If it hasn't been clear by the midway point of the season, the Miami Heat are enamored with Jimmy Butler.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra isn't the exception, as the boss mused about how the forward should have been with the franchise all along, maybe even getting drafted by the Heat in 2011 and getting to play with The Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh:
“It felt like he should've been with us all along,” Spoelstra told ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps with a smile. “All along. I was joking about it with [Heat senior adviser] Chet Kammerer. … I was saying, ‘Man, looking back on it now, how great would Jimmy Butler have been drafting him after that first year with the Big Three?' Could've slotted him in with LeBron be the point, Dwyane, Jimmy be your 3, CB, Shane … that team could've gone on.”
Butler would have been a surefire fit with a veteran team, whose only mandate was to win games and titles — though one would be smart to wonder if Butler would have ever developed into a gifted scorer, a clutch performer, or a leader of men while playing with three All-Stars.
A brief look back should show that the Heat were replete with role players surrounding James, Wade, and Bosh — as it was that trio taking the bulk of the shots in Spoelstra's offense. Butler was a terrific role player to start his career with the Chicago Bulls, so he likely would have embraced that role given it meant winning titles.
It's tough to imagine Butler developing into anything more than a capable young role player after spending his formative seasons with that team, so it's likely better that the Heat found him at the peak of his career after he initially developed into a star with the Bulls, able to provide the franchise a new window of opportunity.
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