Butler not a good Disney neighbor
Pound for pound for pound for pound, Butler’s quite the Disney hotel character
The rhythm of a disjointed NBA season has at least one member of the league feeling a bit less neighborly toward Jimmy Butler.
That pounding headache? Turns out, according to a report on TNT’s studio show, it was the Miami Heat All-Star getting his dribble on amid quarantine at Disney World.
According to Yahoo Sports reporter Chris Haynes during an appearance on the TNT studio programming that features former Heat guard Dwyane Wade, security was called shortly after the Heat’s arrival last week to the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs.
“A security guard received a complaint, a disturbance, there was a loud thumping going on,” Haynes reported.
The report came at the time Heat players were unable to leave their room during the waiting period for a pair of COVID-19 tests to come back negative, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Refusing to give in to the passivity of the moment, Butler, known for his 3:30 a.m. workouts at Heat training camp at the start of this season, decided the hardwood floors at the hotel made for the perfect dribblingdrill setup.
And when the security guard finally traced the bouncing ball? Haynes reported, “It was Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, drenched in sweat, with practice gear on from head to toe. He was dribbling a basketball throughout his room the whole time.”
Only NBA players, coaches and league personnel are staying at the hotel.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Wednesday’s practice that it sounded like a typical Jimmy Butler moment.
“Before people start writing about that, we were not giving players programs to do, and those kinds of things during the quarantine,” Spoelstra said with a laugh. “But that’s why I love Jimmy.
“One of his greatest qualities is his level of discipline. That is really unique, how he can discipline himself with his work. What time he works out, his nutrition, his consistency every single day, his consistency at doing that in the offseason and never getting out of shape. He’s constantly working to get to another level. That is an act of discipline and he is exceptional in that area.”
To Butler, it all is a part of making the best of a situation that could have players isolated at Disney through a Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Oct. 13.
“I have so much respect for these guys and all the guys around the league that decided to come out here and compete,” Butler said. “Because at the end of the day, we’re very fortunate to be able to play
basketball and have the platform to talk about what’s going on in the world right now. But more than anything, we’re just blessed to be here.”
Butler said it is all about competitive edge, as it was after the league shut down play following the Heat’s March 11 loss at AmericanAirlines Arena to the Charlotte Hornets.
“Whatever it is,” he said, “keep your mind thinking ‘I have to be the best; I have to win.’ As far as working out goes, if you have a gym at your house or a basket, then go ahead work out and shoot. But just run, ride the bike, lift some weights, do some yoga, do some
Pilates, whatever that may be.”
Butler said he arrived ready for the Heat’s Aug. 1 resumption of the regular season, as his downstairs hotel neighbor quickly learned.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’ve been preparing extremely well in this time off. Me and my trainer have been doing a good job of keeping my body intact. Lifting the way I’m supposed to be lifting, running, training the way I’m supposed to be doing. I feel good. So knock on wood, I keep feeling this way.”
That is, of course, unless the knocking on wood comes in hotel space.
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” teammate Tyler Herro said Wednesday of Butler’s dribble-a-thon. “We all know how Jimmy works and what he does. He was probably bored of his room and just wanted to get some work in.”