Not a good look for Jimmy Butler.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I might be even less of an ASG fan than any of you guys.

I still think it was a dick move... and I think some might be singing a different tune if it was a random player on another team who was too hungover to play and one of our young players was the one hoping to get the chance to play in the game.

Remember, ASG nods can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars... or even MILLIONS of dollars in some cases. Butler has every right to put the Wolves first... then just say so BEFORE you drink too much the night before the game.*



* if that's really what happened. It's kind of irrelevant though.


[Note: Doesn't Butler live in LA anyway? So he could have still been part of all the festivities, sans actually putting the uniform on? Again, I know we might not care... but some of the players do care... just not Butler. Great player... kind of a shitty move, it appears.]

[Monster]

I might be even less of an ASG fan than any of you guys.

I still think it was a dick move... and I think some might be singing a different tune if it was a random player on another team who was too hungover to play and one of our young players was the one hoping to get the chance to play in the game.

Remember, ASG nods can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars... or even MILLIONS of dollars in some cases. Butler has every right to put the Wolves first... then just say so BEFORE you drink too much the night before the game.*



* if that's really what happened. It's kind of irrelevant though.


[Note: Doesn't Butler live in LA anyway? So he could have still been part of all the festivities, sans actually putting the uniform on? Again, I know we might not care... but some of the players do care... just not Butler. Great player... kind of a shitty move, it appears.]

Abe maybe you didn't like the move but I think you are better than basically suggesting the guy is lazy or was hung over.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I might be even less of an ASG fan than any of you guys.

I still think it was a dick move... and I think some might be singing a different tune if it was a random player on another team who was too hungover to play and one of our young players was the one hoping to get the chance to play in the game.

Remember, ASG nods can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars... or even MILLIONS of dollars in some cases. Butler has every right to put the Wolves first... then just say so BEFORE you drink too much the night before the game.*



* if that's really what happened. It's kind of irrelevant though.


[Note: Doesn't Butler live in LA anyway? So he could have still been part of all the festivities, sans actually putting the uniform on? Again, I know we might not care... but some of the players do care... just not Butler. Great player... kind of a shitty move, it appears.]

Abe maybe you didn't like the move but I think you are better than basically suggesting the guy is lazy or was hung over.

It's not out of left field. NBA players partying is not a new phenomenon... especially when gathering in a party city like Los Angeles... There are documented stories, and even more anecdotal ones.

Heck, was it Barkley or Smith who were joking about who looked like they partied the night before during the three point shootout. And those are former players who participated in All Star Weekend numerous times and still entrenched in the league.

It's not exactly as blasphemous as you make it seem. I have no idea. Maybe Butler doesn't even drink. Dunno. And I did point out the * and said it was irrelevant to the "bigger" story. Even his excuse about playing for the Wolves is lame... he knew that before the game.



[Note: Not a big story. But just sort of a dick move.]

[Monster]

I might be even less of an ASG fan than any of you guys.

I still think it was a dick move... and I think some might be singing a different tune if it was a random player on another team who was too hungover to play and one of our young players was the one hoping to get the chance to play in the game.

Remember, ASG nods can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars... or even MILLIONS of dollars in some cases. Butler has every right to put the Wolves first... then just say so BEFORE you drink too much the night before the game.*



* if that's really what happened. It's kind of irrelevant though.


[Note: Doesn't Butler live in LA anyway? So he could have still been part of all the festivities, sans actually putting the uniform on? Again, I know we might not care... but some of the players do care... just not Butler. Great player... kind of a shitty move, it appears.]

Abe maybe you didn't like the move but I think you are better than basically suggesting the guy is lazy or was hung over.

It's not out of left field. NBA players partying is not a new phenomenon... especially when gathering in a party city like Los Angeles... There are documented stories, and even more anecdotal ones.

Heck, was it Barkley or Smith who were joking about who looked like they partied the night before during the three point shootout. And those are former players who participated in All Star Weekend numerous times and still entrenched in the league.

It's not exactly as blasphemous as you make it seem. I have no idea. Maybe Butler doesn't even drink. Dunno. And I did point out the * and said it was irrelevant to the "bigger" story. Even his excuse about playing for the Wolves is lame... he knew that before the game.



[Note: Not a big story. But just sort of a dick move.]

Just to be clear I wouldn't doubt if some players have...a good time etc during all Star weekend. It's kinda funny though that a player seems not to care much about the game when there are plenty of fans that feel the same way. Anyway let's just move on.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I might be even less of an ASG fan than any of you guys.

I still think it was a dick move... and I think some might be singing a different tune if it was a random player on another team who was too hungover to play and one of our young players was the one hoping to get the chance to play in the game.

Remember, ASG nods can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars... or even MILLIONS of dollars in some cases. Butler has every right to put the Wolves first... then just say so BEFORE you drink too much the night before the game.*



* if that's really what happened. It's kind of irrelevant though.


[Note: Doesn't Butler live in LA anyway? So he could have still been part of all the festivities, sans actually putting the uniform on? Again, I know we might not care... but some of the players do care... just not Butler. Great player... kind of a shitty move, it appears.]

Abe maybe you didn't like the move but I think you are better than basically suggesting the guy is lazy or was hung over.

It's not out of left field. NBA players partying is not a new phenomenon... especially when gathering in a party city like Los Angeles... There are documented stories, and even more anecdotal ones.

Heck, was it Barkley or Smith who were joking about who looked like they partied the night before during the three point shootout. And those are former players who participated in All Star Weekend numerous times and still entrenched in the league.

It's not exactly as blasphemous as you make it seem. I have no idea. Maybe Butler doesn't even drink. Dunno. And I did point out the * and said it was irrelevant to the "bigger" story. Even his excuse about playing for the Wolves is lame... he knew that before the game.



[Note: Not a big story. But just sort of a dick move.]

Just to be clear I wouldn't doubt if some players have...a good time etc during all Star weekend. It's kinda funny though that a player seems not to care much about the game when there are plenty of fans that feel the same way. Anyway let's just move on.

To be far... I think that's a cavalier or myopic way of looking at it.

SOME fans don't care about the game. But let's be honest... us diehard fans are NOT what is driving the NBA to unprecedented levels of prominence. It's being driven by the casual fans and the TMZ angles the league is endorsing 365 days per year. It's being driven by foreign markets who vote en masse for these kinds of things. Tens of millions of people care enough about the game to vote for its starters.

And I will always object to players snubbing fans. ALWAYS. I don't care if they play for my favorite team or not.

Fans are already the most disenfranchised part of the pro sports landscape. We're last in virtually every decision... every labor standoff. Et al.

I'm not expecting anybody to hate Jimmy Butler for life over this. As noted, it's a fairly minor thing. But a dick move nonetheless... that's all.

[Note: It's a bad look for the Players Union, too. Remember, the players lobbied for an extended All Star Break in part to give the players more rest specifically to avoid such a thing. The players got their wish and now have an unprecedented 7 days off between games around the break.]

[Monster]

I might be even less of an ASG fan than any of you guys.

I still think it was a dick move... and I think some might be singing a different tune if it was a random player on another team who was too hungover to play and one of our young players was the one hoping to get the chance to play in the game.

Remember, ASG nods can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars... or even MILLIONS of dollars in some cases. Butler has every right to put the Wolves first... then just say so BEFORE you drink too much the night before the game.*



* if that's really what happened. It's kind of irrelevant though.


[Note: Doesn't Butler live in LA anyway? So he could have still been part of all the festivities, sans actually putting the uniform on? Again, I know we might not care... but some of the players do care... just not Butler. Great player... kind of a shitty move, it appears.]

Abe maybe you didn't like the move but I think you are better than basically suggesting the guy is lazy or was hung over.

It's not out of left field. NBA players partying is not a new phenomenon... especially when gathering in a party city like Los Angeles... There are documented stories, and even more anecdotal ones.

Heck, was it Barkley or Smith who were joking about who looked like they partied the night before during the three point shootout. And those are former players who participated in All Star Weekend numerous times and still entrenched in the league.

It's not exactly as blasphemous as you make it seem. I have no idea. Maybe Butler doesn't even drink. Dunno. And I did point out the * and said it was irrelevant to the "bigger" story. Even his excuse about playing for the Wolves is lame... he knew that before the game.



[Note: Not a big story. But just sort of a dick move.]

Just to be clear I wouldn't doubt if some players have...a good time etc during all Star weekend. It's kinda funny though that a player seems not to care much about the game when there are plenty of fans that feel the same way. Anyway let's just move on.

To be far... I think that's a cavalier or myopic way of looking at it.

SOME fans don't care about the game. But let's be honest... us diehard fans are NOT what is driving the NBA to unprecedented levels of prominence. It's being driven by the casual fans and the TMZ angles the league is endorsing 365 days per year. It's being driven by foreign markets who vote en masse for these kinds of things. Tens of millions of people care enough about the game to vote for its starters.

And I will always object to players snubbing fans. ALWAYS. I don't care if they play for my favorite team or not.

Fans are already the most disenfranchised part of the pro sports landscape. We're last in virtually every decision... every labor standoff. Et al.

I'm not expecting anybody to hate Jimmy Butler for life over this. As noted, it's a fairly minor thing. But a dick move nonetheless... that's all.

[Note: It's a bad look for the Players Union, too. Remember, the players lobbied for an extended All Star Break in part to give the players more rest specifically to avoid such a thing. The players got their wish and now have an unprecedented 7 days off between games around the break.]

Fair points. They also got the trade deadline moved up so there would not be that drama of guys getting traded etc.

You care about this. :) I just said it was funny about Bulter's possible view being shared by some fans. I didn't say anything about it being main stream or whatever. It's just a side note of amusement not really a strong viewpoint or anything.

The NBA seems to be doing ok. They have had days to talk about whether or not the picking of all star teams should be televised and apparently some people care. I don't care but if someone asked me I think it should be public because...that's entertainment.

[kekgeek]

It was a dick move. Do I really care if he was playing in the game nope. Would elementary school me care if he didn't play in the game, probably. It probably softens the blow that we had another all star in the game. But what if he did this and he was our 2nd all star in 13 years and he didn't play, I think that would suck. I think we would care a little bit more if pretend someone like Rubio last year was amazing was on the bubble of the all star game and didn't get in and then somebody didn't even play in the game. I think we would care a little bit. Not like it is life or death though.

And lets all be honest the reason why he didn't give up his spot is because of money. If Team steph would have won the game he would have gotten 100k for doing nothing. (He received 25k for doing nothing for being on the losing team). Also the winning team would have gotten 350k to give to charity instead of 100k so him not playing could have screwed over a charity on an extra 250k that could help. Now it didn't affect someone this year but if pretend Derozan didn't play in the all star game and someone like Ben Simmons didn't get in because of it, well Ben Simmons could get more money to his max if he makes an all star team (Like Kat is getting) so he could be taking money out of other player pockets.


Do I care that he didn't play as an adult no. But it was still a dick move, plain and simple.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

There were multiple injury exceptions that got in this year. I don't buy the snub argument. More guys got recognized this year than in most years because of it. He deserved to be recognized because we've been the 3/4 team in the West for most of this season and that's worthy of 2 spots. Who cares if he didn't get on the court for 4 minutes and sit the rest of the night? Sorry not sorry that Lou Williams didn't get in when his team isn't even top 8 in the conference right now. Jimmy both deserved to be an All-Star and had the right to sit out the game. It's an exhibition game. Not everyone needs to play. Plenty of great talent was on the court that night. It's not like the fans saw a worse product because he sat.

[mjs34]

Isn't it possible that Jimmy was hoping to play, but the day of the game he was having more knee pain and decided before the tip that he didn't want to risk it?

Does someone like Lou Williams really deserve to play if he wasn't even in the top 14?

Should a player get a bonus on his next salary because someone else got hurt? and do you realize that the bonus is just coming out of another players check?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised or concerned with Jimmy Butler sitting out. He had said multiple times prior to the break that the All Star game -- the style in which it is played -- is not something he's interested in. I'd assess that it's because the teams really only engage and play defense in the last 7:00 of the game while the other three and a half quarters are to showboat and amuse the fans rather than playing basketball for its actual objective -- to win the game.

I tried to find the article, but Butler was interviewed (might have been Zgoda) ans was asked about what he thought about the All-Star game. He alluded to the game being something that suits Towns more than it suited him and that again, he just didn't care about it. I think this next part was an exaggeration because he said he also didn't care if he got selected, but I'd wager every professional athlete wants that recognition at the very least. In that interview, I remember reading that he had said he just wanted to take the break, relax, and vacation with his good friend DeAndre Jordan. That was more of a priority to him than the game.

The chitchat about whether or not Butler was hungover or that the night life got to him and that's why he didn't play is a bit much, in my opinion. Not only is he a grown ass man and can choose whether or not to play in an exhibition game, but he's also been talking about his disinterest in the game itself for quite some time. People trying to make a story out of something that doesn't really matter.

And lastly, Lou Williams basically calling Butler our on Twitter for not playing just screams attention whore. I like Lou, he's had a great individual season, I'm happy he got an extension, etc. Was he deserving of being an All-Star? It's subjective, but to me the answer is a definite no. His team is not good enough and there were plenty of better players ahead of him, even more obvious by who got chosen when injuries occurred. Call it the Mike Conley syndrome. It sucks, but it is what it is. And it's not Butler's fault that he didn't get in. Not his responsibility to step aside and allow another player to be able to claim that "All-Star, former All-Star" title. That in turn dilutes the achievement for all the other guys who actually earned it.