Pat Riley Is Ready For War After Reportedly Producing A 10 Page Letter And Video Evidence Of Why He Suspended Jimmy Butler
By now, we all know Jimmy Butler has been suspended by the Heat for all his trade demand bullshit. A move that while surprising when we first heard the news, was pretty much the only move the organization could make while all of this was going on. With that suspension coming to an end this week, we're still no closer to a resolution in terms of the Heat finding and then pulling the trigger on a trade. If anything, all the reports we're getting right now suggest that it's more likely Butler returns and plays the rest of this season, and then picks up his player option for $52M this summer.
We're also starting to get the leaks around what led to Butler's suspension, which is how this game works. It's not by accident that all of a sudden we're getting reports like this
Does anyone think this is an accident? That the timing means nothing? Remember, the NBAPA made it clear that they were going to push back against the suspension
so how does Pat Riley and the Heat Mafia respond? They start leaking the inner details which certainly help paint public perception in a certain way. Classic Riley move. Not only do you leak about his behavior to the media to put out, you also let Heat legends go on the radio and talk about how Pat Riley actually put together a 10 page letter combined with video evidence to help justify their actions
Usually, we see teams go this route when complaining to the league about some bullshit officiating or something along those lines. That happens all the time.
But when have we ever heard about a team doing something like this to their own player? A 10 page letter? Do you know how long that is? I imagine Riley wasn't using the classic trick of 1.25 spacing between lines, size 12.5 text or playing with the margins. You all know what I'm talking about, we've all tried those moves on every paper you ever had to write while in school.
My question even before hearing about all that stuff was how could Butler/MIA come out of this with everything staying the same, and now I'm even more confused as to how they pull it off.
This is partially why you don't pick fights with Pat Riley. You think he gives a fuck? He called Jimmy's bluff and then brought the receipts to back it up. He's no dummy, I'm sure he and his staff knew the NBAPA would try and push back, so they made sure they were buttoned up and had more than enough concrete evidence to support their actions. As the NBAPA or Butler, how do you respond to that? You're cooked.
It's almost as if we're watching this famous tweet play out in real time
It's not like this is the first time Butler has demanded a trade, but I can't really remember a time a team fought back like this. In my opinion, both sides are to blame for this current situation, and that's what makes it so fascinating. Pat Riley hasn't done dick to improve his team with legit talent as the rest of the conference continues to get better. Jimmy Butler has his fair share of blame for his own performance and what he's doing to contribute to this mess. At some point, someone is going to have to bend the knee, and right now neither side seems ready to concede. Considering we still have about a month to go until the trade deadline, it feels like we're only in the beginning stages of all this bullshit.
At the end of the day, let this be a lesson to any other disgruntled NBA player. If you want to demand a trade and pick a war with your front office, don't do things that make it easy for them to produce a 10 page letter that clearly illustrates all the fucked up shit you've done. That's a battle you're not going to win.
P.S.
How long before Shams or someone leaks the letter? I need to see that thing. If I had to guess, this feels like the perfect move for someone like Grant Williams, who is the 1st Vice President of the NBPA. Remember this?
Adam Glanzman. Getty Images.Now is Grant's chance to finally fight back. He couldn't do it on the basketball court, so you may as well do it in the court of public opinion.