Philadelphia 76ers forward Jimmy Butler sat down with new teammate J.J. Redick and joined him on his podcast with The Ringer, finally shedding light on what really took place during his infamous first practice this season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Butler was rumored to kickstart a scrimmage, taking the third-stringers as his teammates and dominating the starters, yet he revealed to Redick the one untold detail that was omitted from the rampant early-season session.
“The crazy part is, the most interesting detail wasn't told,” said Butler, first teasing Redick about it. “The most interesting detail of that whole scrimmage that nobody knows. I only shot the ball once. I only shot the ball one time.”
Butler clarified what went on, as a shocked Redick tried to dig deeper to connect what was said to what actually took place.
Redick: “But every quote out of there was ‘Jimmy was getting buckets and he was dominating.”
Butler: “Oh, I was dominating, but I only shot the ball once. Dimes — boom, boom, boom. Steals, blocks. I only shot the ball one time.”
Butler exudes confidence, and it wouldn't be surprising for this to be the actual truth of this infamous scrimmage, as players have been known to dominate even without the need to score. The Sixers forward has made a career out of this skill in his last few seasons, adding to his arsenal and being more than a talented scorer with innate defensive instincts.
While he has returned to being a scorer with the Sixers, he put up 4.3 assists per game in his 10 games with Minnesota and was a hair shy of five per game last season.
If Jimmy Butler was able to dominate with the third-stringers without the need to shoot at a high volume, it makes it that much more impressive, given how he embarrassed the starting core with one simple scrimmage.
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