Jimmy Butler made headlines this summer when he showed up to the first Miami Heat practice a full 6.5 hours early at 3:30am, but he insists it had nothing to do with him trying to be a show off. Some of Butler's teammates, like Meyers Leonard and Bam Adebayo, followed his lead while other players around the league, such as Cleveland Cavaliers' big man Kevin Love, scoffed at the notion of training at such an ungodly hour.
“Come on man. It’s a long season,” Love said, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I think Jimmy is an amazing player, but I think there are some things that are for show. We’ve been putting in long hours so us getting up at 3:30 and getting in there is not going to do anything for us but make us mad.”
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During Monday's episode of the “Winging It With Vince Carter” podcast, Butler addressed Love's comments.
“Somebody was telling me that K. Love was like, ‘Oh he does this for show,'” Butler said. “It’s like, ‘Motherfucker, you come do what I do.’ People don’t understand, I do this s— everyday in the summer. If you know me, and you get up and you work the way that I work, you see that it’s not for show. If it was for show I would have been the one to put it on the internet. I don’t talk about it, I just go do it.”
As for why he feels the need to work out while everyone else is snoozing, Butler explains, “I do it to be in the best shape that I can, to help my team and my organization thrive and win. Not everybody can handle it. Not everybody can do it.”
Whatever Butler and the Heat did this off-season it appears to be working, as they are sitting atop the Eastern Conference at 5-1 through the first two weeks of the season.
