular in the game or over that entire season--and certainly not in the playoffs. It's easy to say "Oh, he choked. He's not what people said he was". But if you watch the game live, you realize that he's an offensive superstar. Not a star. A superstar. I'm not being a Raptors homer here. I think there are other stories around the league that parallel Demar's and Jimmy's, even if they aren't on the same level of greatness. And some dudes, like James Harden or Lebron James or Steph Curry, are given EVERYTHING to succeed. Lebron is obviously a superior talent in that list, but he had advantages all along. And I'm not saying that Harden or Steph are shit, but I am saying that they've had better opportunities than a lot of other very talented players. And of course there are always the Westbrooks who manage to f*ck everything up, no matter what.
It was actually worse for Butler because he's a two way player. He's a superstar at both ends of the floor--something even KD couldn't manage until he came to OKC--something Harden will never become. So I'm not entirely surprised that Butler has brought a team to the finals. Or I am, because I didn't know if he'd ever get the right squad to do it. And, in fairness, I think he's done it with a squad that isn't ideal. I think he's outdone himself and he's put the entire league on notice.
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