It is my belief that you can blame Mark Wahlberg for everything that is wrong in the world.
It is like a Six Degrees of Separation type of thing. Here is how he corrupted Jimmy Butler allegedly.
Mark Wahlberg starred in and was a producer of the movie “Broken City’’ that was released in 2013. That was the same year Wahlberg was filming a “Transformers’’ movie in Chicago, and met Jimmy Butler playing pickup basketball at the Bulls practice facility.
Wahlberg and Butler started a friendship that both the blue-collar juvenile delinquent from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and the abandoned kid from the dusty streets of Tomball, Texas have made public with great pride.
I’m not saying that Wahlberg was the adviser for the dramatic short featuring Butler that was played out on Wednesday at Mayo Clinic Square, but it was done well enough to be a Marky Mark Production.
There was insight sought from a Chicago media person who had watched Butler from the start of his career. The suggestion was that Jimmy came into the league driven by his underdog status, and that changed a few years later when he started hanging out with Wahlberg and seeing himself as a star.
Thibs was fired after the 2014-15 season. He was out of the picture as Jimmy’s head — meaning, ego — grew larger, to the point the Bulls decided to trade him before the Butler distraction grew into something more serious.
The legend was that Thibodeau was getting back his No. 1 guy, Butler, when the Wolves traded what are now three players for Butler in June 2017.
We now know Thibodeau was wrong. He wasn’t getting hard-nosed, underdog Jimmy Butler, the player he had coached in Chicago. He was getting bigheaded Jimmy, a star with no interest in having a co-star, an egomaniac the Bulls were delighted to trade.
The article goes on to say how Butler has gone Hollywood and staged his practice smackdown.
Should be an interesting season.