Tom Thibodeau was mum on the specifics of the meniscus tear Jimmy Butler suffered against the Houston Rockets on Friday. But what did come across is the level of concern in the Minnesota Timberwolves locker room for Butler, and that everyone understands that it’s next man up to replace his production.
“They feel for each other, they’re brothers. It’s a brotherhood. So there’s disappointment there. But they also understand what we have at stake, so we have to be ready to go tonight,” Thibodeau said before the Wolves faced the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. “No one’s gonna feel sorry for us. So when that ball goes up, we have to be ready to go.”
According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, Butler is expected to be out 4-to-6 weeks:
And while Thibodeau didn’t go into detail about the injury, our Lucas Seehafer — a doctor of physical therapy grad student — has a breakdown of meniscus tears here:
For Butler’s part, he seems to be handling it as well as he can:
And he was willing to meet with a 14-year-old fan as part of the Make-A-Wish program:
“The one thing about Jimmy is he has great mental toughness, and if you know his story, this guy has overcome just about everything you can overcome,” said Thibodeau.
“It’s one of his great strengths. It’s why he is who he is. He’ll gather himself, and he’ll work his way through it.”
But the Timberwolves still lost their best player, and now it’s up to Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of the roster to step up in his absence.
“You want your team to grow as the season goes along. You’re faced with different challenges all the time. And that’s the beauty of this league, whether it’s the injuries or your schedule or travel issues — whatever you have, you have to be ready to go,” said Thibodeau.
“We had the opportunity to do it earlier in the year. I thought the first time around we didn’t handle it that well. The second time, I thought we handled that well. Just be ready to go, and understand where we are.”
Minnesota lost to Indiana, 130-107, and at Detroit, 122-101, the first time he was out. But they beat Toronto and at the Los Angeles Clippers before losing to Portland and Golden State on the road during his second absence. He missed the first two games due to illness, and missed the second four due to a sore right knee.
While the rest of the team must replace his production, the spotlight will be shone brightly on Wiggins. The No. 1 overall pick in 2014 has had an up-and-down season so far, although he played particularly well in the wins over the Raptors and Clippers — he led the Wolves with 29 points against Toronto, and had 40 in Los Angeles.
Wiggins, for the record, has basically been the same player with or without Butler:
Thibodeau says the team will look at the buyout market, which ends on March 1, as well as “other options” to supplement the team in Butler’s absence. But, really, it will be up to the current roster to ensure that Minnesota makes the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season — with or without Butler.
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