Page 98 - Men’s Health - USA (December 2019)

MEN’S HEALTH /// NBA 2019
charades you’ve ever played in your life.
BUTLER MAINTAINS this work ethic Uno, dominoes, you name it.”
because he knows it’s his only guaran- Or, as Butler himself puts it, he will
teed edge. From league MVP Giannis “whoop your ass. That’s it. I’m tougher
Antetokounmpo to Clippers twin stars than you. That’s where I’ll bank it at, and
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to rookie being tough is a talent. I back down from
sensation Zion Williamson, the NBA no one. I’m scared of nobody. I don’t care
continues to get bigger and more athletic, about the name that you have, what you’ve
rendering Butler, generously listed at done. You can’t intimidate me none. And
six-eight, decidedly average. He makes that’s what’s gotten me here.”
his living outworking and outlasting his “Here” is pretty remarkable for a
competition. He’s led the NBA in minutes late-fi rst-round pick. (Butler was the
per game, and he plays both ways, attack- 30th selection in the 2011 draft.) He
ing on defense as much as he does on was raised by a single mom until age 13,
off ense (where he’s topped 20 points per when, he has said, she kicked him out of
game in fi ve diff erent seasons). their Tomball, Texas, home. For several
His lone advantage: the endurance weeks, he bounced around, sleeping at
he builds in those 4:00 A.M. workouts. friends’ houses, until a surrogate family
“He’s really the most competitive guy took him in. Basketball became his
that I’ve ever been around in my entire release—but at every level, he drew little
life,” says Scott . “And it’s not just attention. He couldn’t get a Division I
basketball. If you’re playing charades scholarship and had to start at junior
with him, it’s the most intense game of college. When he arrived at Marquette ,
Get NBA Under performance coach James Scott,
FAST! his weight training—and increased
the Heat star has dialed back
his speed and explosiveness.
like Jimmy Butler Up your own game with these moves.
▲ 1¼ BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT ▲ ROTATIONAL PULLBACK
Stand with your right foot on a bench, left Stand facing a cable machine loaded
foot on the floor. Bend your left knee and with a light weight and grasp its handle
sit back (your right knee will bend as you with both hands, feet shoulder width
do this), lowering until your left thigh is apart, knees bent. Take a big step back
parallel to the floor. Pulse upward a few with your right foot, then pivot your
inches, then lower again, then stand back torso to the right and explosively rotate
up, straightening your left knee. That’s your arms. Return to the start. That’s
1 rep; do 3 sets of 8 per side. 1 rep; do 3 sets of 8 per side.
100 December 2019 / MEN’S HEALTH
he barely played, stuck behind eventual
NBAer Wes Matthews and other future
pros at guard. And he barely cracked the
Chicago Bulls’ starting rotation during
his fi rst two years in the league.
Then in 2014, Butler’s relentless
approach began paying dividends. With
Derrick Rose, then the Bulls’ star, out for
the season, Butler stepped in as a start-
er—and led the entire NBA in minutes
played per game. A season later, with
Rose still hobbled, Butler led the league
in minutes again, this time averaging 20
points per game.
He’s been one of the NBA’s top players
since then—and he’s experienced the
league’s shifting approach to player
health. In the 2014 season, he was one
of seven players who averaged more
than 37 minutes a game. Last season,
only four players managed more than
36 minutes per game, and Butler played
just 33.6 minutes a night. It was once a
badge of honor to play heavy minutes in
the 82-game regular season, but teams
now limit the long-term wear and tear
on stars, adhering to a concept known
as “load management.” The goal is to
plan training, competition, and other
stressors to maximize performance
with a minimal risk of injury.
So the league’s best players no longer
slog through the full season. Last year,
the Raptors sat Kawhi Leonard in 12
games, citing “load management”—
which left him fresh for an NBA title
run. This year, Butler knows the Heat
could limit his minutes. “It’s not a hard
adjustment for me,” he insists, “just
because I train every single day as if I
have to play 48 or more minutes every
single night.”
When Butler is playing, he certainly
won’t be thinking of load management.
He’ll just keep focusing on the motivation
he’s always had: fear—of losing his posi-
tion among the NBA elite, of reverting to
the player who couldn’t crack the Bulls’
rotation. “I don’t want to go back to just
being okay. So I continue to work like I
have nothing,” he says.
Butler pauses. “You have to work,
because at any certain time, this shit
could be taken from you. It could be
gone,” he says. “And when I think about
that, it scares the living hell out of me.”
TRISTRAM KORTEN is a writer in Miami and
the author of the 2018 book Into the Storm.