Jimmy Butler Sacrificed Cable TV For NBA Success

Sports Illustrated ran an article last November about Jimmy Butler’s commitment to turning himself into an NBA superstar.  A big reason for his drastic improvement that led him to becoming the NBA’s 2014-2015 Most Improved Player was the decision to cut his cut his cable so he could focus strictly on the game of basketball.  Butler and his friends rented a house for the summer so that they could spend time together, but he says he purposefully chose not to furnish it or purchase cable:

“I wanted to be so good at the game that we didn’t have cable, we didn’t have the Internet. Whenever we got bored, all we would do is go to the gym. We’d eat, sleep and go to the gym. We’d go three times a day because we didn’t have anything else to do. We were sitting on the couch, looking at each other, saying, ‘What the hell are we going to do all day?’”

It was a well written article in which he talks about his life growing up, his college days, and goes more in-depth about some of the habits he has changed to allow himself to become the player he is today and where he wants to go in the future.  You can read the article in its entirety here.

Below are more quotes/takeaways from the article.

Getting The Repetitions

This summer, I put in hella work on ball-handling, finishing at the rim, mid-range shooting, post work, and threes. The more you see the ball go in, the higher your confidence is going to be.”

Workout Regimen

Butler embarked on a carefully structured workout regimen in Houston with the goal of filling out his game. His days generally began at 7 a.m. and ran until 8 p.m. – with breaks for meals and a mid-day nap -- and included individual skill work, weight training, running on the track, full-court scrimmages, yoga, and Pilates.

Change In Diet and Reading the Bible

Butler’s trainer, Chris Johnson, built on that base of physical exertion and dietary regulation by helping Butler review his offensive moves on tape and by encouraging him to read the Bible, which Butler said has helped with his focus and trust in his own abilities.

On His Approach To Film

Butler, who succeeds by crowding and shadowing his man, takes a purist’s approach to his craft. He studies tape of his opponents to understand what he’s up against, but he rejects the use of statistical tendency profiles. He doesn’t want to know which way a player prefers to drive, according to the numbers, or where a player’s hot spots are on the floor. He prefers to trust his instincts and technique rather than situation-based scouting reports.

How He Guards
“I just guard. I guard everybody like they’re the best player in this league,” he explained. “The dude may go right every single time. But it’s going to happen, whenever I’m guarding him, the m----f---- is going to go left. I’ve just got to guard him. I hate when people say, ‘He’s not a shooter. Don’t play him as a shooter.’ As soon as I don’t play him as a shooter, he makes a three. It’s the most frustrating thing in the world.”