SAN FRANCISCO– Chemistry goes a long way towards winning in the NBA, and Jimmy Butler knows that. Ahead of the Golden State Warriors' training camp this week, Butler hosted a player-led mini camp at his own home in San Diego. For Butler, it's something he hadn't done in the past, which speaks to the joy and camaraderie he's found in Golden State.
“Maybe a couple times, but not at my own home,” Butler told reporters at his Media Day availability. “I just wanted to be around my guys. I got the opportunity to see a lot of them over the summer or to go where they are from. Maybe not see them, but see people I know from their neck of the woods. So it was important for me to welcome [them]– those guys [are] like my family– into my home and have a good time. And let them in a little bit of my life.”
Letting his relatively new teammates into his life has been easy for Butler.
While it's been less than a year since Butler joined the Warriors via a blockbuster trade with the Miami Heat at the deadline last season, Butler quickly endeared himself to the Golden State locker room. He made headlines for his comedic but brotherly back-and-forths with teammate Buddy Hield. He described himself as “the Robin” to Stephen Curry's “Batman,” as well as forming an instant connection with Draymond Green.
The results were immediate. The Warriors went 23-8 to finish the season after acquiring Butler, as the six-time all-star helped propel them to the seventh seed in the playoffs, where they would subsequently upset the two-seeded Houston Rockets.
The significance of Butler's minicamp
For Green, Butler's player-led mini camp is the first step in establishing the Warriors' identity. In his Media Day availability, the 14-year veteran talked about the opportunity of having Butler in the building on Day 1 instead of having to build everything on the fly like they did at the trade deadline last season.
“I think we are all looking forward to it,” Green said. “Just the opportunity to start the beginning, to have a training camp together. You know, you can implement more things. You can build an identity from the beginning. Defensive terminology and all the things that you build starting in training camp, we're able to do that this year.”
However, it's important to note that Jonathan Kuminga was not at Butler's mini camp. He remains away from the team as his restricted free agency drags into the preseason. How Golden State reincorporates Kuminga into the chemistry building process remains to be seen, but the players at media day expressed confidence that the situation will resolve itself soon.
Still, Green talked about how the minicamp had helped the team build some chemistry off the court. Players like Quintin Post and Alex Toohey joked about witnessing the extravagance of the Butler estate. Green shared that Butler has the “wine cellar of an emperor.” But Green also emphasized that moments like the ones the team shared at Butler's mini camp will help them during the season when times get difficult.
“You can always look back to that experience [when] times get hard on the court,” Green said. “You can look back to those times like, man, when we were in San Diego and we were doing this and bonding like that. And you draw from those moments. So that was a huge moment for this team. We had a great time together. We accomplished what we needed to accomplish. Everybody got out healthy. It was really good for us.”
Curry believes Butler has “clarity”
In his press conference, Curry focused on the clarity Butler has now that he's gone through an offseason of integration with the Warriors players.
“I think first it helps him just as a human being. As a player, to have something that he knows, a situation he knows based on how last year ended and how we do things, what he can help, continue to help us do at a high level.” Curry said, pointing to the proof of concept ceiling the Warriors demonstrated after Butler joined the team.
“To have that clarity coming in where we can have the conversations that we were having in a very short span after the trade last year. The way that we finished playing, and our record towards the end of the year, it was fun for all of us. So to kind of carry that momentum into a training camp, I think he's just talking about how happy he is to be in a place where it's just playing basketball and not any noise around him. I think that's refreshing for him, and that should carry over to our prep as a team.”
After a summer of bonding with his teammates, Butler feels ready to exceed the initial results the Warriors demonstrated with this group.
“I get to do this thing from day one,” Butler emphasized. “Be with the guys from day one and do what we started out to do from the very beginning. I'm super hyped and I'm super excited. I got to train with my guys this summer. I got to talk with all the guys, I see what they have been doing, [and] I see how they have been working. I'm glad that I get to be here from this Media Day on up.”
