The Miami Heat May Not Have Damian Lillard, But They Do Have Emo Jimmy Butler

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

It's Media Day across the NBA today which means a few things. First, every team is going to talk about how much they love the talent they have, how everyone is in the best shape of their lives, and how this is the season they are going to reach the top of the mountain. Outside of a few teams with some extenuating circumstances, that's pretty much what today is across the league.

It also means that you're probably going to get some trolling of sorts from Jimmy Butler. This time last year, Butler took the internet by storm when he debuted this look

Since that moment the Heat had a weird injury-plagued regular season filled with some underachievement, only to respond with one of the more impressive postseason runs we've seen from any team in recent playoff history. While they once again came up short in the Finals, the next thing we knew Damian Lillard was demanding to be traded to the Heat and it looked like they were on the verge of something big this summer.

But as we know, Damian Lillard is not a member of the Miami Heat as things got underway today. In fact, no star player joined the roster this offseason. Heat fans blame Joe Cronin when maybe the blame should be more towards their own ownership, but striking out on every big name (again) has led to a new version of Jimmy Butler. We now have Emo Jimmy Butler

Damn, the guy seems to be taking the Dame news pretty hard huh? If this whole basketball thing doesn't work out, perhaps Butler is ready to make a career transition and join Pup Punk instead. 

What should we expect when someone has to watch all his direct competitors load up with talent this offseason, that would be depressing for any aging star who is trying like hell to finally get over the hump and win a championship.

The good news is despite this new Emo version, it's still the same old Butler 

Which admittedly is getting a little tiresome. Granted I'm not going to sit here and talk shit about Butler being confident that the Heat are going to win the title when he sent my favorite team home packing, but at some point, you actually have to come through with proclamations like this. If you don't, it's all just words. 

Honestly, what version of the Heat we get is going to be fascinating. Two years ago, they were the #1 seed. With basically that same group last year, their shooting disappeared for about 90% of the season and they were a Play In team. Then Spring rolled around, the shooting came back (and then some) and they went on that run. So, who are they really? I tend to lean closer to the 1 seed side than the Play In side, but things at the top of the East certainly haven't gotten any easier. With the loading up going on in BOS/MIL, the Cavs progressing, the Knicks progressing, and the Sixers still having Embiid, it's certainly going to be a hell of a year.