Jimmy Butler Calls Himself "Baby Mike" Jordan

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Sports Illustrated interview

His respect for Jordan has even manifested itself in some practice-court trash-talking with his loquacious teammate,?Joakim Noah, who shares Butler?s competitive drive.

?One time, I did a hitch and a turnaround fade-away and I yelled out ?Mike!? in the middle of the shot,? Butler laughed. ?Jo always gives me some grief about that. Every once in a while I?ll call myself ?Baby Mike? when I?m messing around, especially if Jo is in the vicinity.?

Butler finds himself watching clips of Michael Jordan for fun, like anyone else, but also as a teaching tape when it came to expanding and refining his offensive game.

?He made it look effortless,? Butler gushed about his positional predecessor in Chicago. ?It?s crazy watching him on film, his footwork, how he gets to his spot, he raises so quick to knock his shots down. The guy is unreal. The way Mike would play in the mid-post. Not only could he shoot, get into the lane, he could really pass, he could really guard, he could really rebound. He?s top in all the categories because he was a great overall player. Defense, offense, passing, getting steals, blocks. For a two-guard, that?s just hard to do. He did it.?

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