The Timberwolves have one more practice before they head to San Antonio, but the countdown is almost over.
At today’s practice, Jimmy Butler was the most vocal about his personal expectations headed into this season. While he’s keeping his immediate hopes and dreams realistic, saying this team isn’t going to become “the best defensive team in the world tomorrow,” he still aims for big things in his new team’s future.
To him, success is not the playoffs; a goal that would satisfy most fans. He is clear about wanting more.
“A success for me? I want to win a championship,” Butler said. “I’m not selling us short on just making the playoffs, just winning X amount of games.”
When asked about what he thinks of the seemingly daunting and loaded Western Conference, Butler seemed unfazed.
“It doesn’t scare me any,” he said.
Butler’s leadership has rubbed off on his teammates, and veterans like Jamal Crawford have taken notice.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau, of course, shares Butler’s sentiment on winning a championship, but seemed a bit more concerned about the stacked West than his star player.
“I think you saw with the addition of all the guys from the East that are coming West, there are already great players,” Thibodeau said. “It just got deeper and deeper.”
A few final notes:
- Thibodeau said Justin Patton’s recovery is coming along nicely. He isn’t participating in team drills yet, but has started individual drills.
- Jamal Crawford and Anthony Brown participated in a shooting competition at the end of practice. It’s unclear who won for sure, but Crawford’s trash talk game afterward had the media scrum believing it was him.
- The Timberwolves have one more practice tomorrow morning before heading to San Antonio for their opener. I’ll be there covering the event live in AT&T Center.
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