#Kind of guy who’s too efficient a killer to be 17 years old

[rooolt]

deeply important aspect of riz gukgak’s character to me is that he’s quite a bit deranged. Brings a gun to school, shoots an unconscious man point blank in the head just so he won’t wake up, tortures a kid by shooting off three of his fucking fingers, threatens to bite Dayne’s eye out of his head as revenge for Fabian, literally eats Kalvaxus, consistently hissing throughout sophomore year, and of course “make sure to cut off his head so he can’t be revivified”

[veiled-legacy]

When I Woke Up

A SWTOR story set during the early chapters of KOTFE. 

She was asleep for five years and he flooded her thoughts the moment she woke up. After seeing his name on that message, she doesn’t know how to react. What does it mean to dream about someone?

(A romance/friendship story with my Inquisitor/Theron and Koth is becoming a good friend on the Zakuul surface)

***

When I Woke Up

It did all feel like a crazy dream. Once again having a sadistic madman in my head mumbling promises of power and seemingly unattainable freedom. Currently residing in a legendary space ship that’s framed into the earth of this strange planet. Watching Marr die. Watching as I stabbed my lightsaber straight through the emperor, no, Valkorion’s chest. Waking up to find, not my ship and my crew… my family, but Lana. Five years. Force, did I wish this was all a crazy dream.

Once everything settled down on the gravestone I decided to check my messages to see if anyone in my crew had tried to contact me over the years. Nothing. Not one message from my crew, but there was a letter from someone I did not suspect.

Theron Shan.

From: Theron Shan Subject: For when you wake up

I’ve written this message twice now. Okay, more than twice. Kinda weird writing something that may never be read. Lana says you’re locked in carbonite, but alive. (Yeah, we’re in touch. Long story.) I like to think you’re having one crazy dream. And maybe I’m in it. But I don’t want to presume. We never really declared what this—you and me—is… was…. Have I mentioned I’m bad at relationships? Another reason I’m a workaholic.

I’m rambling. The point I’m trying to make is—whatever’s between us, I want you to know that I care about you. A lot. The whole galaxy’s lost its mind. The thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that you’re out there, and we’re putting together a plan to rescue you. I might not be there—we’ve all got our parts to play—but I haven’t forgotten about you or our time together. I never will.

A crazy dream… and he’s in it? What we are? We all have our parts to play… our time together…

“Hey, you all set to go?” a voice and hand on my shoulder bolted me out of my thoughts as I quickly turned to see Koth with one hand on the large bag hung over his shoulder and his other hand gently resting on his blaster. His demeanor was easier going and more humorous than I was used to. This coming from a member of the dark council who has a pirate, a very confused Jedi, a blood thirsty Kaleesh, a century old shadow killer and an artifact obsessed historian as her crew. After five years, I could only hope they were all doing well. “Hey, are you okay?”

Koth displayed a certain level of concern on his face which puzzled me. I was a master in many things regarding the force: persuasion techniques, lightning storms, corruption. However, I was a mere acolyte when it came to understanding people.

I was sold into slavery at 9-years-old by my parents. They sold me for money to buy spice, which I discovered years later, ended up killing them. After being sold into slavery, I started working the streets by stealing as much as I could to make money for my master. If I came back without enough, I was beaten. If I was caught, I was beaten. If I came back with too much and upstaged the other kids, I was beaten. Another slave, Kelin, was the only other person who I could remotely resemble as a friend. We shared our small portions of food with each other, tried to double on our blankets at night to keep each other warm and tried to come up with excuses to keep the other from trouble. When our master got Kelin killed, I tore him apart. The Sith who discovered the bloody aftermath explained that I couldn’t have stopped it even if I wanted to. The anger inside of me called upon the force that I hadn’t used since birth and caused the lightning that shot from my fingers to mangle him in two.

I was 17 when that Sith took me in to be his slave instead. He trained me enough to keep my power at bay so there was no chance I could split him in two as well. That lasted until I was 21. Someone on the council, who was never identified, had him killed. That’s when they sent me to Korriban to start my real training. That seems a millennium ago now. Receiving any form of genuine emotion leaves me with nothing but confusion. Even with my crew. I talked to Ashara often about many things. She’s the reason I started questioning the Sith and their code. Though I would never consider myself a Jedi, I’m not sure I could consider myself a Sith now either. Andronikos is probably the one person who could get me to actually smile, and that’s because there was no bullshit in our relationship. We drank, we talked about the past and played pazaak. That was it. He was never a touchy-feely person either which is why it worked. Then of course you have the other three in my company. Talos is a good man, but not much for personal conversations. Xalek and Khem, well… Koth is one of the only people I’ve spent time with who actually seems… normal? Other than…

“Of course. Where are we headed to?” I knew we needed parts for the ship, but I left the planning to Koth since he knows the Gravestone better than Lana or I.

“Right… well, I’m reading a lot of different signatures on the surface. Once we leave this beauty, I’ll have a better idea of what I’m looking at here.”

“Then the surface is where we shall go.” Koth gave a quick nod before following my lead off the Gravestone. Our boots echoed across the metal floor of the ship. Static and sporadic electrical trills sounded from the other rooms. She had a long way to go before she was ready to fly again. Once on the surface, Koth lead the way to where he thought the different parts would be. We ran into a few of the creatures lingering around the swampy area, but they were easily disposed of.

A crazy dream… what exactly did his message mean? Yes, Theron and I had a relationship of sort. I flirted, he flirted back. I kissed him, he kissed back. We fought and planned well together, but what did that all mean?

In the past I had slept with many men, but not with the notion that I would ever see them again after the deed was done. Theron was different. Of course, we hadn’t slept together, when would we have had time? While drowning in pirates on Rishi? While fighting off Revan on Yavin? During the destruction of Ziost? No. He was right. There was never a time to talk about what we were. I can’t say I never thought of it. I usually never gave a second thought for the men who frequently walked in and out of my life, but Theron kept coming back. Why did he keep coming back? Why would he be in my dreams?

“Hello… philosopher? Are you still alive in there? The carbonite didn’t fully damage your brain did it?” Koth’s voice brought me back to the task at hand again. As I looked at him I was once again faced with the same look of concern he gave on the Gravestone. Similar to the look Theron gave me before the fight on Yavin. The look he gave me when he found me on Ziost.

“Philosopher?” I questioned.  

“Ah! So, you are still alive! Good. Yeah, philosopher. I don’t know, you’ve had the same look stuck on your face since I picked you up on Zakuul. It’s like you’re constantly thinking about something. Philosophers constantly think about stuff don’t they?”

“In the simplest of definitions yes. They seek wisdom or enlightenment.”

“Well that definitely rules you out then,” I thought Koth’s cheeks would split open from the smirk that appeared on his face.

“Excuse me. Are you implying I am neither wise nor enlightened?”

“I’m just saying you’re currently running around, knee deep in force knows what, searching for ship parts to repair a century old ship that’s stuck in the ground with a guy you hardly know so we can go force knows where to save the galaxy from certain evil. Wise and enlightened are not words I would use in this situation.”

The laughter came out before I could stop it. Koth’s eyes widened as he stumbled back into a mud pile, quickly causing him to fall straight into a pond of murky jade water. His mouth dropped open as his arms held his blaster and half of the large bag over his head above the foot of water he was currently soaking in. My mouth shut as I tried to contain the laughter bouncing around in my chest. I efficiently called upon the force to lift him out of the water and place him on his two feet on dry land. I wrapped one arm across my chest and the other arm covered my mouth.

“I do apologize. I understand I am a grave force to be reckoned with, but I did not think a simple laugh could knock a man off his feet.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect a philosopher to laugh so we’re both a little shocked here.” Koth grabbed pinches of his pants as he shook as much of the water off as he could.

“Have you ever been in love, Koth?” I asked simply.

Koth stopped in his tracks and glanced at me in his bent over position. “Come again?”

“Have you ever been in love?”

Straightening up, he cleared his throat a bit before placing the bag at his feet and crossing his arms across his chest in a manner that stated he was more uncomfortable than defensive. He picked at his jacket a bit as he swayed slightly back and forth. Turning his head to the side and scrunching his eyebrows he responded, “Huh, I don’t think so. Looking back, I’ve always been too busy to ever think about it. Flying has kind of been my life for so many years, no one has ever been able to compare.” Nodding, I looked slightly to the ground, my thoughts back to the letter. Back to the idea of dreaming about Theron. “Uh, why do you ask? Is this some philosophical question?”

Looking back at him, I smirked before thinking about how I wanted to pose this predicament I was in. Explaining battle plans or possible tactical advantages was second nature to me now. I sometimes dream about different battle scenarios, but I’ve never given a thought about what it would mean to dream about a man. To dream about Theron. To want to.

“No. Just curiosity.”

“Curiosity… right.” Koth picked up the bag and dropped it across his shoulder again before looking at the scanner on his wrist to see if he could pick up any other parts nearby. “Well, out of curiosity, have you ever been in love?”

“That is what I am curious about.” I wasn’t quite sure why I was saying these things to Koth or why I even thought this should be a conversation to have now. I do know I lost five years in that prison. Five years of teaching Ashara and Xalek. Five years of drinks I could have had with Andronikos while playing Pazaak in the cockpit of our ship. Five years of stories from Talos. Five years of glorious victories with Khem. Five years… five years of figuring out what this is with Theron. I missed five years.

Kelin once told me I should smile more and open up to others. He said keeping everything to myself and never confiding in those around me would end up killing me. He said it would cause my deepest scars. Of course, he said this after he received his third beating that day, while I hand fed him his dinner in our cold pathetic excuse for living quarters. But more than his wounds, it worried him that I was too closed off. That I was going to live the rest of my life with words unsaid. Maybe that’s why I was opening up to Koth. Maybe I was finally too tired to carry these scars around alone.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Once Koth spoke again, he was right in front of me. His hand was gently touching the armor on my shoulder as he looked right at me, no more concern on his face. It was replaced with genuine interest and… friendship.

“Later.” I patted his arm twice before walking ahead of him to return to our original mission. He didn’t question nor pester. His steps fell right behind me as we walked quietly across the swamp floor once more. Right now, that was enough.  There would be time to talk about Theron. With luck, I would be able to talk to Theron again. For now, we need to find parts for this ship, get it in the sky, get an army and take Arcann off that throne.

“Koth?”

“Yeah philosopher?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making me laugh.”

The footsteps stopped behind me.

“Anytime, Kyehna.”

From: Kyehna Subject: For when I see you again

I will be honest from the start and tell you I have written this message a thousand times. When Lana told me five years had passed, I panicked for the first time since I was a child. I did not know how to feel or what to think. Strangely, my first thoughts were of you. Logically, it should have been of my crew or the council. It should have been of the empire. No, instead, I had thoughts of you. They vanished quickly as I was then being chased by Arcann and his entire army, but that story has already been told. If it is not one tyrannical emperor, it is another.

Theron. I do hope you are well. I care for you more than I would dare admit, but you are right. We all have a role to play in this. Lana got me out and has been a vital adviser every step of the way. Koth is a brilliant pilot and strong voice for this cause. Senya has had information that could turn this war in our favor. Even HK has been shooting as many of our enemies down as possible. What I am trying to say is, whatever your role is in all of this, I understand. I can only hope that you come to me in one piece when you are done. Until then, I will wait for you.

I always will.

[thelmasirby32]

Overcoming Webmaster Depression

This year is a rather easy year to be depressed. ;)

COVID-19, fearmongering media, polarized hyper-charged social media, mass unemployment, lockdowns that killed exercise routines and social connections, loss of hope / purpose / meaning, a guy who stuck a gun in the belly area of a pregnant woman overdosing on fentanyl shortly after he passed counterfeit currency, that broader background being utterly ignored so outrage could fuel widespread rioting with a man in dreadlocks kicking a man sitting in the street unconscious & other bonus random drive by shootings where actual heroes are murdered at random, cities being burned down, communist anarchy, social "justice" movements founded on the idiotic idea of improving society by ripping apart the family unit, etc.

This post is not a suicide letter, but an ode to reality of accepting today for what it is. :D

pic.twitter.com/OWBHGa5eKR— Zero Gravity Media (@zerogravityhxp) August 12, 2020

Last year was the first year where I managed an office with a bunch of employees in it. When the office opened my email inbox had under 2,000 emails built up in it over a 16 year period of working on the web. Far from inbox zero, I am now above 20,000. I think in a Bill Gates interview about a half year ago I smiled after hearing his sort of EGT was how his email inbox was doing. I timed that office opening almost perfectly for COVID-19 so I could have all the stress and cost associated with training a team, setting up a ton of computers, creating workflow, ... and then none of the benefits as the office would get shut down shortly after things began to operate smoothly. :D

By the end of last year a was a bit (err...lot) on the fat side from working too much, too much stress, and exercising too little. My weight and the length of my fuse are reciprocals.

In the past I used to harness negative energy into a form of rage to fuel drive, but now that I am over 40 I find it much harder to live that way. I've already had a number of near death experiences (including one when my wife was pregnant with our only child) and think at some point living that rage-drive way is just shitty. Just say no to endless rage.

So when it was obvious this year was largely going to be dog crap, I started to look internally instead of externally & figured it made more sense to improve health & mood than to fight the gravity of the global depression we are currently living through.

Exogenous Shocks

When things change out of nowhere they can end up dramatically changing the social and economic order.

Many such changes are utterly arbitrary and orthogonal to the concepts of fairness, justice, human decency, etc.

Some parties are politically connected & shielded from actual market forces.

As a self-employed person living overseas I am certainly not one of those protected parties. That said, my family and the people who work for me look to me and hope I can help shield them from some of the crap reality served up this year.

As a rule, when exogenous shocks happen those who are not politically connected get screwed hardest.

Smaller firms tend to under-perform larger firms: "As the earnings season draws to a close, companies within the Russell 2000 stock index — the small-cap benchmark — have reported an aggregate loss of $1.1bn, compared to profits of almost $18bn a year earlier, according to data provider FactSet. Meantime, the much bigger companies within the benchmark S&P 500 index have posted a 34 per cent aggregate drop in earnings, to $233bn."

Poorer people are more likely to lose their jobs.

Emerging markets tend to get hit harder than developed markets. Which only adds to the powder keg of instability as the food price inflation tied to falling incomes makes many people rather desperate.

etc.

As people get desperate violence increases & many governments get overthrown.

Central banks printing cash to prop up the financial markets only increases the divide further.

Congratulations @federalreserve pic.twitter.com/8HxhLH9il5— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) August 17, 2020

That increased income & wealth inequality makes "the system" only feel that much more fraudulent, which in turn acts as a powder keg to fuel more arbitrary misdirected violence.

Tesla now has a $340 billion market capitalization. They remain unprofitable outside of harvesting tax credits.

Beyond fueling increased violence, the sky high numbers for FOMO stocks also lead some people to feel like they are failures for only slightly succeeding or just getting by.

Others pile in to trashy cryptocurrencies in an attempt to catch up where they only further compound their losses.

Waiting Things Out

It is worth noting many of the jobs that are gone are gone for good.

We may very well be facing a global depression:

"The pandemic has created a massive economic contraction that will be followed by a financial crisis in many parts of the globe, as nonperforming corporate loans accumulate alongside bankruptcies. Sovereign defaults in the developing world are also poised to spike. This crisis will follow a path similar to the one the last crisis took, except worse, commensurate with the scale and scope of the collapse in global economic activity. And the crisis will hit lower-income households and countries harder than their wealthier counterparts. ... In all of the worst financial crises since the mid-nineteenth century, it took an average of eight years for per capita GDP to return to the pre-crisis level. (The median was seven years.) ... The last time all engines failed was in the Great Depression; the collapse this time will be similarly abrupt and steep."

If you can't afford to feed your family of course you have to solve that problem first. But if you are not absolutely financially desperate then this can be a good year to win in ways other than finances & only worry about money after other things are in a better place.

This is a good year to find meaning through various types of self-improvement and doing lots of small & kind things for the people around you. Yesterday was a good day to buy your wife flowers. So is today. Tomorrow is a good day to buy a friend a surprise gift.

One of the best books you can read about developing positive personal habits is Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit. It is 8 years old now but it is still a great read.

Pushing for broad structural changes in a crisis through ideology which removes ordinary feedback loops often ends up creating only further injustice with the campaign "hero" looking like their polar opposite. Ideology pushed hard enough wraps around to the other side.

When things are absolutely screwed the world over it is better to focus on improving yourself and your family rather than promoting arbitrary extrajudicial justice and burning things down further.

Here are the steps I took to improve a good bit so far this year.

Coronavirus Lockdowns

When I saw a video of a guy walking down the street in Wuhan cough blood and fall over dead I immediately ordered facemasks for everyone in my extended family. I also bought facemasks and gloves into the office for workers. As it turns out gloves were largely a non-winner because using them is more likely to spread virus and bacteria, but the intent was good.

Cygnus recommended taking the supplement quercetin & so did Dr. Zev, so I do that.

Our government does not want us to treat covid early. If I get covid and no hcq access-I would take IMMEDIATELY quercetin 500mg three times a day for 7 days and elemental zinc 50mg one a day for 7 days, and z-pack. Every American home should have quercetin and zinc.— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) August 16, 2020

When lockdowns were announced I hoarded months worth of baby formula so I know my daughter would be ok & bought her a couple birthday presents in case the lockdowns were extended repeatedly. They were, so that worked out ok.

When lockdowns ended I bought a ton of different toys for my daughter so I could share them with her and make up for the limited outside contact for the time being. I also brought my lead graphic & web designer a dual monitor computer to his house to improve his efficiency.

Any day where there is not a lockdown I try to make the most of it knowing another couple months or quarter year can disappear arbitrarily.

Making the most out of the day for me often means doing something positive on the health front & meaning front right away. Things like getting food for my daughter or going for a walk are big wins early in the day as we tend to slow down and get tired as the day drags on.

Health / Fitness

Early in the year when I could use the gym I was walking at a brisk pace for about an hour a day while reading books and listening to podcasts.

After gyms were forced to be closed I started walking outside. Initially this was often to get groceries or various baby supplies, though I continued to walk daily even when there wasn't a real direct need just to keep mood up with all the ridiculous crap going on in the world. I used to think the Philippines was way too hot when I had to drive everywhere, but even if it is hot as hell it isn't bad to be out in the sun and heat so long as you are only walking especially if the walk has a purpose which helps your loved ones in some way.

Walking regularly with nothing else going on can be boring as hell, of course, so to offset the boredom I bring my iPhone and have some Airpod Pro earbuds with their killer noise canceling features. When nobody is near me I sometimes pull down my face mask and jog or sprint for a while to add variety to the day. I also sometimes make people's ears bleed by singing along in an effort to share the joy of whatever I am listening to. :D

There are many awesome acoustic songs on YouTube. Revisiting unheard versions of songs you liked a long time ago can make the lyrics more powerful.

Some of the spoken-word song introductions are quite powerful: "everyone wants you to forget you are gonna die, because if they convince you your not gonna die you waste your time doing what they want you to do. Spend money on what they're selling. ... one day I'm gonna die, but before then I'm gonna live, live, live, the way I want to live and I hope you do too."

Whenever I exercise I usually have caffeine as well. I view it a bit like a band aid or kick start, but I try to only use it either explicitly when walking or when intensely focusing on work.

If my back hurts from sitting at the chair too long that is a cue to get up and take a break even if it is a short one to go play with my daughter.

Sometimes I will walk two or three times throughout the day to break up the monotony.

Most my exercise is walking or jogging, but occasionally I will do a few push ups or sit ups.

In a world of gloom it is hard to look in the mirror and see a steaming pile of garbage which is not well maintained and feel good about yourself.

You know what sacrifices you have made and what the costs were, but it is easy to go down the path of resentment if outcomes are subpar and beyond your control in the short term.

If you don't feel alive you aren't. :D

It's a lifeless life, with no fixed address to give But you're not mine to die for anymore so I must live

Diet

I try to eat salad, Indian food, quiche, nuts, beef jerky, and all sorts of other foods where carbohydrates are sort of only incidental and are not core to the dish.

Anything that looks/smells/feels/sounds like sugar, rice, potatoes, bread, derivatives thereof, etc. I consider to be poison / systemic inflammation / weight gain and try to skip it.

I also consider drinking calories to be a disaster as the glycemic index on things like a soda are through the roof.

If you are fat and eat a lot of carbs you are repeatedly spiking your blood sugar, then it crashes, then you are hungry again. This habit & addictive cycle works on some of the same neural pathways that hardcore drugs do.

Sometimes I still do eat a bit of peanut butter or chocolate or frozen chocolate dipped in peanut butter, though I try not to use it meal replacement style very often & try not to be "full jar now empty" Aaron.

When I wake I often wait at least 4 or 5 hours before eating my first meal. In some cases I stretch that out to 6 or 8.

Communicating

I know a lot of people are in a bad state this year, so I try to offset that at least slightly by overcommunicating.

I send my mom pictures or videos of my daughter every day as she told me those help her sleep better at night and her watch even shows her blood pressure is lower and she feels much more well rested the next morning. I have bought my daughter a ton of extra clothes to wear just so my mom gets a bit more variety in the pictures and my daughter will have a ton of memories to sort through when she is older.

Our daughter has quite a bit of energy so sometimes she makes communicating with my wife hard. Sometimes we have better luck texting back and forth if something is urgent and then discuss it in more detail over email or when our daughter is taking a nap.

A lot of people around me have recently went through hardships beyond the financial uncertainties many are facing.

Our web designer's mom had a heart attack then got COVID-19 but I think she is ok now.

Our lead writer had a friend younger than I who after going to the hospital with COVID-19.

Our lead programmer's parents recently had their house broken into with some of their sentimental jewelry stolen & he is the glue guy for the whole family.

One of my buddies recently broke up with his long time girlfriend.

I am sure there are a lot more similar stories that I have not been told yet. So as a rule of thumb I sort of consider that if people have historically been good its ok to give them more leeway this year & be extra kind.

Mental Health

I generally am not a fan of taking prescription drugs to solve symptoms of real problems as in many cases those can cause additional bonus problems. I get that some people need various drugs to get by and survive, though outside of caffeine I typically try not to drink much or do much of anything else that can add more instability or create more bonus issues.

The above said, I think my baseline mood (especially if I am not in great health) tends to be a bit darker than average.

The early web was quite cool and you could do things like email Tim Berners-Lee and get a response, or someone would read your site and see you mentioned Carl Sagan and shoot you an email like this one:

I wrote the first modern book on depression in 1980. It was the first book to present depression as a biochemical disease, rather than a 'mental' illness (whatever that is). And, I was the one who introduced Carl Sagan to television as a local TV personality in L. A., Carl was a good family friend who came to watch a taping of my PBS show, he got really intense when he realized what a medium for communication TV was, and I introduced him to the GM of the station, that's how he got to TV. He was more of a scientist than an actor, I coached him on TV persona. He was a very intense person, and did not have a big ego; he was always open to new information, whether it came from experiences or ideas. He would have loved living now.

To solve both depression and weight gain problems, try an over-the-counter nutrient called 5HTP. The Walmarts here sell the least expensive and best pills. Take about nine a day for about nine days, you will notice you haven't felt the urge to eat all day and you don't have as much depression symptoms; the griffonia seed from which 5HTP is made increases serotonin in the brain.

Then a follow up after I asked about the FDA ban of L-Tryptophan:

Now something gets clearer! When tryotophan was banned because of one supposedly contaminated batch, I used every tiny bit of influence I had as a journalist, talked to every politician I could get in touch with. It was like going up against a brick wall. I wrote articles, did everything, could not understand at all why the nutrient was being banned for one bad batch in Japan and why resistance to overturning the ban was so solid. I even tried to obtain the animal version, and was told it 'wasn't the same,' yet according to a chemical analysis, it was. Now I understand....

My book is "Depression, How to Recognize It, Cure It and Grow From It, Prentice Hall hardback, Simon Schuster paperback.

She also mentioned

Depression research is such big business that I feel they don't want to find a real cure. The way the research should have gone is to study the chemical makeup of depression, then match the medication effect to different brain hormones (as well as cortisol-though it's not a biogenic amine, it's a definite precursor), and find accurate ways of testing which hormone or combination thereof is/are out of balance, so the correct medication can be prescribed right off the bat. So, if it's a seratonin imbalance, the doc gives one medication, if it's monomaine oxadase, the patient gets another, and so on. Prosac is like a huge blanket device, rather than an accurate laser beam going to the exact place it is needed.

Depression research really hasn't progressed that much in the last 20 years, imho.

I know a big part of my improved mood was from taking 5-HTP along with Vitamin B & Vitamin C just before bed. When I take those I can fall asleep a bit quicker, sleep about an hour less, wake up feeling more refreshed, and am less hungry the following morning. If I had to guess, I would say the 5-hydroxytryptophan contributed to my recent 40 pound weight loss more than anything else did.

Anyhow, I would not recommend 5-HTP for anyone who is on SSRIs, MAO inhibitors, or many other drug classes (talk to your doctor first, etc.). But I figured a lot of people feel like crap this year so I should mention it has worked well for me.

Before writing this blog post I also recommended it to a few other people.

Our lead content writer was down after her friend died & I recommended it to her. She said she felt a difference the very next day.

Our backend developer took some after I told him about it and said his personal doom loop he was going through was better within 2 days.

I do not think it is a magic cure-all or would work for everyone, but if you are a bit down combining a bit of 5-HTP with exercise, healthy diet, sleep, etc. can help you improve your worldview and outlook a bit to get through the challenging times we are going through.

My only complaint (glass is always at least half empty :D) would be that as I have discarded that sort of rage cycle I find it easier to be distracted and harder to focus on work. If you love what you do focus comes automatic, but if you don't then you do sometimes have to trick yourself a bit into being productive if you literally could be retired for life. But I suppose most people would say that is an absurd "problem" to complain about.

My only solution to the above is watching MJ on MJ. :D

I’m going to tweet this & pin it to my page so I can watch it every single day When MJ talks about winning & leadership has a price, he’s talking about sacrificing a part of who you are for all that your team can become. A Championship Standard!! pic.twitter.com/IbK95jFTVY— Jaycob Ammerman (@Jammer2233) May 13, 2020

Ending on a Positive Note

Destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation And earthquakes are to a girl's guitar, they're just another good vibration And tidal waves couldn't save the world from Californication

If you are reading this blog post you are almost certainly involved in some part of web development, content production, internet marketing and/or e-commerce.

Ultimately as the world is reshaped you will benefit as long as you get through the current period as literally *everything* is moving online.

This chart on e-commerce continues to amaze me. pic.twitter.com/zW4EwKHW1N— David Schawel (@DavidSchawel) August 17, 2020

Given that the big platform monopolies are now getting the PR black eyes they deserve for their locked down ecosystems there is a good chance the web will be a much better place in the next half-decade.

The number of people rushing to become their own bosses is at a record level. Many will fail, but many will innovate and create new markets as they have no choice but to succeed. As more things move online, attention merchant platforms keep breaking culture into smaller and smaller chunks to fuel increasingly distorted views of reality that cater toward confirmation bias and rage.

At some point people will tire of the feed-based never-ending stream and want things they can complete. The growth of Neflix and their streaming competitors reflects the desire for something longer and more in-depth.

Some of legacy print media brands with high cost structures are now recycled selling marked-up garbage in parallel markets.

The combination of these trends will drive an increased appreciation for authenticity & the desire for human connection.

Long ago my original SEO mentor stated:

This is what I think, SEO is all about emotions, all about human interaction. People, search engineers even, try and force it into a numbers box. Numbers, math and formulas are for people not smart enough to think in concepts.

I think the best brands, the best sites have a large portion of their founders personality in them. Never be afraid to be yourself, after all there are 1/2 billion people on the www, not all of them have to agree with you. Concentrate on the ones that share your views, concentrate on making their experience the very best it can be, the rest forget them.

Or to put it another way, the best sites say - this is what we do, this is how we do it, if you don't like it go somewhere else.

Ultimately though I think it comes down to desire and the will to win.

He later sold his business for a life changing sum, so unlike his favorite football club, I guess he had the will to win. The question remains if he will purchase the football club and "fix" them. :D

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from Digital Marketing News http://www.seobook.com/managing-depression

[optimisticpoetrypost-blog]

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

"Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://freecarinsurance.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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Are automatic cars cheaper to insure for young drivers (UK)?

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Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

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How much of an auto insurance discount does a family get for having more than one car?

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How do insurance companys notify you when your insurance goes up?

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Finding restrictions on a California car insurance policy?

I was involved in a minor accident while driving my mother-in-law's car. I am on her policy, so assumed I would be covered, but was just told that I might not be because I was driving for work. Where on the policy does it show whether or not I was covered? I don't want to keep driving her car for work unless I am.""

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I was shopping around for insurance quotes on my home and cars. Many of the websites that I came across claimed to offer the best quotes from different companies thereby getting me the best price. I started filling out a few forms and, for once, I decided to read the fine print ( you know that small font form we all click agree on). Basically what I found was that the company used 4 agencies that paid them to contact me. What the site was trying to advertise to me was that i would have he best possible quote in the world without having to call up the many insurance agencies around me individually. In reality the fine print ( which in the case of the Internet can be 25 clicks hidden) states that they offer quotes from companies that pay them. Why not state that the information I'm giving them is a lead and that people that get it pay for my information and those that don't do not get it. What about some insurance company that can't afford to pay for my information but can offer me cheaper insurance than those that do pay hat site? I wouldn't be so ticked off if these sites simply stated that they sell our information. Rather than try to make it seem as they find you the best price. False advertising is a cancer. http://www.4freequotes.com/web2000/agents/ http://www.netquote.com/about/media-kit.aspx http://www.netquote.com/affiliate/ http://www.2insure4less.com/insurance-leads http://adrianasinsurance.com/about_adrianas/terms/ Go to any free quote webite and read their privacy policy and the page that's made for affiliates/agents, you will clearly see how your information is sold.""

A question regarding health insurance for couples?

me and my girlfriend have been dating for two years now. i plan on proposing to her this spring, but we can't afford a wedding yet. i was wondering if me and her could get an affordable health insurance, or would we need to get married to do that? i was also thinking, that if we would have to prove marital status, that we could marry at a court house, then eventually i'd propose and have a formal wedding in the future. what do most couples do in this situation, when finding good health insurance? we're healthy, no illnesses and the only prescription my girlfriend has is for her birth control. i also plan to start my own business, so getting our own insurance would be essential. thanks!""

Car insurance over 2 years break?

i havent had any car insurance for 2 and half years but if i go back to whom i was insured with will i be able to retieve my no claims discount of 70%

Cheapest auto insurance company?

Cheapest auto insurance company?

Is it possible to claim repair costs on car insurance?

If their hasn't been an accident? i.e. If your car breaks down and their roadside recovery people have to tow you home,can you then get a diagnosis for the problem and claim it on insurance?""

How much am I gointo pay for car insurance?

I am 17 turning 18 soon and when I graduate I plan on getting a 2011 Subaru WRX STI or a 2012 Mustang GT . I was just wondering how much I am going to be paying for insurance on either one. I will be 18 when I get it, I am a male and have a clean driving record. Please help, this will most likely be the deciding factor for which car I get. I would also like to know which car you would get. Thanks!!!""

Which Health and Life Insurance Company?

I'm 53 and just become a self-employed. I want to have health insurance what is affordable and trust able. Also I'm thinking about a life insurance - any advice thanks, even in my private email.""

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

What does insurance cover for a car accident?

one of my friends recently had an accident in his Honda city. The body was damaged. But the insurance company pointed to a line which says only 50% of cost of damage to 'rubber, nylon, plastic, tyres, tubes, batteries, airbags' and 30% of fibre glass..what else can get damaged in an accident? If the car is made of plastic and the glass with fibre glass, its basically saying we will pay only a max 50%? Does this exist everywhere or only in India? Can we take the insurance company to court?""

Will a medical suspension raise car insurance rates?

My wife has a medical suspension and is trying to get her license back. She has 0 points on her record. I know if you are suspended for stupidity (DUI, reckless driving, ect) then your car insurance rates go up, but do they go up for a medical suspension??""

How does an Alabama ticket affect Washington insurance?

I got a speeding ticket in Alabama last day of August for doing 52 in a 40, $200. I have two previous wrecks, one was not the considered my fault and my rates did not increase, one was weather related but my rates did increase. I am 20 years old and have no previous tickets. I know this will go on my record and that my insurance company will see when my policy is renewed, but I want to know if it will dramatically increase my rates? WA state does not operate on a points system like Alabama does so I'm confused on how it will transfer over. Any help is appreciated.""

HELP! Insurance company trying to low ball estimate?

Back in April I was driving and a lady tried switching lanes and struck my vehicle. I immediately went to an auto body shop and got an estimate for the damage, they took photos and everything. I've been contacting her insurance and dealing with this for over two months... I had to send them the police report because the woman tried lying and said I hit her, so I had to prove she was at fault. They would never return my calls. Until I talked to the field adjuster. He then called me yesterday told me he got the estimate from the body shop which was one of their recommended shops, and was mailing me the check for the damage. However he failed to tell me the check he was sending was for $1000 less than the estimate. I don't agree with this, what do I do? I called and no one will call me back from the company Also, I own my car outright. It's a 2004 tiburon is excellent condition. The insurance company was giving me issues about me wanting the check sent to me. I plan on getting the damages repaired that are necessary but leaving what isn't and keeping the money that's left over. I'm not even making them get me a rental for the time I don't have the car! Please help The company is American family.""

Do parents really expect their teens in highschool to pay for their own cars?

Its enraging when I hear my parents/parents in general tell their kids, who have their licenses to pay for a car yourself . Not even a split? A loan? These kids are still in highschool! Even after highschool in college, I just don't see how one can pay for even a cheap used car themselves unless they dedicate their life and save every penny for the damn car. People that age usually earn close to minimum wage, and if they spend all their time working instead of studying, that's all their ever going to make. Ex) my friend earns 9.25 hourly at a grocery store (he's worked there for a while so its not exact minimum wage), and works 40 hours a week. He is ALWAYS at work. At the end of the week, his checks are worth about 338 after taxes. A crappy used car is probably about 5000? I'm not fully sure. Someone that age would have to work 40 hours a week for quite a long time. Since they're teenagers, that would pretty much leave them no time for studying/doing homework and a social life in general. Don't parents want their children to perform well academically as well? Aside from financial issues of their own, why wouldn't a parent with a decent amount of money atleast agree to help their responsible teenager pay for a used or inexpensive car? I'm not suggesting brand new BMWs or mercades, but why not like an 06/07 used toyota or honda in good condition? Why not agree to help pay for.half or a smaller fraction of it? And don't they get sick of their kids always using their cars? What do you think?""

Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

Jw if I get a 125 or 250 quad if the insurance will be similar to a bike or car same with tax Cheers

Premium vs deductible? Health Insurance?

I'm really confused by everything having to deal with Health Insurance. I know a deductible is what you pay before the insurance company pays the rest. But what is the premium? And are these two related?? Please Help.

Does an unattended parked vehicle that was hit affect insurance rates when claimed?

I came to my parked car this evening and discovered it was hit from the back bumper up along the side half way through the back seat door. It is dented and scraped pretty badly. If I claim this with my insurance will it affect my rates being that I wasn't there?

2nd car insurance by Geico?

Hi, I have a 2005 Toyota corolla and have comprehensive collision damage waiver from Geico (My policy covers collision damage waiver for my rental cars,too). I'm planning to buy a new car this week. Can I drive that vehicle off the lot without adding the VIN# to my insurance? How much time I have before adding them to my insurance? I live in California.""

""Could $5,000 cover the healthcare insurance premium for a family?""

If McCain's credit becomes reality, doesn't it seem logical that a major healthcare provider would put together an affordable health insurance package for the credit amount and market the heck out of it? Obviously, it won't have all the bells and whistles, but people would be covered. There is the issue of the tax on the premium, but it still seems like a good idea. This link was interesting - it describes both plans clearly: http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/10/news/economy/tully_healthcare.fortune/""

What liability limits should I apply to my auto insurance?

My husband and I are researching new insurance rates. We have looked into Geico and are almost ready to buy the policy. We currently have 25/50,000 liability limits, but since we own our house and can afford a little more, we're looking into increasing our liability to 100/300,000. Is that OK? Or, should we increase the limits to 250/500,000? It seems unnecessary to increase it THAT high.""

What is the best car insurance company out there today?

I'm gonna get a car soon and I'm having difficulty picking an exact car insurance company to insure my car so I just wanted to read others opinion on what car insurance they think is the best.....if availabe tell me the pros & cons....

Where can i find cheap young drivers insurance in uk?

where can i find cheap young drivers insurance in uk

How much would insurance cost? (motorcycle)?

Hey guys, I was just wondering how much approximately insurance would be for a starter that just got his license, with the training course. This would probably be with a CBR125 (lol, just want to get used to it first) in Toronto Canada.""

How can a medical group charge different prices for people with insurance and no insurance and medicare?

is this legal to charge people with medicare a higher price to go to the Doctor than people that don't have medicare, I thought that medical groups are to charge less so medicare don't go broke and people with insurance, so there monthly don't go up higher""

What is the cheapest car & insurance combination a 17 year old girl can get in the uk?

basically, what is a cheap car that has really cheap insurance for people who have just passed? thanks""

""I got into a car accident with my new car before i could get insurance, help?""

I just recently bought a 66 mustang from a private seller. My mechanic took a look at it and said it was good. I went to go pick up the car from the seller, and while driving home, 15 minutes into my drive the breaks gave out. I ended up hitting a UPS truck. My passenger and i ended up going to the hospital for injuries. I did not have insurance since i was just going to drive the car home and not drive it until i got full coverage on it. The previous owner still has insurance on the car, and i have not been to the dmv to have the title officially signed over. I need help; legal advice would be great.""

Cheap auto insurance in gresham/portland oregon?

I just moved to Gresham, OR from the Dallas, TX area. I am a 19 year old female who has been driving for over 2 years and has never gotten in a wreck. In Texas I had auto insurance for $88 a month from a local independently owned company. All the quotes I am getting from popular companies here are unbelievably high. Does anyone know of any cheap independently owned companies in the Gresham/Portland Oregon area. I'm trying to shoot for my insurance to be under $100 a month. Please let me know, thanks.""

Help! sears auto employee insurance?

does sears auto center provide free insurance from any injuries during their work of hours for the employees such as mechanics

Insurance and childbirth?

i might be moving to oregon but im on my insurance blue cross of california.. does anyone know if they charge more to give birth out of state?

""What are the cheapest companies to insure me as a 2nd driver on a 1.2 punto (MALE, 19, UK)?

I'm a 19 year old male living in the UK in Birmingham! I passed around a 2 months ago! The cheapest quote I found was 1600 on a comparison site but it's too expensive! Is it worth getting a tracking device and alarm and stuff fitted? How else could I lower my insurance?? Could you recommend any other cars I could get instead of a punto? (no higher than insurance group 5 and no more than 3000) THANKS! =]

Will my insurance go up that much if I buy a Camaro?

I currently have a 96 Pontiac Sunfire and I have Erie insurance which through them I have liability only on my car and my rates are $60.00 a month....I am 18,19 years old next month and I found on craigslist a guy who is desperately wanting to get rid of his camaro and is willing to trade it straight up for my sunfire,as he and his gf are having a baby and she wants him to get rid of his toy....now this camaro is a 95,fully loaded automatic,t tops, leather interior etc...and my sunfire is the basic model,manual windows,locks etc....so obviously Id be making out very well in value....now I am on my own insurance and my mother chewed me out when I told her about me maybe trading for this camaro...will my insurance go up THAT much?""

How to get off an auto insurance policy?

about 2 years ago, my mom signed me up in the same insurance as her car...i do not drive her car and never did, however, we still pay 80 bucks extra a month, i want to get off of that insurance but i hear its much trickier than it seems. The car i drive is already insured, but not under my name. Is that legal or not? I live in illinois if that helps. how should i go about removiving my name from this insurance company?""

What are the chances of me 'winning' this car insurance claim ?

Yesterday i was leaving work , driving along a road , when a young girl ( 17/18 ) drove straight out of the car park on the left and hit my nsf wheel so hard it pushed my car 5ft across the road. She said she didn't even look to see if a car was coming. She has large scuff marks on the corner of her bumper, my car has a dented wing , wrecked wheel (which is no longer pointing straight ) . This girl is on her parents insurance. Her boyfriend was on his motorbike and said to me , he didn't believe she just did that , he saw it all. My insurance company says it seems straight forward - she was totally at fault, My car is not drive able. Husband ( mechanic ) seems to think i may need a new steering rack, wishbone maybe strutt , wing , alloy wheels ....they may write my car off as its value for insurance is 1200. Has anyone else experienced a similar accident or got any advice ?""

Do you have to pay insurance for the driver or the car?

my friends keeps telling me her parents wont let her get he license because it is 2,000 dollars a year to have a licence, for like insurance. Don't you only have to pay for a car? like if she was to not own a car and just borrow her parents when needed would she still have to pay insurance? I am so confused haha""

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

Why should I compare home owners insurance companies?

We have owned our home for 13 years, and we have always just stuck with the same insurance provider we had when we first got our mortgage. I am not sure if the premium we are paying is fair or not. I have no idea what the rate would be to insure our home with some other insurance company. Is it really worth the time and effort to compare home owners insurance companies to see if we can get a better rate? How much lower could the premiums actually be, and could we really end up saving that much money in the long run?""

I am 19 in Texas. is it cheaper on insurance to do the whole teenager coarse or is it the same going adult 6hr?

My dad is wondering if it would be cheaper on insurance if I did the the three week teenager coarse or if it doesn't matter anf do adult which is one 6 hour class. Again I'm in Texas and a guy and know about how its cheaper for girls on insurance

How Much Is Car Insurance? Please Help?

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i live in bromley south east london/ kent i have recently bought a Gilera Runner VXR 180 Reg as 125, im using it for college and seeing family, i have completed my C.B.T Bike is road ready MOT&Tax could anyone give me a guestimate on how much it would be on your previous experience and any good companies that insure young drivers ? thanks alot (P.S if you would like too right a smart ar*e comment please dont do it on my post, im asking for advice not a lecture)""

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Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

Berlin Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 31722

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/need-find-affordable-health-insurance-maya-spencer/"

[sorayahigashikata]

Table of Contents

[blockheadbrands]

Medicating in Wartime: The Cannabis Legacy of Vietnam Veterans

Bruce Kennedy of Leafly Reports:

April 30th marks the 43rd anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the War in Vietnam. About three million Vietnamese, and more than 58,000 Americans, were killed during the war.

Studies have found that about one-third of American soldiers in Vietnam consumed cannabis.

Close to three million American men and women served in Vietnam. And around one-third of those military personnel, according to recent studies, smoked marijuana.

Cannabis grew wild in Vietnam and access to “reefer” was never an issue for U.S. military personnel. “Over there we were getting the premium stuff—no stems and seeds,” said John Adams, a retired computer engineer living in Riverside, California. Adams served two tours in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine in the late 1960s, with the 1st FSR Logistics Group in Da Nang.

“You’d get in a jeep, run down to Four Corners,” he remembered, “and get 20 pre-rolled joints for 10 bucks. It was pretty; I wish I had a picture of it.” It was pretty heady stuff, too: “You’d take two hits and you’d have to sit down.”

Many Soldiers, But Not All

While soldiers might have smoked marijuana while in combat, it was more common for military personnel to enjoy cannabis once they were off the front lines.

'The Army didn't really police it until it became a PR issue.'

Jeremy Kuzmarov, author of 'The Myth of the Addicted Army'

One 70-year old veteran Leafly spoke with, a Long Island, New York resident who was part of an Army long range reconnaissance patrol unit (LLRP, pronounced “lurp”) from 1967 to 1969, said he saw very little marijuana smoked while on patrol near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam.

“Not in my unit,” said the veteran, who asked that his name not be used—and who we’ll call Alan.

“It was mostly in the rear, off-duty or back where there was no action. It was not really done front line. I’m sure there were [front line cannabis smokers], but I was in a different arena than most. It had to do with being ready and alert and keeping your focus.”

An Open Secret

It appears that cannabis use was an open secret in Vietnam during the war’s early years.

Cannabis was 'the only way to deal with the craziness over there.'

John Adams, US Marine, Vietnam veteran

“For a while the Army didn’t really police it that strenuously, until at a certain point when it started to appear on the public’s radar screen and became a PR issue,” said Jeremy Kuzmarov, assistant professor of history at Tulsa University and author of The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs.

Media reports of soldiers and marines smoking marijuana while in the field grabbed headlines, as well as the attention of the military brass. That led to a crackdown on cannabis in Vietnam. Kuzmarov also points to rumors and reports at the time about marijuana contributing to rampant drug abuse among soldiers, as well as weakening combat efficiency, a collapse in military discipline and even rumors of cannabis as a factor in war atrocities.

Medicating Before it Was a Term

But many Vietnam veterans will tell you otherwise—that cannabis was actually their way of coping with war’s nightmares.

“When you watch men women and children get blown apart and you have to come back and deal with that, sometimes you have to have some means of closing down,” John Adams told Leafly. “So realistically, where we weren’t on duty we were either drunk or high.”

“I can tell you this, that those of us that were ‘in the rear with the gear,’ whenever we had the opportunity we did it,” he added. “That was the only way to deal with that craziness over there.”

Relaxing on the Fantail

Sacramento native Bill Crain, now 62, was a boatswain’s mate on the USS Molala, a Navy ocean-going tug, when he first tried cannabis in the waters off Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay.

“When I got on the ship, growing up in that generation I grew up in, you watched the news and there were things going on in Vietnam,” he told Leafly. “I was 17, a little nervous. The guys would smoke weed on the fantail at night. So I would go up there and smoke and relax.” Crain said about a third of the Molala’s crew were pot smokers at the time.

RELATED STORY For Veterans With PTSD, Medical Marijuana Can Mean a Good Night’s Sleep

Drug Testing, Kinda

Dale Schafer, 64, a California-based attorney specializing in cannabis law, was a Navy hospital corpsman from 1974 to 1976.  He spent much of that time in an Oakland hospital dealing with trauma patients, mostly wounded and otherwise injured servicemen and women brought back from Vietnam.

'The people I partied with were the ones doing the drug testing.'

Dale Schafer, former Navy hospital corpsman

He laughed when asked whether he used cannabis while in the Navy.

“It was very interesting,” he told Leafly. “When I first went in and went to boot camp I thought people didn’t do it. But once I cleared boot camp the next place I landed was corps school and people were using it there. There was random drug testing, basically for-cause drug testing if they found suspicious activity. They’d make you piss-test, and I never got piss-tested so I never had to face it.”

When Schafer was transferred to Oakland for his duty station, he discovered that cannabis “was all over the place there. And interestingly enough, the people that I partied with were the ones doing the drug testing.”

RELATED STORY PTSD, Insomnia, and Cannabis: What’s the Evidence Say?

Coping After Coming Home

After their military experiences, many Vietnam-era vets returned home to a country that didn’t want to be reminded about the war.

“When we got back we were looked on as pariahs,” said Alan. “Times have changed, and in a way I’m glad. Soldiers when they come back to The World they have a hard time adjusting. At least now they are accepted.”

For Bill Crain, coming home was hard. An attempt to smuggle cannabis back to the States ended up with him going to a Navy drug rehabilitation center.

“I was raised upper middle class,” he said. “I come back after being discharged from the Naval Drug Rehabilitation Center, was told by family I was a bad influence on my brothers and sisters, so they don’t want me around. I really didn’t know anybody other than family to go to, and I ended up homeless. I worked my way up from that.”

RELATED STORY How the American Legion Became a Medical Cannabis Advocate

PTSD and Depression

Crain and other veterans continued to use cannabis while they coped with the physical and mental scars left from the war.

According to a 2015 study by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Psychiatry, more than 270,000 of surviving Vietnam veterans are still living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Of those veterans suffering from PTSD, about one-third also cope with a “current major depressive disorder” all these decades later.

But a growing number of veterans from the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are using cannabis to treat PTSD as well as chronic pain and other ailments.

The American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization, has been calling on the federal government to legitimize cannabis and invest in medical marijuana research.

“Our National Executive Committee, most of whom are Vietnam-era veterans, approved a resolution in 2016 that called for the removal of cannabis from Schedule I and called upon the federal government to enable greater research into the safety and efficacy of the drug,” Joe Plenzler, the Legion’s director of media relations, told Leafy via email.

Veterans groups like the Weed for Warriors Project, HeroGrown and other cannabis advocacy organizations have also sprung up, advocating for veterans to access medical marijuana as a viable treatment option, especially as an alternative to the opioids and other prescription drugs. The overprescription and overreliance on those drugs, say some advocates, contributes to the estimated 20 veteran suicides a day in the U.S.

“The Veterans Administration needs to understand whether overmedication of drugs, such as opioid pain-killers, is a contributing factor in suicide-related deaths,” Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Vietnam veteran, said last year.

Weed for Warriors

John Adams became president of a Weed for Warriors chapter last year. Along with their work with veterans, the group also does community-based projects like feeding and clothing the homeless, beach cleanups, and working with local food banks.

Bill Crain credits Weed for Warriors with showing him how to properly medicate with cannabis, how to deal with his PTSD, and how to give back to the community.

“Before I started going to Weed for Warriors, my PTSD got so bad I just stayed in my house,” he said. “I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t have a lot of friends. But I just got back today from going downtown, feeding the homeless. I like hanging out with this group of vets. We’ve all got the same kind of issues.”

‘The Energy Is Back Again’

Dale Schafer, who served five years in federal prison for growing medical marijuana in a home garden, now serves as legal counsel for Weed for Warriors. He believes the political activism that Vietnam-era veterans grew up with, especially when it came to cannabis and cannabis legalization, is being revived in the current political landscape.

“What we’re seeing is the energy that was generated, as my generation tried to bring the war to an end, is back again,” he told Leafly. “We’ve gone through how many years of watching the pendulum go back and forth and nothing actually getting done. Right now a lot of people in this country are awake to the possibility that they can do something.”

Archive photos: courtesy of subjects portrayed. All others: Bruce Kennedy for Leafly.

TO READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE ON LEAFLY, CLICK HERE.

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/medicating-in-wartime-the-cannabis-legacy-of-vietnam-veterans

[yourcertainstudentlight-blog]

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Well this may sound like a long shot, but I just recently bought my son a 2000 Ford Mustang, Now its insurance time, hes 18, gets A's in school and has had drivers ed. Why do the quotes from Progressive and esurance estimate its going to cost nearly $500 a month, even with a 1990 honda junker it still cost nearly $400 do these prices seem reasonable, i cant recall them being that high, when i first got insurance, thanks.""

How much is my car payment going to be?

I'm a 16 year old girl, in Albuquerque, NM. And I am going to buy a Used 2007 Chevy Aveo with 39,000 miles on it. The car itself is $8,995, and I figured out the down payment is gonna be like 1,000 dollars-ish. But I really wanna know how much my monthly is gonna be, and I know, my first car should be a clunker, but I really need something that is gonna work and get me places since I am really involved in school and sports and stuff. So, how much is my monthly gonna be? and INSURANCE! I know Insurance is gonna be higher since I am a teen driver, but I don't know how much. And I wanna be able to ask my parents about how we're gonna split the payments and stuff, since I am getting a job soon and I want to be able to pay for most of my OWN stuff. Thank You :)""

Provide proof of insurance online for Florida?

My previous insurance got canceled and i need to provide my new insurance to the state of Florida so my license doesn't get expired... can i do this online?

Does the colour of a car affect the price of Car Insurance ?

Thanks for all answers in advance :-)

Will my husband's car insurance cover the cost of the damaged car?

I was driving my husband's car (in the UK) which is insured in his name. He also put my name in the insurance agreement that I have permission to drive his car etc. However, I do not have a driving licence but my husband does of course. I got into a serious car accident and my husband's car is completely ruined. The police took information and saw that I was driving the car. Will my husband's car be covered by his insurance or will they reject it because I was driving it? He has fully comprehensive car insurance. Thanks.""

Group 1 Insurance License?

Hello, I need to get my group 1 insurance license to sell annuities in the state of Texas. I am honestly not sure where to go or what to do. What do I need to do? Thank you.""

Is Obamacare insurance.?

at Healthcare.gov they will be doing quotes on October 1 so is the Government selling there own version of Insurance

Base salary start for insurance office in california?

How much do you estimate I'd get as an administrative assistant in an insurance office? I have a possible job opportunity to consider for them to help me become a licensed agent and get commision and bonuses. The boss man said he does base salary.

Car insurance claims..how to claim ?

one of my friend took my car and crashed it can i call up my car insurance and claim for it, since my car was driven by my friend would i get the claim? reply soon plzz""

""Inaccurate auto insurance quotewith progressive, my rights?""

ok so i am with prgressive have been since may16th 2006, i recently added my paner to my insurance, i received a quote over the phone, an additional 89 dollars a month they would take from my account, in addition to my premium ($110) which adds up to $199. My first bill came in the post charging me $243, i called them asking what is the problem they said they dont know, thats what it came up at when they put it in the system, theres nothing they knew that they could do to rectify the problem. Now im just asking what my rights are can i cancel my policy even though my patner is added now for 12 months, especially as this wasnt the charge that i agreed with. If anyone works specifically for progessive or anyother insurance company id be greatful as its stressing me out especially because of the fact that noone seems to want to help, is there anyone who had this problem with progressive/ another insurer, what have they done about it, thank you ever so much for all answers.""

How much is the average insurance cost for a new driver?

Hi in 3 months, my daughter is getting her drivers license. I just want to know the average cost to insure my daughter. I have a great insurance company, but I am sure they would be too expensive for a new driver. My daughter has all A grades in high school, but I dont know any more information that would change the price. We have a Honda Minivan, so she would drive that, not a fancy sports car. Thanks!""

""For insurance cost repairs and parts, which is better , the Honda Fit , Subaru Legacy Wagon or Toyota Matrix?""

Im looking for a fuel efficient vehicle to drive one hour into Montreal. I live in the rural area of Quebec known as Rawdon, which is a little mountainous, and the weather can change from slush to ice to rain for periods of time in the winter. Im a musician and cook that needs an economical hatchback to carry my equipment around. A used car salesman told me that the Honda Fit will be less safe to drive in the winter on Quebec roads than the Subaru Legacy wagon will be. Will it make that much difference ? Is there more chance of getting killed in the Honda Fit on dangerous roads ? Im not a fast driver anymore, and don't need any more speeding tickets. Some people might say that the Subaru is a superior car ( 2006 Legacy ) but I just spoke to a friend of mine who used to own a Subaru and she said she was paying a lot of money for parts when she needed to do repairs, and to stay away from them. Are Subaru parts much more expensive than Honda, and please tell me why the Subaru wagon is a better choice, if it is. The engine on the Subaru Legacy is almost double the size, I think 2.5 L as opposed to the Fit 1.5, although both are 4 cylinder., and both are selling for around $ 10,000. I havent looked enough into the Toyota Matrix. They seem to fall somewhere between the Honda Fit and he Subaru Legacy. I think the Fit would probably give the best gas mileage, the Matrix the next best and the Subaru the least. But again, which cost the most to repair ? Toyotas seem to have the highest reacall history out of the three of them. I live in the country and my life has not been functional without a vehicle the last few weeks since my Dodge Caravan died, so I need to make a decision as soon as possible.""

""People tell me i can get insurance of my own under18, is this true?

i want a vehicle but my father wont let me get one because hes scared that if i wreck than it makes his rates go higher. can i get my own insurance and not be on my parents?

About how much will my car insurance be?

I'm turning 16 in a little bit and my parents are making me pay for my own insurance, how much would it be for me with a 2.6 gpa, i'm male, and i'll probably get a pretty safe car""

Cheapest car to insure and run?

So in all your opinions what is a cheap car both to run and insure? Also, would a 2000-2001 vehicle make much difference to an insurer?""

Whats a good health insurance company?

One that is affordable, has good coverage, good selection of choices? Fair, good quality, what do you recommend ?""

""Where do i go if I'm pregnant with no insurance in Houston, Tx?""

i am pregnant for the first time, i do not have any insurance and i don't even know where to go get my check up, and what do I need to be checked on so that my pregnancy will be ok.""

Ohio Car Insurance?

Okay, My mom owns the car I drive, and has insurance on it, but only her & my dad are insured on it, and i am not. Can I get in trouble for this if I am pulled over? Any help is greatly appreciated!""

How much is group 12 insurance.?

How much is group 12 insurance.?

Can I get insurance if I don't have a license?

I'm 18 and want to get my license but I need insurance, can I get liability without a license and about how much it would cost?""

How much is it to add a new driver to your insurance on AAA?

I just got my license and my dads making me pay for my insurance. How much is that? He said he's just putting me on the insurance and I have to pay whatever the price that is added because of me. How much would it be? We already have two people. My mom and dad. We have and SUV, a big van, and a small sports car. How much is the insurance gunna go up? Give me a range. Please and thank you:)""

What insurances are affordable when persuing Gastric bypass surgery?

I am at the beginning of my journey to have gastric bypass. I am having trouble finding a insurance that is affordable and will cover the surgery, any and all suggestions are welcome. I also welcome any advice people can give as this is something that i have researched for 4 years.""

Car accident and lapse of insurance...?

Alright, this is part two of my question. To recap, on March 25 I was in a two car motor vehicle accident in California. I had no idea that my insurance had lapsed because I had moved before the notice was sent out. Therefore, I told the police that I had insurance under my current holder. Both parties feel the other person was at fault for this accident. My car was totaled while his only had minor damage. Myself and my passenger were hurt, while the other car's passengers werent. Now, my questions are as follows: 1. Do I need to call the police and let them know that I had no insurance, but just reinstated it yesterday? 2. Will I be facing jail time or just fines? I am willing to pay anything in order to clear this up. 3. Will I lose my license? 4. What other steps do I now need to take to resolve this issue? I've never had a wreck before and I have a clean criminal record, so I am a newbie to this process. Please help me!""

Do life insurance companies check your medical records after you die?

Let's say that you get life insurance and claim to be a non-smoker. Then let's say that you start smoking or resume smoking. Assuming that your medical records show that you smoked, will most life insurance companies check your records, see that you smoked, and then cancel your benefit?""

MINI One for first car? Insurance?

Desperately want a mini for my first car but they're quite expensive - especially insurance! Was wondering the approx cost of insurance on a mini one for a 17 year old after passing, I haven't passed yet so can't get a quote :/ Also, are 2003-4 reg minis more prone to problems & break downs? Loads of people I know have minis so can't be that bad? Or their just wealthy haha""

2010 Camaro LT 16 year old insurance?

I am a 16 year old and I want a 2010 Camaro. I'm not being ridiculous and getting a brand new Camaro 2ss. I am getting a used Camaro LT. I'm really responsible with straight A's and I was wondering how much the average insurance company would charge for a car look this and a guy like me.

Car insurance?

Is there any insurance company ,other than AMI ,that offers a nil excess option. The premium based on an optional excess of nil is obviously higher, which I understand. AMI is okay ...show more""

""Automobile incident question. Who pays, the business or insurance?""

Im just curious, if a branch of a tree hit my car and cracked it moderately, and i was parked at the parking lot of a gym, does the damages get payed by my insurance or from the gym? If my gym tells me that the insurance pays for it, should i demand the gym to pay?...since my insurance cost might increase because of this incident.""

Are there other ways to get your car back from the insurance company?

i went to pay my insurance company and they when i payed it they wanted my i.d so i was looking for my license where it was no where to be found so i looked for it around my entire house from top to bottom and the company refuses to give my car back untill i have some type of identification....i cant fin dit anywhere ANYWHERE! is there any other way? social security, birth certificate something!?""

When do I need to get the car insurance? Before buying the car or after?

When do I need to get the car insurance? Before buying the car or after?

Is it normal for an insurance company to need you SS#?

Im 18 and on my own and ive never had to get insurance before. And the best insurance company ive found is asking me for my SS#. Is this normal, not only for a quote, but to buy the insurance also. And do i have to go to the agency directly to actually activate the insurance or can i do it over the phone like their tellin me?.....""

Cheapest car insurance for young drivers?

i am 20 and my boyfriend is 19 any cheap car insurances known as i am currently paying 1800 for the year on an S reg saxo for us both thanks in advance

Does anyone knows of a good Health Insurance in Florida?

HMO, PPO or whatever... I need to know asap. The work insurance is horrible!""

Base salary start for insurance office in california?

How much do you estimate I'd get as an administrative assistant in an insurance office? I have a possible job opportunity to consider for them to help me become a licensed agent and get commision and bonuses. The boss man said he does base salary.

Ideas for first car 10000 including insurance?

Hi i'm 17 male and have a budget of about 10000 to spend on a car and insurance. Looking for something fairly cool, nothinglike a micra or ka! Also want something pretty reliable no no american or french car suggestions please Thanks! :D""

Can I drive in the USA on UK car insurance?

We are taking our vehicle to the USA and travelling around for up to 12 months, can we use UK car insurance or do we have to insure the vehicle when we get to the States?""

""When the term is up on term life insurance, what happens to the money you paid? do you get it back?

im in my early twenties and im looking for life insurance outside of my job. i want to know if you sign up for term life insurance and the term is up what happens with the money you've paid? or is it just better to sign up for whole life insurance?

Do motorcycles require insurance in georgia?

Do motorcycles require insurance in georgia?

""In California, do you have to have insurance on your boat?""

ive never had insurance on my boat before,,,

What is the best and most affordable auto insurance?

I am paying $3,099 for 2 cars.They said it is high because my 19 year old daughter is listed as a occasional driver and it's her age.My husband and I have a clean record and we ...show more""

How much auto insurance do I need?

How much auto insurance should I get for a 1999 Ford Escort that is already paid for. I have insurance now but it is 660 dollars a year and that sounds like way too much for an 11-year-old car.

What is a good name for a Spanish speaking Insurance Agency?

I am opening a Spanish speaking Insurance Agency and need a name. I need some sincere suggestions. Will be much appreciated.

How much Insurance do I need to pay for a 2.5 million hause.?

How much Insurance do I need to pay for a 2.5 million hause.?

New driver car insurance?

How exactly do you get/where can you find cheaper car insurance for new drivers?

Do you think its fair that young men have to pay more for auto insurance than a women?

Do they cause more accidents or is it the insurance companies know a young man will pay more for the privilege to drive?

How much would insurance be on a red 2001 Toyota Celica?

http://autos.yahoo.com/used-cars/toyota-celica-cars135552689;_ylt=AkwAdUBozMXShhqd.AL.Qh34XY54;_ylv=3?sortcol=price&sortdir=up&location=Boiling%20Springs,%20NC%2028017&listingtype=used&model=celica&make=toyota&distance=50 heres the link to the specific car and also i am a 16 year old male living in NC and my parents have state farm (if that helps)""

How much is car insurance on average for a 17 year old driver?

I'm 17, and having to pay my own car insurance every month. How much is that going to cost me each month? I have Farmer's insurance.""

""Car insurance decreases, when? 26 yrs old?""

I started driving when I was 22 years old, and never had an accident. Right now, I'm 26. I pay $116/month for insurance, which I think is kinda high. The vehicle I drive is a 2006 Hyundai Eantra. Car insurance is: Erie Insurance http://www.erieinsurance.com/""

Family health insurance plan or individual health insurance plans for each person?

I am quoting health coverage in Kansas for my family since we do not get this from an employer. My agent suggested that each family member have a separate insurance plan instead of one family plan to cut costs. I have never heard of doing this? Any comments or suggestions? Thanks

Who is the most cheapest auto insurance out there?

I need auto insurance but im 18 and I only have a permit not a license yet. I drive a 1990 Honda civic hatchback ef. And i only want liability just to drive. So who is the cheapest one out there let me know thanks :D??

""How old do i have to be to ride,and get a licence for a motorcycle in California?

and how much will the insurance cost?

""How much more will it cost to add another car to insurance for a teenager with license, already have to cars?""

I have already two cars with Mercury insurance, and how much more will the price raise to add a third car to Insurance for a teenager who has license""

What is the best medical insurance to get that is affordable?

What is the best medical insurance to get that is affordable?

Average cost of utilities in a 2 bedroom house in southern indiana?

I am moving into my first home and have no idea how much its going to cost. Its a 2 bedroom with a basement. There are 2 and a half of us moving in (2 year old son). I know for a fact the cost of my cell phone bill and my car insurance and gas but don't know how much to budget for anything else. Please help?

""Insurance says case is closed, is it really?""

A little over a year ago, I was in a car wreck and due to financial responsibility laws I had to pay for the accident. (I had no insurance, of course, I've learned this lesson) Recently they've filed suit against me for more money that they didn't receive from the insurance company. I can't afford an attorney and was about to hire a bankruptcy lawyer for all of this, but I recently found out from the insurance company that the case is closed. It's also been over a year as of a couple days ago and due to Tennessee's Statute of Limitations they can't claim any more money. So my question, the insurance company says it's closed and even said the attorney settling with them has closed the case. I call the opposing attorney myself and of course they say they can't discuss the case with me, even though I'm just asking if the case still actually exists. They wont' give me a court date either so naturally, I'm a bit suspicious. Should I be ready to put this behind me, or do law offices do this sort of thing all the time? They were recently paid out $10,000 from the insurance company I'm making payments to. I really don't see where else they could find money given my situation. All answers are appreciated, thank you!""

Car dealership never faxed info to the insurance company. Can anything legally be done?

I got in an accident in the car and the insurance company said the dealership never faxed the info and it was ultimately my responsibility to make sure it had insurance so is there anything i can do or am i just screwed with a wrecked car?

What is the average insurance price on a Mercedes Benz CLS class?

I am 16 and I want to know if the car is expensive for insurance. I'm a guy too. And I don't need the I shouldn't have that car crap. I just want answers please I don't need your opinions I can afford the car.

What are some cheap Auto Insurance Companies?

I pay 193 a month for basic liability with 21st century Insurance. Where can i get a cheap quote?

Why does insurance go up ?

I understand if I have been in an accident that my I may pay more insurance because its in my record. My question is .. if I buy a car that has record of having an accident does that make the insurance higher?

Base salary start for insurance office in california?

How much do you estimate I'd get as an administrative assistant in an insurance office? I have a possible job opportunity to consider for them to help me become a licensed agent and get commision and bonuses. The boss man said he does base salary.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-life-insurance-cheap-expensive-janice-stone"

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Gibson’s Finest (Nov 30)

It is far too small a sample, but over the past two nights we have seen 14 games and a combined 67 goals. That’s a rate of 4.79 goals per game. Considering the NHL has been a 3-2 league for years, the past two days have felt a lot more like the norm than the blazing scoring pace of the past two months. We’ve all been waiting for the other shoe to drop on this uptick in scoring. If scoring rates do drop, we’ll recognize the end of November as when they started to be reigned in. We’re not at alarm bells time, but I’m starting to see that old pattern.

*

If you recall, earlier this season I swung a deal to land Martin Jones in a 24-team dynasty league where I am rebuilding a roster. I’ve never been that high on Jones having this to say at the time of the acquisition:

Now, I’m not very high on Jones. He was in my third tier for goalies this season because while he was guaranteed to be the Sharks’ starter, he wasn’t guaranteed to be any good. I am not certain that Jones or the Sharks are very good. So far, he has been excellent with a 0.927 percentage through nine games but no one should be making goalie decisions based on such a sample. I jumped at Jones figuring he’d be closer to his career 0.917 save percentage playing behind what looks like a creaky Sharks team. But the early returns are good thus far.

That was an important acquisition because until that point, I did not have a starter on my roster. This gave me a seat at the starting goalie table, of which there are only 31 places. I now had something to leverage in negotiations for a goaltender I actually wanted. That goaltender is now on his way to my club. I moved Jones for John Gibson in a deal that will surely be a disaster short term, but is a no-brainer long term.

I have discussed how crippling the Ducks’ injuries have been for Gibson’s value. He was a stay-away for me at every draft, because he was going higher than I was willing to draft a goalie who was going to tank the first half.

Gibson has faired quite well considering how thin the roster in front of him is rocking a solid 0.921 save percentage, but the Ducks are getting caved in allowing a league high 36.5 SOG/game. Gibson is essentially giving you what Robin Lehner has the past few seasons, which is fine, but is clear third goalie material.

I expect Gibson will be awesome once the Ducks get healthy. He has pedigree, talent and youth on his side. The 24-year-old has a career 0.921 save percentage, well above average, and a clear upgrade on Jones whose career rate is 0.918. Of course, Jones has been fantastic boasting a 0.930 save percentage, and a 2.05 goals-against average second only to Sergei Bobrovsky, but at 28 he doesn’t fit my rebuild timeline.

This trade was easy for me to make given my lack of interest in contending now and need to improve my roster for a far-away time. I do think that a Jones-Gibson swap could have merit as a sell-high/buy-low move even in one-year leagues.

Jones’ save percentage should regress towards his career average. Gibson should continue to stop pucks at a high rate, and will churn out wins whenever the Ducks get healthy. Gibson owners are in for a long couple of months waiting for Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler to return, and will bleed points in the standings, but if I were betting on one goalie to be better come head-to-head playoffs, I’d bet on Gibson. There’s nothing better come H2H playoffs than a goalie on a powerhouse team fighting for a playoff spot.

*

The Ducks were without Brandon Montour for last night’s contest:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">INJURY UPDATE: Randy Carlyle said Brandon Montour has a hyperextended elbow from the game in Chicago and will miss tonight's game.<br><br>"It looked a lot worse than it actually is. We don't want to risk it turns into anything long term."</p>— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/935951809104855043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

This seems like a damn good way for Montour to lose his spot as the #1 power play guy to Cam Fowler. Turnabout is fair play, and indeed it was Montour who stole the gig while Fowler was out. Fowler skated 5:53 with the man-advantage and notched an assist. I’m not sure we’re close to figuring out the winner between these two.

Sami Vatanen is also in the mix, consistently skating top PP minutes, but he hasn’t been remotely productive this season, which continues a downward career trajectory.

Kevin Roy popped up on the Ducks’ top PP unit in Rickard Rakell’s spot. He skated almost seven minutes of PP time and notched a couple of points. This is a DEEP cut, but an option for folks in larger leagues.

*

Some sweeping line changes for the Bruins with a bunch of players back from injury, and a bunch of players still out. Both Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci sat out, but Brad Marchand, David Backes and Ryan Spooner all returned to action. They ended up suiting up only 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Check out the lines:

24.91%  EV           BERGERON,PATRICE – MARCHAND,BRAD – PASTRNAK,DAVID

18.68%  EV           BACKES,DAVID – HEINEN,DANTON – NASH,RILEY

14.65%  EV           ACCIARI,NOEL – KURALY,SEAN – SCHALLER,TIM

5.86%    EV           BACKES,DAVID – SPOONER,RYAN – VATRANO,FRANK

That top line is where your bread will be buttered. Marchand’s a point-per-game guy now and David Pastrnak is right there. Meanwhile, Patrice Bergeron is a high-volume shooter and 60-point guy. All three are on the top power play unit.

Spooner joins that trio on the power play and has some moderate value as a result, but has essentially moved into that Sam Gagner role as a power-play specialist, skating on the fourth line. Spooner is skating only 12 minutes per game, with a quarter of that coming with the man-advantage. That puts a cap on his ceiling.

Backes is only relevant in multi-cat leagues where his PIM/Hits/SOG value remains strong. He won’t score more than 35 points, however.

Tuukka Rask has started consecutive games and fared okay, winning last night. His contract and name brand was always going to buy him more chances. Anton Khudobin remains an intriguing backup option, but the Bruins’ schedule is thin with just four games in the next 13 days, before a back-to-back on December 13/14. The schedule does tighten up at that point with four sets of back-to-backs before their bye week in early January. So we may not see Khudobin for a couple of weeks, but don’t write him off as an option if Rask continues to struggle.

Also, yes, bye weeks are back this season. They are jammed much tighter this season, with the first bye weeks starting January 7th and the last ones ending January 19th. It’s going to make for an interesting couple of weeks in fantasy hockey.

*

I’m nowhere near dropping Vladislav Namestnikov, but it’s worth noting that the Stamkov line has slowed down over the past couple of weeks. As the third wheel on that line, he has naturally been hit hardest with three points in the last six games. I’m calling it a blip on the radar until we see more “struggles”. Stamkos, Kucherov and that Lightning power play are probably too good for Namestnikov to reach droppable territory, but I’m monitoring the situation.

I am more concerned with Tampa Bay’s second wave. It seemed inevitable based on usage, but the trio of Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde has experienced some pull back. None of those three sees top unit PP time, nor do they get much exposure to Stamkos or Kucherov. That makes it really challenging for them to consistently put up points. Generally, the ceiling on a second unit guy is 60 points, and that’s a tough ceiling to hit. Over the past eight games Palat has five points, Point has four and Gourde has three. They are on pace for 49, 69 and 49 points respectively. Somewhere in that 50-60 -point range feels right for them, especially if an injury pops up.

Mikhail Sergachev should feel some pullback as well, although his current three-game scoring streak would beg to differ. He’s obviously a killer talent with a great shot, but 13% shooting is a big ask. He is also still skating just 14:19 per game, with only 1:47 of PP time. He has maxed out his efficiency with that PP time with eight PPP on the year. He is on pace for 26 PPP, a crazy total for such short usage. That’s why despite the 17 points he has banked, I wouldn’t be shocked if Sergachev fell shy of 40 on the year.

*

Carey Price is sweeping through the league’s offensively inept! To be fair, the Senators have at least scored a middle-of-the-pack 2.91 goals per game, but their power play, much like those of Buffalo and Columbus (Price’s other victims) sits bottom-five in efficiency. The reality is that this is what Price is supposed to do. The best goalies are supposed to pad their stats against bad teams. While the schedule has been kind to Price in his return, he is doing exactly what you should expect if he’s still an elite talent.

Max Pacioretty notched an assist last nigh, giving him points in back-to-back games. Scoring overall has remained a struggle, but his shot volume remains through the roof. Pacioretty is a 30-goal/60-point machine. I’m not bailing out in the slightest. If anything, I want to try and buy low.

*

Erik Karlsson doesn’t have a point since returning from Sweden. That makes seven straight scoreless outings. He built up a large enough buffer that he is still on pace to score 73 points despite this drought and despite missing the first five games of the season. He’s a superstar, no concerns here.

The only guy immune to the recent scoring struggles has been Mark Stone, cruising along at a point-per-game clip. I’m not sure Stone can sustain his 23.3% shooting, but he sure seems primed to hit another level after scoring at a 60-point rate the past three seasons. Fourth year breakout? YUP!

Some line shuffling for Ottawa:

#1           26.6%    BRASSARD,DERICK – RYAN,BOBBY – SMITH,ZACK

#2           21.7%    DUCHENE,MATT – HOFFMAN,MIKE – STONE,MARK

#3           12.4%    DZINGEL,RYAN – PAGEAU,JEAN-GABRIEL – PYATT,TOM

#4           9.7%      BURROWS,ALEXANDRE – DUMONT,GABRIEL – THOMPSON,NATE

Matt Duchene literally could not have two better linemates than Stone and Mike Hoffman. Chemistry is a whole other factor, but in terms of pure talent, this is the spot to be. Still sitting on just one point since joining the Senators. Everything has been there in terms of ice time, PP use, linemates and shot volume. At a certain point you have to give up. I don’t have Duchene in any pools, but I’d have a hard time staying patient. It’s going to click at some point because Karlsson is eventually going to put up some points. He has been silent for much of Duchene’s time in Ottawa. Karlsson is an inevitability. Duchene will have to follow. I’m just not sure folks can wait any longer.

*

This is interesting:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So far, 121 qualified rookies have skated in the NHL this season. Of that group, 69 are older than Nathan MacKinnon.</p>— Matt Larkin (@THNMattLarkin) <a href="https://twitter.com/THNMattLarkin/status/935921846083571714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

Nathan MacKinnon is breaking out big time and I suppose it makes sense considering he is only 22!

Stuffed stat sheet for Erik Johnson with eight SOG, four blocked shots and two PIM. I hate to just recite a box score to you, but Johnson has been doing this all season. His point total won’t go much higher than 30 points, but if you score hits, blocked shots and SOG there is immense value to be had from a player who could eclipse 150 in all three categories. Plus, with Colorado’s improvements and a healthy Semyon Varlamov, Johnson is no longer a drain on plus/minus.

*

A few goodies to discuss from Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts:

22. Both Mike Babcock and Barry Trotz sparred with their local media last week about line combinations. Babcock kept getting asked why Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner don’t play more together. He tried it, although it’s clear his heart isn’t in it. Only one player among the NHL’s top 50 in assists averages fewer than 16 minutes per game. That’s Marner, at 15:35. Next lowest is Will Butcher, at 16:03. Next forward is Nico Hischier, at 16:14.

I am okay with the lower deployment for Marner and Hischier. They both see plenty of PP time and are skating enough minutes to maintain relevance as forwards. For a lot of forwards, the boost into the 18-20 -minute range is from PK time anyhow. Those extra few minutes aren’t always of particular value.

For what it’s worth, none of the NHL’s top-50 assisters is seeing less than 2:00 minutes of PP time per game. Here are the lowest in terms of PP time:

  PP Time

E. Staal

2:06

Larkin

2:15

Nylander

2:15

JT Miller

2:16

Hischier

2:18

Rielly

2:18

Lucic

2:21

Marner

2:22

Green

2:28

  You would love to see all of these guys skating more PP time. The Maple Leafs, Wild, Red Wings and Devils all split PP time evenly between their first and second units, which is a great way to wind up with a bunch of 55-point scorers. However, in the case of Toronto, they are so lethal in all phases that it doesn’t matter as much.

I really wanted to discuss the low ice time for Butcher. He has remained relevant through hugely insulated deployment skating a ton of minutes on the power play and with nearly two-thirds of his 5-on-5 shifts coming in the offensive zone. With the cushion he has built, it’s practically a lock he’ll score 40 points. However, once pucks stop flying in at an obscene rate with Butcher on the ice (though the high percentage of offensive zone starts helps here), his scoring will slow. He’s also rocking a 60% IPP, which is high for a defenseman. That Butcher is producing next to no shot volume is going to be a killer if his scoring drops off even a little bit. That’s why I am pushing Butcher as a sell-high option.

Butcher could finish with 45 points and be a terrible own the rest of the way. That’s because 27 points in 58 games is substandard production, especially when you are only getting one SOG per game. In deep enough leagues that might clear the bar of respectable production, but in the average league that won’t cut it.

*

Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-gibsons-finest-nov-30/

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say

Jimmy Butler’s cell phone is shaking. We’re plopped down in the last row of his home theatre on a couch that feels like a velvet sponge, a blanket covers his outstretched legs.

Butler leans over, looks down, smiles. He picks the phone up, shakes his head, then turns it around to reveal who’s on the other end. Coach Thibs. “See?” Butler says. “It’s crazy, right? He’s always on my phone.”

Everything about Butler’s place in this exact moment and time can and should be described as “crazy.” From the majestic hillside villa tucked away in Malibu—a remote paradise where the 27-year-old lives with a tight crew of friends, family, and paid aides (a photographer is sleeping in the guest house)—to the sudden reunion with Tom Thibodeau, the tireless coach who helped turn Butler into one of the least probable success stories in NBA history, to the Chicago Bulls needlessly trading Butler earlier this summer…the list can go on forever.

Butler’s origin story is absurd. Small town Texas kids with no scholarship offers out of high school don’t become NBA role players, much less superstars. They aren’t oddball country music-loving characters who pal around with famous actors. And they certainly don’t accomplish all they have while going out of their way to stand tall as a positive figure off the court. Butler won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award last April, and says he aspires to use his broadening platform to navigate the contentious social issues that plague the country. But his rags to riches past and lavish present are not as moving as what promises to lie ahead.

Butler was voted onto his first All-NBA team last season, with scoring, assist, and rebound averages usually associated with someone headed to the Hall of Fame. (Butler tallied more Win Shares last year than Larry Bird when he won his first MVP). But there’s still room for improvement, and next season Butler will be surrounded by players with enough talent to relieve some of the pressure he’s felt in years past.

It’s been an intense, course-altering summer for Butler, whose reward for establishing himself as one of the world’s 15 best basketball players was the trade, three months ago, from Chicago to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a franchise that’s perpetually struggling to stand on its own two feet. But Butler—alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, two Rookie of the Year winners who can fill an ocean with their talent and upside—is poised to change all that.

Coach Thibs is always calling Butler—and always calling his number. Photo: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Already one of, if not the, most physically fit individuals in a league overcrowded by the most athletic specimens on earth, Butler dedicated his summer to figuring out a way to get into even more ridiculous shape—the better to handle one of the NBA’s toughest workloads. (According to NBA.com, he ran more miles per game than all but two other players during 2016-17, and led the entire league in each of the previous two seasons.)

“The man, simply, is addicted to working,” says Butler’s personal skills trainer Chris Johnson.

His weekly schedule consists of approximately nine hundred thousand hours of on-court basketball drills, spliced with a grueling workout plan that made my eyes water when I first heard it. Without an alarm, Butler is out of bed by 5:45 AM and on the court by 6:00.

“He’s a serial killer’s dream. He does the same shit every fucking day.”

Meals hardly deviate. It’s scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, and a protein shake for breakfast. Lunch is Chipotle, with plain white rice, double chicken, light lettuce, and half a cup of vinaigrette (no cilantro). At night, his chef will prepare a dish around fish or chicken. He hasn’t had red meat in years and steers clear of alcohol.

When Butler isn’t drenched in sweat, most of his free time is either spent in his theatre watching the same movies over and over (Friday is a favorite), or escaping into never-ending games of Spades or dominoes. Yoga is on the docket. Nightclubs are not.

“He’s a serial killer’s dream,” says Butler’s personal strength trainer Travelle Gaines, who counts NFL superstars like Antonio Brown and Demaryius Thomas as clients. “He does the same shit every fucking day.”

Butler is shirtless in tan pants and Jordan slides when we first meet outside his pool house. “Want a beer?” He reaches into a brown Albertson’s bag and removes a cold can of Michelob Ultra. His hair is braided tight like a crown, and it’s impossible not to notice how much his chest looks like gladiator armor. This is also a reminder that our interview (and a photo shoot he’s doing) have pushed Butler out of his usual routine, but he doesn’t seem too worried about it.

“I’ll just make it all up in a short period tonight and be really tired in the morning when I wake up and start my schedule all over again, but it’s part of it,” he says.

The mood when Butler enters a room somehow relaxes and tightens at the exact same time. His personality glides from standup comedian to superintendent. He’s genuinely curious, cerebral, and a little mischievous. Ultimately, everything, from his schedule to his diet to the people he chooses to spend every waking minute around, is about efficiency. Even in this wonderland, with potted lemon trees at every turn, a hoard of wicker patio furniture, and a Southern California sun that dares anyone under it to do nothing but sip gin and tonics on end, Butler’s playfulness has limitations.

“I’m confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go.”

The conversation turns to his work ethic. He understands not everyone is as driven as he is, but can’t comprehend the thought of someone (especially another NBA player) not doing all they can to reach their full potential. It bugs him, even though he knows it shouldn’t.

“I think it’s wrong for me to think that people want what I want because in reality they don’t. Some people are OK with getting drafted. Some people are OK with playing two years in the league, four years in the league, six years in the league. Some people are OK with just scoring a basket in an NBA game. I’m not OK with any of that. I’m not satisfied until I win a championship,” he says. “I want everybody to work the way that I work and it’s wrong for me to think like that because people don’t do it! But in my mind I’m just like why? Why don’t you want to chase greatness the way that I do?”

Last January, after a humiliating loss in Atlanta that saw the Bulls blow a 10 point lead with three minutes left, Butler was fined for publicly dragging his teammates through the mud. After he was traded, former NBA player Antoine Walker called Butler a “bad locker room guy.” A recent report suggested the Boston Celtics had concerns about trading for the three-time All-Star because Butler might clash with Gordon Hayward, who they eventually signed in free agency.

Butler has little patience for people less driven than he is. Photo: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports.

“Even as a first-semester freshman, he wasn’t gonna let guys drift through practice,” says Mike Marquis, Butler’s coach at Tyler Junior College. “He is very, very competitive, and he is great when he finds an enemy. I think that’s one of his charms. He knows how to psychologically find an enemy and attack it.”

I ask Butler if he’s a difficult person to be around.

“Yes,” he says.

But it’s not as simple as that. Difficult is in the eye of the beholder, just like laziness.

“But then again it’s bad on my part because I know better,” Butler says. “It’s kind of contradicting itself. It’s like, ‘Well Jimmy you know better, don’t do that.’ But then the other half is just like, ‘Well, if you can do it everybody can do it.’ But then it goes back again. ‘You know that it don’t work like that, right? Yeah, I know, but I think that it can so everybody needs to work like this.'”

“I think it takes a very special person to deal with Jimmy Butler,” says Gaines. “He’s actually too smart for his own good.”

Once the photo shoot ends, we migrate down to the main house. Ready to play Spades, Butler is hunched over a square folding table that’s been pummeled by thousands of domino tiles. He’s flanked by Phil Ducasse, his newly appointed personal photographer, Ifeyani Koggu, a former Arkansas State guard who Butler introduces as his brother, and Mike Smith, Butler’s mentee, of sorts, from Chicago who’s about to enter his sophomore season at Columbia. A chandelier the size of a kiddie pool hangs overhead. Boxes of Size 14 retro Jordans are stacked against the dining room wall, with loose jewelry and designer clothes casually spread across the table and floor.

Nearly two hours later the card game ends and Butler recedes to his theatre. He acknowledges that his whirlwind ascent altered relationships and transfigured his behavior in Chicago, but doesn’t feel taken for granted by the Bulls organization. Still, an old truism lingers: the one about how those who start in the mailroom can never shake how co-workers perceive them no matter how high they climb within the company. There’s a sense, from the outside looking in, that the Bulls didn’t appreciate how awesome Butler truly is.

He didn��t crack 400 minutes his rookie year. By his third season—his first of three straight appearances on the NBA’s All-Defensive second team—Butler averaged a team-high 38.7 minutes per game. That year he averaged 13.1 points. Two seasons later he was up to 20.9.

“I think they maybe expected me to stay the same, and I don’t think that that’s right. Like, I have changed. I will tell you that. But I think that I’ve changed for the better,” he says. “When I say for the better, whenever I was a rookie, averaging 0.8 points per game or whatever it might be, it wouldn’t matter if I scored that 0.8 because it wasn’t going to win or lose us a game. Now, you go forward a couple years when I’m averaging 20 points per game, that’s more than likely gonna cost us a game. It’s gonna be the difference between winning or losing. Am I right? So now I don’t give a damn about pressure, but if someone’s going to take the blame for something, who they gonna point to? Me. So yeah, I’ve changed, because I want to fucking win. I want to show that I can win. So the way I go about things, it’s not gonna be the way I went about things when I was a rookie, [when] I’m not gonna say anything. Now I’ve got something to fucking say.”

This is what he has to say. Or at least some of it:

“I’m confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go. Not everybody’s like that. [Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg] is not that coach, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There are different coaching styles and people are gonna say—which is what they did say—’It’s gonna be Jimmy’s team or it’s gonna be Fred’s team.’ Two total opposite ends of the spectrum. They’re either gonna try to win it now or they’re gonna go young. And you see which way they went with it. Completely fine. Yo, it’s y’all’s business. It’s y’all’s organization. It’s cool. And now I’m in Minnesota and couldn’t be happier.”

Despite elevating his game to an all-time high last year, too often he was forced to be MacGyver, constantly scraping for useful contributions from his scanty supporting cast while refusing to let constant double and triple teams minimize his impact. The Bulls struggled to boil water whenever he rested on the bench.

Chicago ranked 28th in three-point rate and 24th in three-point percentage yet Butler still dragged them to the playoffs. The floor opened up a tiny bit when Nikola Mirotic played the four, but aging, antiquated guards like Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo too often made the offense feel claustrophobic. It wasn’t an ideal environment for a wing scorer to thrive, but somehow Butler did.

From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of Butler’s two-point field goals that were unassisted increased by just over 20 percent, but his True Shooting percentage didn’t fall. He finished with more Win Shares than LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Kawhi Leonard last year, and was third in “Real Plus-Minus Wins,” a stat that estimates how many wins a player contributes to his team’s season total, behind only LeBron James and Steph Curry.

“You can’t put somebody in a box and then have them think outside the box. Jimmy thinks like there’s no box, so he has no ceiling. Every day we wake up to break boundaries,” Johnson says. “I’m able to develop him as a point guard, as a shooting guard, as a small forward, as a power forward, and as a center. He’s a basketball player. He’s a scorer. He’s not a shooter. He’s not just a primary driver. He can do pretty much anything that is asked of him from his coaches because he allowed me to prepare him for every single situation. The only person who can stop Jimmy is Jimmy. He don’t have a flaw.”

Even for a person as motivated as he is, Butler’s journey to the NBA was a miraculous tightrope walk. There were no AAU connections or free sneakers. Butler is from Tomball, Texas, a slight town about 30 miles outside Houston. After his mother kicked him out of the house when he was 13, Butler couchsurfed through his teenage years before finding relative stability when his friend’s mother agreed to take him in. The story has been told often, but remains too incredible to be sensationalized.

For the typical prospect, coming to average 20 points in the NBA is less likely than purchasing a winning Powerball ticket. For Butler, it was less likely than holding said ticket while riding in the backseat of a limousine with Beyonce, eloping in Vegas.

Butler didn’t receive any scholarship offers out of high school, but he did get noticed by a scout named Alan Branch. Branch identified qualities his colleagues missed, and started to chirp in the direction of any coaches who’d listen. You guys are missing a steal. But no offers were made even after Butler played well in a couple spring tournaments. Nobody thought he was Division-I material.

“The biggest thing I can say is he wasn’t flashy, he wasn’t a freak talent, and he was in the bushes,” Branch says.

So instead of preparing for his first year at a school like Texas Christian University or Morehead State, Branch introduced Butler to Coach Marquis at Tyler Junior College, about three hours north of Tomball. He spent a day working out in their gym, scrimmaged with some of their players and local high-school competition, and was offered a spot right away.

“Mike never saw him shoot the basketball,” Branch said. “Jimmy played like four or five possessions, made the right passes, got a rebound. He was just solid. You could just see the IQ.”

It’s impossible to know what would’ve happened had Branch never brought Butler to Marquis’s attention. There were other junior colleges in the area that might have granted Butler a chance to walk on, but a few critical variables would’ve spun in unpredictable directions had he played anywhere else. To start, Tyler was very good, and good teams draw Division-I eyeballs.

Up until that point in his career, Butler mostly operated in the frontcourt. He crashed the glass, defended well, and offered a tenaciousness that probably wouldn’t have the same effect against bigger, stronger competition. But thanks to the team’s roster construction, Marquis shifted Butler to the perimeter on a full-time basis, forcing him to showcase a more appealing and varied skill-set.

“I didn’t think people would draft him out of junior college after one year, but I thought he was draftable,” Marquis said. “I called [Bulls general manager] Gar Forman, who I had known since he was coaching at Iowa State and New Mexico State, and said there’s something special about Jimmy. If they just continued to watch his progress, they’d really, really like him.”

Far and away the longest lasting benefit from his time in Tyler was who he met while there. Butler’s roommate that season was a 6’7″ wing named Joe Fulce, who was recruited to play for Marquette University by the school’s then-assistant coach Buzz Williams.

“Every time I went to go see Joe, of course, I would say hello to Jimmy,” Williams says.

Fulce—who’s now a graduate assistant coach under Williams at Virginia Tech—and Butler were like a pair of Siamese fighting fish (who also happened to be friends). They competed in everything and played countless games of one on one, after practice, before games; even at random times in the middle of the night—whenever Butler wasn’t hypnotized by his eight hundredth viewing of The Lion King.

“I don’t know how many times I’d either wake up in the morning or wake up at night and his ass is sitting in bed, eating some snacks, with his feet crossed, with a cowboy hat on, watching the damn Lion King with some country music softly playing,” Fulce said to VICE Sports. “His ass is weird.” (Butler still really loves country music.)

Butler led Tyler in scoring and guided them to a 24-5 record. All the while, Fulce relentlessly pitched Williams on his roommate’s all-around potential. A little while later Williams became Marquette’s head coach. Butler was the first player he signed. His letter of intent was famously faxed over from a nearby McDonald’s, and his first day on campus doubled as the first day of school. Butler still had Fulce as his roommate, but never visited Milwaukee beforehand.

“I think from day one until the day he graduated, he became much more confident in who he was on and off the floor,” Williams says. “I think he became less distrustful. His personality showed more often. He was much more comfortable. Obviously, that was an extended period of time where his environment and the people in his environment were stable.”

In three years, Butler never dropped a class, skipped a meeting with his tutor, or showed up late to a weightlifting session. In large part due to Butler being Williams’s first signing, there was inescapable pressure on them both to perform. And through some tough times early on, a mutually beneficial bond was formed.

“What can I say, in some ways I’m proud of it and in other ways I’m not proud of it,” Williams says. “I was hard on him. I was hard on him in every way. I never gave him any relief in any facet of his life, and to his credit he never wanted one. I think as our time together transpired, he expected that. He wanted that. He wanted that as an example to everybody else on the team.”

Butler says the lessons learned in three years at Marquette still resonate, and his relationship with Williams remains strong. Now the head coach at Virginia Tech, Williams gave Butler a journal during his second year in the league. He still writes in it.

Next year, the journal will be different. He’ll be in a new city, with a new team, and a new set of expectations—at least externally. Internally, Butler still has a bottomless urge to be great. He’s forever that serial killer’s dream. He rolls out of bed each morning focused and ready to go for a 90-minute session with Johnson. It’s the first of two workouts they fight through every day. They start by zooming in on ball-handling, finishing, floaters, runners, one-legged jumpers, off-balance jumpers, side pick-and-rolls, middle pick-and-rolls, pick-and-roll passing, and so on and so forth.

He’s already one of the craftiest and effective downhill playmakers in basketball, but for Butler to truly max out his potential in the coming seasons, that jumper needs to stabilize. Last year, he knocked down 36.7 percent of his threes, which is right around league average and an improvement on the previous season. But a higher percentage of his field goal attempts were launched from the inefficient mid-range, where he only canned 38.2 percent. On the whole, that’s not an atrocious number, but it badly trails positional peers like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Kevin Durant.

Later in the day, the second session with Johnson is devoted to shot mechanics—how he can better himself shooting on the move and off the bounce. They study preferable ways for him to create separation and sharpen his technique on fadeaways. Every workout is filmed, allowing Butler and Johnson to obsess over ball and hand placement. They really dig into the finer details that are necessary to make him a more potent all-around weapon.

After the morning workout, Butler rewards himself with a five-minute break and then embarks on a soul-crippling hour with Gaines. Gaines and Johnson work with other professional athletes but have still met with Butler almost every day for the past four years. They will continue to do so in Minnesota. When Butler goes on vacation, be it to Europe, Canada, Mexico, or Mars, Gaines and Johnson come along for the ride.

“I’m not cheap,” Gaines says. “But he pays whatever it costs and whatever it takes to keep his body right.”

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are reserved for corrective exercises, movement prep, movement training, and strength training. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for conditioning work and agility training. Saturdays and Sundays are strictly conditioning. Sometimes they race on the beach or hop on a football field to sprint 110 yards at a time.

Sometimes they’ll get back on an actual basketball court just to embrace the delightful sensation that a gasser can have on the human body. Gassers are timed sprints where, starting on the baseline, Butler has 17 seconds to go half the court and back, then dart to the opposite end line before returning to where he started. “We’ll do 10 to 15 of those,” Gaines said. It sounds like torture, but for Butler the entire process is more vital than oxygen.

There are obvious reasons to think the hard work will continue to pay off. This year, Butler may find that instead of doing more with less, he’ll have the chance to do more with more. In Minnesota, defenses will have to worry about Towns, Wiggins, and Jeff Teague, the kind of score-first point guard Butler hasn’t played with since Derrick Rose’s body broke down. He’ll be able to allocate more energy towards the defensive end—Butler failed to make an All-Defensive team for the first time in three years last season. Despite just four percent body fat hanging from his 230-pound frame, Butler still gets tired every once in a while.

If he can hunt for more open opportunities behind the three-point line instead of settling on tough, contested heaves, he can be one of the most efficient players in the entire NBA.

That won’t necessarily be easy. The Timberwolves actually finished behind Chicago in three-point rate last season. And given how their roster is built, Thibodeau will likely lean on dated lineups that can be exploited when up against modernized rotations. Gorgui Dieng and Taj Gibson will platoon the power forward position, even though they’re both better suited as backup fives. Life on the court may be cluttered once again.

But if Towns leaps forward on the defensive end, Thibs could deploy more versatile units that will accentuate Butler’s strengths. The floor will open up and, if that’s the case, it’s hard to see how he won’t be a legitimate MVP candidate. According to Synergy Sports, Butler ranked in the 77th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler last year. He was 95th in transition, 92nd in spot-up situations, and 91st in the post.

The Timberwolves boast a core that can, in Towns’s words, evolve into a dynasty. Butler likes the fit and is confident he can teach Thibodeau’s system to younger teammates who struggled to grasp it last season. But he’s also understandably cautious when it comes to attaching any bold claims to a group that ranked 26th in defense last year.

“I don’t like the word ‘Super Team’,” he says. “I think everybody’s human. That’s [what] people label Golden State. They’re a really really, really good basketball team. Super team?…On any given time they can be beat, too. It’s all about who’s playing basketball the best at the right time.”

Towns and Wiggins can fill an ocean with their upside. Photo: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports.

Dethroning the Warriors is goal number one. But even if the Timberwolves fall short, Butler will certainly use his time in Minneapolis to expand his fame over the next few years. With the league’s popularity increasing every day in countries all over the world, a genuine superstar’s brand is worth exponentially more than the $19.3 million Minnesota owes Butler this season. Off-court opportunities are constantly nipping at his attention. Three years ago, he took a 75 percent pay cut to go from adidas to Jordan, joining Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and over a dozen other NBA stars. (During our day together, Butler poked fun at a camera operator wearing adidas tennis shoes.)

Bonobos, a menswear company that was recently bought by Walmart, made Butler their brand ambassador last August. And just this month he released his own signature underwear line with PSD, a company Kyrie Irving and Chandler Parsons are also affiliated with. (Butler’s photographer Phil envisions a coffee table book. “If Kim Kardashian can do it,” he says. “Why can’t Jimmy?”)

Last year, he dipped his toe in Hollywood by appearing in Office Christmas Party, a comedy his life guru Mark Wahlberg helped put him in. Butler met Wahlberg in 2013 while the actor was filming a Transformers movie in Chicago. They’ve been close friends ever since, with Butler citing the 46-year-old’s vigorous work ethic as one of the biggest inspirations in his life.

“He’s already one of the best at what he does, but he works as though he’s not. The guy wakes up at 3:30, 4:00 AM to work out. Then he’ll go take his mind off of stuff and play some golf,” Butler says. “He eats healthy and spends time with his family and he’s reading scripts and he’s in meetings and he’s on phone calls. Before you know it, it’s time to do it all over again the next day.” (Butler’s all-time favorite Wahlberg movie is Shooter. “Bob Lee Swagger is that dude,” he says.)

Butler played himself in Office Christmas Party, alongside Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn. He wasn’t stiff in his only scene; the film’s two directors, Josh Gordon and Will Speck, were impressed by his initial foray into a brand new field. “LeBron surprised everyone in Trainwreck by being so fully formed as an actor,” Gordon told VICE Sports. “If Jimmy wanted to [act in the future], he could do it. He’s got that kind of charisma. It’s up to him.”

Butler isn’t sure how much longer he wants to be an NBA player, but hopes to squeeze in at least seven years, two championships, and widespread respect as one of his era’s greatest stars before his body cries uncle. (No big deal.) If he opts out of his player option in 2019, the former Most Improved Player can experience unrestricted free agency for the very first time; just about every team that can afford a max contract will be interested. Even though that level of courtship is something Butler has never gone through before, he’s yet to think about what it’ll feel like.

“I’ll tell you one thing. I’m gonna go or I’m gonna be or I’m gonna stay wherever I’m wanted, man. Because that’s all anybody ever wants,” he says. “To be appreciated.”

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[flauntpage]

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say

Jimmy Butler's cell phone is shaking. We're plopped down in the last row of his home theatre on a couch that feels like a velvet sponge, a blanket covers his outstretched legs.

Butler leans over, looks down, smiles. He picks the phone up, shakes his head, then turns it around to reveal who's on the other end. Coach Thibs. "See?" Butler says. "It's crazy, right? He's always on my phone."

Everything about Butler's place in this exact moment and time can and should be described as "crazy." From the majestic hillside villa tucked away in Malibu—a remote paradise where the 27-year-old lives with a tight crew of friends, family, and paid aides (a photographer is sleeping in the guest house)—to the sudden reunion with Tom Thibodeau, the tireless coach who helped turn Butler into one of the least probable success stories in NBA history, to the Chicago Bulls needlessly trading Butler earlier this summer...the list can go on forever.

Butler's origin story is absurd. Small town Texas kids with no scholarship offers out of high school don't become NBA role players, much less superstars. They aren't oddball country music-loving characters who pal around with famous actors. And they certainly don't accomplish all they have while going out of their way to stand tall as a positive figure off the court. Butler won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award last April, and says he aspires to use his broadening platform to navigate the contentious social issues that plague the country. But his rags to riches past and lavish present are not as moving as what promises to lie ahead.

Butler was voted onto his first All-NBA team last season, with scoring, assist, and rebound averages usually associated with someone headed to the Hall of Fame. (Butler tallied more Win Shares last year than Larry Bird when he won his first MVP). But there's still room for improvement, and next season Butler will be surrounded by players with enough talent to relieve some of the pressure he's felt in years past.

It's been an intense, course-altering summer for Butler, whose reward for establishing himself as one of the world's 15 best basketball players was the trade, three months ago, from Chicago to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a franchise that's perpetually struggling to stand on its own two feet. But Butler—alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, two Rookie of the Year winners who can fill an ocean with their talent and upside—is poised to change all that.

Coach Thibs is always calling Butler—and always calling his number. Photo: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Already one of, if not the, most physically fit individuals in a league overcrowded by the most athletic specimens on earth, Butler dedicated his summer to figuring out a way to get into even more ridiculous shape—the better to handle one of the NBA's toughest workloads. (According to NBA.com, he ran more miles per game than all but two other players during 2016-17, and led the entire league in each of the previous two seasons.)

"The man, simply, is addicted to working," says Butler's personal skills trainer Chris Johnson.

His weekly schedule consists of approximately nine hundred thousand hours of on-court basketball drills, spliced with a grueling workout plan that made my eyes water when I first heard it. Without an alarm, Butler is out of bed by 5:45 AM and on the court by 6:00.

"He's a serial killer's dream. He does the same shit every fucking day."

Meals hardly deviate. It's scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, and a protein shake for breakfast. Lunch is Chipotle, with plain white rice, double chicken, light lettuce, and half a cup of vinaigrette (no cilantro). At night, his chef will prepare a dish around fish or chicken. He hasn't had red meat in years and steers clear of alcohol.

When Butler isn't drenched in sweat, most of his free time is either spent in his theatre watching the same movies over and over (Friday is a favorite), or escaping into never-ending games of Spades or dominoes. Yoga is on the docket. Nightclubs are not.

"He's a serial killer's dream," says Butler's personal strength trainer Travelle Gaines, who counts NFL superstars like Antonio Brown and Demaryius Thomas as clients. "He does the same shit every fucking day."

Butler is shirtless in tan pants and Jordan slides when we first meet outside his pool house. "Want a beer?" He reaches into a brown Albertson's bag and removes a cold can of Michelob Ultra. His hair is braided tight like a crown, and it's impossible not to notice how much his chest looks like gladiator armor. This is also a reminder that our interview (and a photo shoot he's doing) have pushed Butler out of his usual routine, but he doesn't seem too worried about it.

"I'll just make it all up in a short period tonight and be really tired in the morning when I wake up and start my schedule all over again, but it's part of it," he says.

The mood when Butler enters a room somehow relaxes and tightens at the exact same time. His personality glides from standup comedian to superintendent. He's genuinely curious, cerebral, and a little mischievous. Ultimately, everything, from his schedule to his diet to the people he chooses to spend every waking minute around, is about efficiency. Even in this wonderland, with potted lemon trees at every turn, a hoard of wicker patio furniture, and a Southern California sun that dares anyone under it to do nothing but sip gin and tonics on end, Butler's playfulness has limitations.

"I'm confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go."

The conversation turns to his work ethic. He understands not everyone is as driven as he is, but can't comprehend the thought of someone (especially another NBA player) not doing all they can to reach their full potential. It bugs him, even though he knows it shouldn't.

"I think it's wrong for me to think that people want what I want because in reality they don't. Some people are OK with getting drafted. Some people are OK with playing two years in the league, four years in the league, six years in the league. Some people are OK with just scoring a basket in an NBA game. I'm not OK with any of that. I'm not satisfied until I win a championship," he says. "I want everybody to work the way that I work and it's wrong for me to think like that because people don't do it! But in my mind I'm just like why? Why don't you want to chase greatness the way that I do?"

Last January, after a humiliating loss in Atlanta that saw the Bulls blow a 10 point lead with three minutes left, Butler was fined for publicly dragging his teammates through the mud. After he was traded, former NBA player Antoine Walker called Butler a "bad locker room guy." A recent report suggested the Boston Celtics had concerns about trading for the three-time All-Star because Butler might clash with Gordon Hayward, who they eventually signed in free agency.

Butler has little patience for people less driven than he is. Photo: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports.

"Even as a first-semester freshman, he wasn't gonna let guys drift through practice," says Mike Marquis, Butler's coach at Tyler Junior College. "He is very, very competitive, and he is great when he finds an enemy. I think that's one of his charms. He knows how to psychologically find an enemy and attack it."

I ask Butler if he's a difficult person to be around.

"Yes," he says.

But it's not as simple as that. Difficult is in the eye of the beholder, just like laziness.

"But then again it's bad on my part because I know better," Butler says. "It's kind of contradicting itself. It's like, 'Well Jimmy you know better, don't do that.' But then the other half is just like, 'Well, if you can do it everybody can do it.' But then it goes back again. 'You know that it don't work like that, right? Yeah, I know, but I think that it can so everybody needs to work like this.'"

"I think it takes a very special person to deal with Jimmy Butler," says Gaines. "He's actually too smart for his own good."

Once the photo shoot ends, we migrate down to the main house. Ready to play Spades, Butler is hunched over a square folding table that's been pummeled by thousands of domino tiles. He's flanked by Phil Ducasse, his newly appointed personal photographer, Ifeyani Koggu, a former Arkansas State guard who Butler introduces as his brother, and Mike Smith, Butler's mentee, of sorts, from Chicago who's about to enter his sophomore season at Columbia. A chandelier the size of a kiddie pool hangs overhead. Boxes of Size 14 retro Jordans are stacked against the dining room wall, with loose jewelry and designer clothes casually spread across the table and floor.

Nearly two hours later the card game ends and Butler recedes to his theatre. He acknowledges that his whirlwind ascent altered relationships and transfigured his behavior in Chicago, but doesn't feel taken for granted by the Bulls organization. Still, an old truism lingers: the one about how those who start in the mailroom can never shake how co-workers perceive them no matter how high they climb within the company. There's a sense, from the outside looking in, that the Bulls didn't appreciate how awesome Butler truly is.

He didn't crack 400 minutes his rookie year. By his third season—his first of three straight appearances on the NBA's All-Defensive second team—Butler averaged a team-high 38.7 minutes per game. That year he averaged 13.1 points. Two seasons later he was up to 20.9.

"I think they maybe expected me to stay the same, and I don't think that that's right. Like, I have changed. I will tell you that. But I think that I've changed for the better," he says. "When I say for the better, whenever I was a rookie, averaging 0.8 points per game or whatever it might be, it wouldn't matter if I scored that 0.8 because it wasn't going to win or lose us a game. Now, you go forward a couple years when I'm averaging 20 points per game, that's more than likely gonna cost us a game. It's gonna be the difference between winning or losing. Am I right? So now I don't give a damn about pressure, but if someone's going to take the blame for something, who they gonna point to? Me. So yeah, I've changed, because I want to fucking win. I want to show that I can win. So the way I go about things, it's not gonna be the way I went about things when I was a rookie, [when] I'm not gonna say anything. Now I've got something to fucking say."

This is what he has to say. Or at least some of it:

"I'm confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go. Not everybody's like that. [Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg] is not that coach, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are different coaching styles and people are gonna say—which is what they did say—'It's gonna be Jimmy's team or it's gonna be Fred's team.' Two total opposite ends of the spectrum. They're either gonna try to win it now or they're gonna go young. And you see which way they went with it. Completely fine. Yo, it's y'all's business. It's y'all's organization. It's cool. And now I'm in Minnesota and couldn't be happier."

Despite elevating his game to an all-time high last year, too often he was forced to be MacGyver, constantly scraping for useful contributions from his scanty supporting cast while refusing to let constant double and triple teams minimize his impact. The Bulls struggled to boil water whenever he rested on the bench.

Chicago ranked 28th in three-point rate and 24th in three-point percentage yet Butler still dragged them to the playoffs. The floor opened up a tiny bit when Nikola Mirotic played the four, but aging, antiquated guards like Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo too often made the offense feel claustrophobic. It wasn't an ideal environment for a wing scorer to thrive, but somehow Butler did.

From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of Butler's two-point field goals that were unassisted increased by just over 20 percent, but his True Shooting percentage didn't fall. He finished with more Win Shares than LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Kawhi Leonard last year, and was third in "Real Plus-Minus Wins," a stat that estimates how many wins a player contributes to his team's season total, behind only LeBron James and Steph Curry.

"You can't put somebody in a box and then have them think outside the box. Jimmy thinks like there's no box, so he has no ceiling. Every day we wake up to break boundaries," Johnson says. "I'm able to develop him as a point guard, as a shooting guard, as a small forward, as a power forward, and as a center. He's a basketball player. He's a scorer. He's not a shooter. He's not just a primary driver. He can do pretty much anything that is asked of him from his coaches because he allowed me to prepare him for every single situation. The only person who can stop Jimmy is Jimmy. He don't have a flaw."

Even for a person as motivated as he is, Butler's journey to the NBA was a miraculous tightrope walk. There were no AAU connections or free sneakers. Butler is from Tomball, Texas, a slight town about 30 miles outside Houston. After his mother kicked him out of the house when he was 13, Butler couchsurfed through his teenage years before finding relative stability when his friend's mother agreed to take him in. The story has been told often, but remains too incredible to be sensationalized.

For the typical prospect, coming to average 20 points in the NBA is less likely than purchasing a winning Powerball ticket. For Butler, it was less likely than holding said ticket while riding in the backseat of a limousine with Beyonce, eloping in Vegas.

Butler didn't receive any scholarship offers out of high school, but he did get noticed by a scout named Alan Branch. Branch identified qualities his colleagues missed, and started to chirp in the direction of any coaches who'd listen. You guys are missing a steal. But no offers were made even after Butler played well in a couple spring tournaments. Nobody thought he was Division-I material.

"The biggest thing I can say is he wasn't flashy, he wasn't a freak talent, and he was in the bushes," Branch says.

So instead of preparing for his first year at a school like Texas Christian University or Morehead State, Branch introduced Butler to Coach Marquis at Tyler Junior College, about three hours north of Tomball. He spent a day working out in their gym, scrimmaged with some of their players and local high-school competition, and was offered a spot right away.

"Mike never saw him shoot the basketball," Branch said. "Jimmy played like four or five possessions, made the right passes, got a rebound. He was just solid. You could just see the IQ."

It's impossible to know what would've happened had Branch never brought Butler to Marquis's attention. There were other junior colleges in the area that might have granted Butler a chance to walk on, but a few critical variables would've spun in unpredictable directions had he played anywhere else. To start, Tyler was very good, and good teams draw Division-I eyeballs.

Up until that point in his career, Butler mostly operated in the frontcourt. He crashed the glass, defended well, and offered a tenaciousness that probably wouldn't have the same effect against bigger, stronger competition. But thanks to the team's roster construction, Marquis shifted Butler to the perimeter on a full-time basis, forcing him to showcase a more appealing and varied skill-set.

"I didn't think people would draft him out of junior college after one year, but I thought he was draftable," Marquis said. "I called [Bulls general manager] Gar Forman, who I had known since he was coaching at Iowa State and New Mexico State, and said there's something special about Jimmy. If they just continued to watch his progress, they'd really, really like him."

Far and away the longest lasting benefit from his time in Tyler was who he met while there. Butler's roommate that season was a 6'7" wing named Joe Fulce, who was recruited to play for Marquette University by the school's then-assistant coach Buzz Williams.

"Every time I went to go see Joe, of course, I would say hello to Jimmy," Williams says.

Fulce—who's now a graduate assistant coach under Williams at Virginia Tech—and Butler were like a pair of Siamese fighting fish (who also happened to be friends). They competed in everything and played countless games of one on one, after practice, before games; even at random times in the middle of the night—whenever Butler wasn't hypnotized by his eight hundredth viewing of The Lion King.

"I don't know how many times I'd either wake up in the morning or wake up at night and his ass is sitting in bed, eating some snacks, with his feet crossed, with a cowboy hat on, watching the damn Lion King with some country music softly playing," Fulce said to VICE Sports. "His ass is weird." (Butler still really loves country music.)

Butler led Tyler in scoring and guided them to a 24-5 record. All the while, Fulce relentlessly pitched Williams on his roommate's all-around potential. A little while later Williams became Marquette's head coach. Butler was the first player he signed. His letter of intent was famously faxed over from a nearby McDonald's, and his first day on campus doubled as the first day of school. Butler still had Fulce as his roommate, but never visited Milwaukee beforehand.

"I think from day one until the day he graduated, he became much more confident in who he was on and off the floor," Williams says. "I think he became less distrustful. His personality showed more often. He was much more comfortable. Obviously, that was an extended period of time where his environment and the people in his environment were stable."

In three years, Butler never dropped a class, skipped a meeting with his tutor, or showed up late to a weightlifting session. In large part due to Butler being Williams's first signing, there was inescapable pressure on them both to perform. And through some tough times early on, a mutually beneficial bond was formed.

"What can I say, in some ways I'm proud of it and in other ways I'm not proud of it," Williams says. "I was hard on him. I was hard on him in every way. I never gave him any relief in any facet of his life, and to his credit he never wanted one. I think as our time together transpired, he expected that. He wanted that. He wanted that as an example to everybody else on the team."

Butler says the lessons learned in three years at Marquette still resonate, and his relationship with Williams remains strong. Now the head coach at Virginia Tech, Williams gave Butler a journal during his second year in the league. He still writes in it.

Next year, the journal will be different. He'll be in a new city, with a new team, and a new set of expectations—at least externally. Internally, Butler still has a bottomless urge to be great. He's forever that serial killer's dream. He rolls out of bed each morning focused and ready to go for a 90-minute session with Johnson. It's the first of two workouts they fight through every day. They start by zooming in on ball-handling, finishing, floaters, runners, one-legged jumpers, off-balance jumpers, side pick-and-rolls, middle pick-and-rolls, pick-and-roll passing, and so on and so forth.

He's already one of the craftiest and effective downhill playmakers in basketball, but for Butler to truly max out his potential in the coming seasons, that jumper needs to stabilize. Last year, he knocked down 36.7 percent of his threes, which is right around league average and an improvement on the previous season. But a higher percentage of his field goal attempts were launched from the inefficient mid-range, where he only canned 38.2 percent. On the whole, that's not an atrocious number, but it badly trails positional peers like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Kevin Durant.

Later in the day, the second session with Johnson is devoted to shot mechanics—how he can better himself shooting on the move and off the bounce. They study preferable ways for him to create separation and sharpen his technique on fadeaways. Every workout is filmed, allowing Butler and Johnson to obsess over ball and hand placement. They really dig into the finer details that are necessary to make him a more potent all-around weapon.

After the morning workout, Butler rewards himself with a five-minute break and then embarks on a soul-crippling hour with Gaines. Gaines and Johnson work with other professional athletes but have still met with Butler almost every day for the past four years. They will continue to do so in Minnesota. When Butler goes on vacation, be it to Europe, Canada, Mexico, or Mars, Gaines and Johnson come along for the ride.

"I'm not cheap," Gaines says. "But he pays whatever it costs and whatever it takes to keep his body right."

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are reserved for corrective exercises, movement prep, movement training, and strength training. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for conditioning work and agility training. Saturdays and Sundays are strictly conditioning. Sometimes they race on the beach or hop on a football field to sprint 110 yards at a time.

Sometimes they'll get back on an actual basketball court just to embrace the delightful sensation that a gasser can have on the human body. Gassers are timed sprints where, starting on the baseline, Butler has 17 seconds to go half the court and back, then dart to the opposite end line before returning to where he started. "We'll do 10 to 15 of those," Gaines said. It sounds like torture, but for Butler the entire process is more vital than oxygen.

There are obvious reasons to think the hard work will continue to pay off. This year, Butler may find that instead of doing more with less, he'll have the chance to do more with more. In Minnesota, defenses will have to worry about Towns, Wiggins, and Jeff Teague, the kind of score-first point guard Butler hasn't played with since Derrick Rose's body broke down. He'll be able to allocate more energy towards the defensive end—Butler failed to make an All-Defensive team for the first time in three years last season. Despite just four percent body fat hanging from his 230-pound frame, Butler still gets tired every once in a while.

If he can hunt for more open opportunities behind the three-point line instead of settling on tough, contested heaves, he can be one of the most efficient players in the entire NBA.

That won't necessarily be easy. The Timberwolves actually finished behind Chicago in three-point rate last season. And given how their roster is built, Thibodeau will likely lean on dated lineups that can be exploited when up against modernized rotations. Gorgui Dieng and Taj Gibson will platoon the power forward position, even though they're both better suited as backup fives. Life on the court may be cluttered once again.

But if Towns leaps forward on the defensive end, Thibs could deploy more versatile units that will accentuate Butler's strengths. The floor will open up and, if that's the case, it's hard to see how he won't be a legitimate MVP candidate. According to Synergy Sports, Butler ranked in the 77th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler last year. He was 95th in transition, 92nd in spot-up situations, and 91st in the post.

The Timberwolves boast a core that can, in Towns's words, evolve into a dynasty. Butler likes the fit and is confident he can teach Thibodeau's system to younger teammates who struggled to grasp it last season. But he's also understandably cautious when it comes to attaching any bold claims to a group that ranked 26th in defense last year.

"I don't like the word 'Super Team'," he says. "I think everybody's human. That's [what] people label Golden State. They're a really really, really good basketball team. Super team?...On any given time they can be beat, too. It's all about who's playing basketball the best at the right time."

Towns and Wiggins can fill an ocean with their upside. Photo: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports.

Dethroning the Warriors is goal number one. But even if the Timberwolves fall short, Butler will certainly use his time in Minneapolis to expand his fame over the next few years. With the league's popularity increasing every day in countries all over the world, a genuine superstar's brand is worth exponentially more than the $19.3 million Minnesota owes Butler this season. Off-court opportunities are constantly nipping at his attention. Three years ago, he took a 75 percent pay cut to go from adidas to Jordan, joining Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and over a dozen other NBA stars. (During our day together, Butler poked fun at a camera operator wearing adidas tennis shoes.)

Bonobos, a menswear company that was recently bought by Walmart, made Butler their brand ambassador last August. And just this month he released his own signature underwear line with PSD, a company Kyrie Irving and Chandler Parsons are also affiliated with. (Butler's photographer Phil envisions a coffee table book. "If Kim Kardashian can do it," he says. "Why can't Jimmy?")

Last year, he dipped his toe in Hollywood by appearing in Office Christmas Party, a comedy his life guru Mark Wahlberg helped put him in. Butler met Wahlberg in 2013 while the actor was filming a Transformers movie in Chicago. They've been close friends ever since, with Butler citing the 46-year-old's vigorous work ethic as one of the biggest inspirations in his life.

"He's already one of the best at what he does, but he works as though he's not. The guy wakes up at 3:30, 4:00 AM to work out. Then he'll go take his mind off of stuff and play some golf," Butler says. "He eats healthy and spends time with his family and he's reading scripts and he's in meetings and he's on phone calls. Before you know it, it's time to do it all over again the next day." (Butler's all-time favorite Wahlberg movie is Shooter. "Bob Lee Swagger is that dude," he says.)

Butler played himself in Office Christmas Party, alongside Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn. He wasn't stiff in his only scene; the film's two directors, Josh Gordon and Will Speck, were impressed by his initial foray into a brand new field. "LeBron surprised everyone in Trainwreck by being so fully formed as an actor," Gordon told VICE Sports. "If Jimmy wanted to [act in the future], he could do it. He's got that kind of charisma. It's up to him."

Butler isn't sure how much longer he wants to be an NBA player, but hopes to squeeze in at least seven years, two championships, and widespread respect as one of his era's greatest stars before his body cries uncle. (No big deal.) If he opts out of his player option in 2019, the former Most Improved Player can experience unrestricted free agency for the very first time; just about every team that can afford a max contract will be interested. Even though that level of courtship is something Butler has never gone through before, he's yet to think about what it'll feel like.

"I'll tell you one thing," he says. "I'm gonna go or I'm gonna be or I'm gonna stay wherever I'm wanted, man. Because that's all anybody ever wants," he says. "To be appreciated."

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say

Jimmy Butler’s cell phone is shaking. We’re plopped down in the last row of his home theatre on a couch that feels like a velvet sponge, a blanket covers his outstretched legs.

Butler leans over, looks down, smiles. He picks the phone up, shakes his head, then turns it around to reveal who’s on the other end. Coach Thibs. “See?” Butler says. “It’s crazy, right? He’s always on my phone.”

Everything about Butler’s place in this exact moment and time can and should be described as “crazy.” From the majestic hillside villa tucked away in Malibu—a remote paradise where the 27-year-old lives with a tight crew of friends, family, and paid aides (a photographer is sleeping in the guest house)—to the sudden reunion with Tom Thibodeau, the tireless coach who helped turn Butler into one of the least probable success stories in NBA history, to the Chicago Bulls needlessly trading Butler earlier this summer…the list can go on forever.

Butler’s origin story is absurd. Small town Texas kids with no scholarship offers out of high school don’t become NBA role players, much less superstars. They aren’t oddball country music-loving characters who pal around with movie stars. And they certainly don’t accomplish all they have while going out of their way to stand tall as a positive figure off the court. Butler won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award last April, and says he aspires to use his broadening platform to navigate the contentious social issues that plague the country. But his rags to riches past and lavish present are not as moving as what promises to lie ahead.

Butler was voted onto his first All-NBA team last season, with scoring, assist, and rebound averages usually associated with someone headed to the Hall of Fame. (Butler tallied more Win Shares last year than Larry Bird when he won his first MVP). But there’s still room for improvement, and next season Butler will be surrounded by players with enough talent to relieve some of the pressure he’s felt in years past.

It’s been an intense, course-altering summer for Butler, whose reward for establishing himself as one of the world’s 15 best basketball players was the trade, three months ago, from Chicago to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a franchise that’s perpetually struggling to stand on its own two feet. But Butler—alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, two Rookie of the Year winners who can fill an ocean with their talent and upside—is poised to change all that.

Coach Thibs is always calling Butler—and always calling his number. Photo: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Already one of, if not the, most physically fit individuals in a league overcrowded by the most athletic specimens on earth, Butler dedicated his summer to figuring out a way to get into even more ridiculous shape—the better to handle one of the NBA’s toughest workloads. (According to NBA.com, he ran more miles per game than all but two other players during 2016-17, and led the entire league in each of the previous two seasons.)

“The man, simply, is addicted to working,” says Butler’s personal skills trainer Chris Johnson.

His weekly schedule consists of approximately nine hundred thousand hours of on-court basketball drills, spliced with a grueling workout plan that made my eyes water when I first heard it. Without an alarm, Butler is out of bed by 5:45 AM and on the court by 6:00.

“He’s a serial killer’s dream. He does the same shit every fucking day.”

Meals hardly deviate. It’s scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, and a protein shake for breakfast. Lunch is Chipotle, with plain white rice, double chicken, light lettuce, and half a cup of vinaigrette (no cilantro). At night, his chef will prepare a dish around fish or chicken. He hasn’t had red meat in years and steers clear of alcohol.

When Butler isn’t drenched in sweat, most of his free time is either spent in his theatre watching the same movies over and over (Friday is a favorite), or escaping into never-ending games of Spades or dominoes. Yoga is on the docket. Nightclubs are not.

“He’s a serial killer’s dream,” says Butler’s personal strength trainer Travelle Gaines, who counts NFL superstars like Antonio Brown and Demaryius Thomas as clients. “He does the same shit every fucking day.”

Butler is shirtless in tan pants and Jordan slides when we first meet outside his pool house. “Want a beer?” He reaches into a brown Albertson’s bag and removes a cold can of Michelob Ultra. His hair is braided tight like a crown, and it’s impossible not to notice how much his chest looks like gladiator armor. This is also a reminder that our interview (and a photo shoot he’s doing) have pushed Butler’s out of his usual routine, but he doesn’t seem too worried about it.

“I’ll just make it all up in a short period tonight and be really tired in the morning when I wake up and start my schedule all over again, but it’s part of it,” he says.

The mood when Butler enters a room somehow relaxes and tightens at the exact same time. His personality glides from standup comedian to superintendent. He’s genuinely curious, cerebral, and a little mischievous. Ultimately, everything, from his schedule to his diet to the people he chooses to spend every waking minute around, is about efficiency. Even in this wonderland, with potted lemon trees at every turn, a hoard of wicker patio furniture, and a Southern California sun that dares anyone under it to do nothing but sip gin and tonics on end, Butler’s playfulness has limitations.

“I’m confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go.”

The conversation turns to his work ethic. He understands not everyone is as driven as he is, but can’t comprehend the thought of someone (especially another NBA player) not doing all they can to reach their full potential. It bugs him, even though he knows it shouldn’t.

“I think it’s wrong for me to think that people want what I want because in reality they don’t. Some people are OK with getting drafted. Some people are OK with playing two years in the league, four years in the league, six years in the league. Some people are OK with just scoring a basket in an NBA game. I’m not OK with any of that. I’m not satisfied until I win a championship,” he says. “I want everybody to work the way that I work and it’s wrong for me to think like that because people don’t do it! But in my mind I’m just like why? Why don’t you want to chase greatness the way that I do?”

Last January, after a humiliating loss in Atlanta that saw the Bulls blow a 10 point lead with three minutes left, Butler was fined for publicly dragging his teammates through the mud. After he was traded, former NBA player Antoine Walker called Butler a “bad locker room guy.” A recent report suggested the Boston Celtics had concerns about trading for the three-time All-Star because Butler might clash with Gordon Hayward, who they eventually signed in free agency.

Butler has little patience for people less driven than he is. Photo: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports.

“Even as a first-semester freshman, he wasn’t gonna let guys drift through practice,” says Mike Marquis, Butler’s coach at Tyler Junior College. “He is very, very competitive, and he is great when he finds an enemy. I think that’s one of his charms. He knows how to psychologically find an enemy and attack it.”

I ask Butler if he’s a difficult person to be around.

“Yes,” he says.

But it’s not as simple as that. Difficult is in the eye of the beholder, just like laziness.

“But then again it’s bad on my part because I know better,” Butler says. “It’s kind of contradicting itself. It’s like, ‘Well Jimmy you know better, don’t do that.’ But then the other half is just like, ‘Well, if you can do it everybody can do it.’ But then it goes back again. ‘You know that it don’t work like that, right? Yeah, I know, but I think that it can so everybody needs to work like this.'”

“I think it takes a very special person to deal with Jimmy Butler,” says Gaines. “He’s actually too smart for his own good.”

Once the photo shoot ends, we migrate down to the main house. Ready to play Spades, Butler is hunched over a square folding table that’s been pummeled by thousands of domino tiles. He’s flanked by Phil Ducasse, his newly appointed personal photographer, Ifeyani Koggu, a former Arkansas State guard who Butler introduces as his brother, and Mike Smith, Butler’s mentee, of sorts, from Chicago who’s about to enter his sophomore season at Columbia. A chandelier the size of a kiddie pool hangs overhead. Boxes of Size 14 retro Jordans are stacked against the dining room wall, with loose jewelry and designer clothes casually spread across the table and floor.

Nearly two hours later the card game ends and Butler recedes to his theatre. He acknowledges that his whirlwind ascent altered relationships and transfigured his behavior in Chicago, but doesn’t feel taken for granted by the Bulls organization. Still, an old truism lingers: the one about how those who start in the mailroom can never shake how co-workers perceive them no matter how high they climb within the company. There’s a sense, from the outside looking in, that the Bulls didn’t appreciate how awesome Butler truly is.

He didn’t crack 400 minutes his rookie year. By his third season—his first of three straight appearances on the NBA’s All-Defensive second team—Butler averaged a team-high 38.7 minutes per game. That year he averaged 13.1 points. Two seasons later he was up to 20.9.

“I think they maybe expected me to stay the same, and I don’t think that that’s right. Like, I have changed. I will tell you that. But I think that I’ve changed for the better,” he says. “When I say for the better, whenever I was a rookie, averaging 0.8 points per game or whatever it might be, it wouldn’t matter if I scored that 0.8 because it wasn’t going to win or lose us a game. Now, you go forward a couple years when I’m averaging 20 points per game, that’s more than likely gonna cost us a game. It’s gonna be the difference between winning or losing. Am I right? So now I don’t give a damn about pressure, but if someone’s going to take the blame for something, who they gonna point to? Me. So yeah, I’ve changed, because I want to fucking win. I want to show that I can win. So the way I go about things, it’s not gonna be the way I went about things when I was a rookie, [when] I’m not gonna say anything. Now I’ve got something to fucking say.”

This is what he has to say. Or at least some of it:

“I’m confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go. Not everybody’s like that. [Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg] is not that coach, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There are different coaching styles and people are gonna say—which is what they did say—’It’s gonna be Jimmy’s team or it’s gonna be Fred’s team.’ Two total opposite ends of the spectrum. They’re either gonna try to win it now or they’re gonna go young. And you see which way they went with it. Completely fine. Yo, it’s y’all’s business. It’s y’all’s organization. It’s cool. And now I’m in Minnesota and couldn’t be happier.”

Despite elevating his game to an all-time high last year, too often he was forced to be MacGyver, constantly scraping for useful contributions from his scanty supporting cast while refusing to let constant double and triple teams minimize his impact. The Bulls struggled to boil water whenever he rested on the bench.

Chicago ranked 28th in three-point rate and 24th in three-point percentage yet Butler still dragged them to the playoffs. The floor opened up a tiny bit when Nikola Mirotic played the four, but aging, antiquated guards like Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo too often made the offense feel claustrophobic. It wasn’t an ideal environment for a wing scorer to thrive, but somehow Butler did.

From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of Butler’s two-point field goals that were unassisted increased by just over 20 percent, but his True Shooting percentage didn’t fall. He finished with more Win Shares than LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Kawhi Leonard last year, and was third in “Real Plus-Minus Wins,” a stat that estimates how many wins a player contributes to his team’s season total, behind only LeBron James and Steph Curry.

“You can’t put somebody in a box and then have them think outside the box. Jimmy thinks like there’s no box, so he has no ceiling. Every day we wake up to break boundaries,” Johnson says. “I’m able to develop him as a point guard, as a shooting guard, as a small forward, as a power forward, and as a center. He’s a basketball player. He’s a scorer. He’s not a shooter. He’s not just a primary driver. He can do pretty much anything that is asked of him from his coaches because he allowed me to prepare him for every single situation. The only person who can stop Jimmy is Jimmy. He don’t have a flaw.”

Even for a person as motivated as he is, Butler’s journey to the NBA was a miraculous tightrope walk. There were no AAU connections or free sneakers. Butler is from Tomball, Texas, a slight town about 30 miles outside Houston. After his mother kicked him out of the house when he was 13, Butler couchsurfed through his teenage years before finding relative stability when his friend’s mother agreed to take him in. The story has been told often, but remains too incredible to be sensationalized.

For the typical prospect, coming to average 20 points in the NBA is less likely than purchasing a winning Powerball ticket. For Butler, it was less likely than holding said ticket while riding in the backseat of a limousine with Beyonce, eloping in Vegas.

Butler didn’t receive any scholarship offers out of high school, but he did get noticed by a scout named Alan Branch. Branch identified qualities his colleagues missed, and started to chirp in the direction of any coaches who’d listen. You guys are missing a steal. But no offers were made even after Butler played well in a couple spring tournaments. Nobody thought he was Division-I material.

“The biggest thing I can say is he wasn’t flashy, he wasn’t a freak talent, and he was in the bushes,” Branch says.

So instead of preparing for his first year at a school like Texas Christian University or Morehead State, Branch introduced Butler to Coach Marquis at Tyler Junior College, about three hours north of Tomball. He spent a day working out in their gym, scrimmaged with some of their players and local high-school competition, and was offered a spot right away.

“Mike never saw him shoot the basketball,” Branch said. “Jimmy played like four or five possessions, made the right passes, got a rebound. He was just solid. You could just see the IQ.”

It’s impossible to know what would’ve happened had Branch never brought Butler to Marquis’s attention. There were other junior colleges in the area that might have granted Butler a chance to walk on, but a few critical variables would’ve spun in unpredictable directions had he played anywhere else. To start, Tyler was very good, and good teams draw Division-I eyeballs.

Up until that point in his career, Butler mostly operated in the frontcourt. He crashed the glass, defended well, and offered a tenaciousness that probably wouldn’t have the same effect against bigger, stronger competition. But thanks to the team’s roster construction, Marquis shifted Butler to the perimeter on a full-time basis, forcing him to showcase a more appealing and varied skill-set.

“I didn’t think people would draft him out of junior college after one year, but I thought he was draftable,” Marquis said. “I called [Bulls general manager] Gar Forman, who I had known since he was coaching at Iowa State and New Mexico State, and said there’s something special about Jimmy. If they just continued to watch his progress, they’d really, really like him.”

Far and away the longest lasting benefit from his time in Tyler was who he met while there. Butler’s roommate that season was a 6’7″ wing named Joe Fulce, who was recruited to play for Marquette University by the school’s then-assistant coach Buzz Williams.

“Every time I went to go see Joe, of course, I would say hello to Jimmy,” Williams says.

Fulce—who’s now a graduate assistant coach under Williams at Virginia Tech—and Butler were like a pair of Siamese fighting fish (who also happened to be friends). They competed in everything and played countless games of one on one, after practice, before games; even at random times in the middle of the night—whenever Butler wasn’t hypnotized by his eight hundredth viewing of The Lion King.

“I don’t know how many times I’d either wake up in the morning or wake up at night and his ass is sitting in bed, eating some snacks, with his feet crossed, with a cowboy hat on, watching the damn Lion King with some country music softly playing,” Fulce said to VICE Sports. “His ass is weird.” (Butler still really loves country music.)

Butler led Tyler in scoring and guided them to a 24-5 record. All the while, Fulce relentlessly pitched Williams on his roommate’s all-around potential. A little while later Williams became Marquette’s head coach. Butler was the first player he signed. His letter of intent was famously faxed over from a nearby McDonald’s, and his first day on campus doubled as the first day of school. Butler still had Fulce as his roommate, but never visited Milwaukee beforehand.

“I think from day one until the day he graduated, he became much more confident in who he was on and off the floor,” Williams says. “I think he became less distrustful. His personality showed more often. He was much more comfortable. Obviously, that was an extended period of time where his environment and the people in his environment were stable.”

In three years, Butler never dropped a class, skipped a meeting with his tutor, or showed up late to a weightlifting session. In large part due to Butler being Williams’s first signing, there was inescapable pressure on them both to perform. And through some tough times early on, a mutually beneficial bond was formed.

“What can I say, in some ways I’m proud of it and in other ways I’m not proud of it,” Williams says. “I was hard on him. I was hard on him in every way. I never gave him any relief in any facet of his life, and to his credit he never wanted one. I think as our time together transpired, he expected that. He wanted that. He wanted that as an example to everybody else on the team.”

Butler says the lessons learned in three years at Marquette still resonate, and his relationship with Williams remains strong. Now the head coach at Virginia Tech, Williams gave Butler a journal during his second year in the league. He still writes in it.

Next year, the journal will be different. He’ll be in a new city, with a new team, and a new set of expectations—at least externally. Internally, Butler still has a bottomless urge to be great. He’s forever that serial killer’s dream. He rolls out of bed each morning focused and ready to go for a 90-minute session with Johnson. It’s the first of two workouts they fight through every day. They start by zooming in on ball-handling, finishing, floaters, runners, one-legged jumpers, off-balance jumpers, side pick-and-rolls, middle pick-and-rolls, pick-and-roll passing, and so on and so forth.

He’s already one of the craftiest and effective downhill playmakers in basketball, but for Butler to truly max out his potential in the coming seasons, that jumper needs to stabilize. Last year, he knocked down 36.7 percent of his threes, which is right around league average and an improvement on the previous season. But a higher percentage of his field goal attempts were launched from the inefficient mid-range, where he only canned 38.2 percent. On the whole, that’s not an atrocious number, but it badly trails positional peers like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Kevin Durant.

Later in the day, the second session with Johnson is devoted to shot mechanics—how he can better himself shooting on the move and off the bounce. They study preferable ways for him to create separation and sharpen his technique on fadeaways. Every workout is filmed, allowing Butler and Johnson to obsess over ball and hand placement. They really dig into the finer details that are necessary to make him a more potent all-around weapon.

After the morning workout, Butler rewards himself with a five-minute break and then embarks on a soul-crippling hour with Gaines. Gaines and Johnson work with other professional athletes but have still met with Butler almost every day for the past four years. They will continue to do so in Minnesota. When Butler goes on vacation, be it to Europe, Canada, Mexico, or Mars, Gaines and Johnson come along for the ride.

“I’m not cheap,” Gaines says. “But he pays whatever it costs and whatever it takes to keep his body right.”

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are reserved for corrective exercises, movement prep, movement training, and strength training. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for conditioning work and agility training. Saturdays and Sundays are strictly conditioning. Sometimes they race on the beach or hop on a football field to sprint 110 yards at a time.

Sometimes they’ll get back on an actual basketball court just to embrace the delightful sensation that a gasser can have on the human body. Gassers are timed sprints where, starting on the baseline, Butler has 17 seconds to go half the court and back, then dart to the opposite end line before returning to where he started. “We’ll do 10 to 15 of those,” Gaines said. It sounds like torture, but for Butler the entire process is more vital than oxygen.

There are obvious reasons to think the hard work will continue to pay off. This year, Butler may find that instead of doing more with less, he’ll have the chance to do more with more. In Minnesota, defenses will have to worry about Towns, Wiggins, and Jeff Teague, the kind of score-first point guard Butler hasn’t played with since Derrick Rose’s body broke down. He’ll be able to allocate more energy towards the defensive end—Butler failed to make an All-Defensive team for the first time in three years last season. Despite just four percent body fat hanging from his 230-pound frame, Butler still gets tired every once in a while.

If he can hunt for more open opportunities behind the three-point line instead of settling on tough, contested heaves, he can be one of the most efficient players in the entire NBA.

That won’t necessarily be easy. The Timberwolves actually finished behind Chicago in three-point rate last season. And given how their roster is built, Thibodeau will likely lean on dated lineups that can be exploited when up against modernized rotations. Gorgui Dieng and Taj Gibson will platoon the power forward position, even though they’re both better suited as backup fives. Life on the court may be cluttered once again.

But if Towns leaps forward on the defensive end, Thibs could deploy more versatile units that will accentuate Butler’s strengths. The floor will open up and, if that’s the case, it’s hard to see how he won’t be a legitimate MVP candidate. According to Synergy Sports, Butler ranked in the 77th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler last year. He was 95th in transition, 92nd in spot-up situations, and 91st in the post.

The Timberwolves boast a core that can, in Towns’s words, evolve into a dynasty. Butler likes the fit and is confident he can teach Thibodeau’s system to younger teammates who struggled to grasp it last season. But he’s also understandably cautious when it comes to attaching any bold claims to a group that ranked 26th in defense last year.

“I don’t like the word ‘Super Team’,” he says. “I think everybody’s human. That’s [what] people label Golden State. They’re a really really, really good basketball team. Super team?…On any given time they can be beat, too. It’s all about who’s playing basketball the best at the right time.”

Towns and Wiggins can fill an ocean with their upside. Photo: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports.

Dethroning the Warriors is goal number one. But even if the Timberwolves fall short, Butler will certainly use his time in Minneapolis to expand his fame over the next few years. With the league’s popularity increasing every day in countries all over the world, a genuine superstar’s brand is worth exponentially more than the $19.3 million Minnesota owes Butler this season. Off-court opportunities are constantly nipping at his attention. Three years ago, he took a 75 percent pay cut to go from adidas to Jordan, joining Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and over a dozen other NBA stars. (During our day together, Butler poked fun at a camera operator wearing adidas tennis shoes.)

Bonobos, a menswear company that was recently bought by Walmart, made Butler their brand ambassador last August. And just this month he released his own signature underwear line with PSD, a company Kyrie Irving and Chandler Parsons are also affiliated with. (Butler’s photographer Phil envisions a coffee table book. “If Kim Kardashian can do it,” he says. “Why can’t Jimmy?”)

Last year, he dipped his toe in Hollywood by appearing in Office Christmas Party, a comedy his life guru Mark Wahlberg helped put him in. Butler met Wahlberg in 2013 while the actor was filming a Transformers movie in Chicago. They’ve been close friends ever since, with Butler citing the 46-year-old’s vigorous work ethic as one of the biggest inspirations in his life.

“He’s already one of the best at what he does, but he works as though he’s not. The guy wakes up at 3:30, 4:00 AM to work out. Then he’ll go take his mind off of stuff and play some golf,” Butler says. “He eats healthy and spends time with his family and he’s reading scripts and he’s in meetings and he’s on phone calls. Before you know it, it’s time to do it all over again the next day.” (Butler’s all-time favorite Wahlberg movie is Shooter. “Bob Lee Swagger is that dude,” he says.)

Butler played himself in Office Christmas Party, alongside Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn. He wasn’t stiff in his only scene; the film’s two directors, Josh Gordon and Will Speck, were impressed by his initial foray into a brand new field. “LeBron surprised everyone in Trainwreck by being so fully formed as an actor,” Gordon told VICE Sports. “If Jimmy wanted to [act in the future], he could do it. He’s got that kind of charisma. It’s up to him.”

Butler isn’t sure how much longer he wants to be an NBA player, but hopes to squeeze in at least seven years, two championships, and widespread respect as one of his era’s greatest stars before his body cries uncle. (No big deal.) If he opts out of his player option in 2019, the former Most Improved Player can experience unrestricted free agency for the very first time; just about every team that can afford a max contract will be interested. Even though that level of courtship is something Butler has never gone through before, he’s yet to think about what it’ll feel like.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” he says. “I’m gonna go or I’m gonna be or I’m gonna stay wherever I’m wanted, man. Because that’s all anybody ever wants,” he says. “To be appreciated.”

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[flauntpage]

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say

Jimmy Butler's cell phone is shaking. We're plopped down in the last row of his home theatre on a couch that feels like a velvet sponge, a blanket covers his outstretched legs.

Butler leans over, looks down, smiles. He picks the phone up, shakes his head, then turns it around to reveal who's on the other end. Coach Thibs. "See?" Butler says. "It's crazy, right? He's always on my phone."

Everything about Butler's place in this exact moment and time can and should be described as "crazy." From the majestic hillside villa tucked away in Malibu—a remote paradise where the 27-year-old lives with a tight crew of friends, family, and paid aides (a photographer is sleeping in the guest house)—to the sudden reunion with Tom Thibodeau, the tireless coach who helped turn Butler into one of the least probable success stories in NBA history, to the Chicago Bulls needlessly trading Butler earlier this summer...the list can go on forever.

Butler's origin story is absurd. Small town Texas kids with no scholarship offers out of high school don't become NBA role players, much less superstars. They aren't oddball country music-loving characters who pal around with movie stars. And they certainly don't accomplish all they have while going out of their way to stand tall as a positive figure off the court. Butler won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award last April, and says he aspires to use his broadening platform to navigate the contentious social issues that plague the country. But his rags to riches past and lavish present are not as moving as what promises to lie ahead.

Butler was voted onto his first All-NBA team last season, with scoring, assist, and rebound averages usually associated with someone headed to the Hall of Fame. (Butler tallied more Win Shares last year than Larry Bird when he won his first MVP). But there's still room for improvement, and next season Butler will be surrounded by players with enough talent to relieve some of the pressure he's felt in years past.

It's been an intense, course-altering summer for Butler, whose reward for establishing himself as one of the world's 15 best basketball players was the trade, three months ago, from Chicago to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a franchise that's perpetually struggling to stand on its own two feet. But Butler—alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, two Rookie of the Year winners who can fill an ocean with their talent and upside—is poised to change all that.

Coach Thibs is always calling Butler—and always calling his number. Photo: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Already one of, if not the, most physically fit individuals in a league overcrowded by the most athletic specimens on earth, Butler dedicated his summer to figuring out a way to get into even more ridiculous shape—the better to handle one of the NBA's toughest workloads. (According to NBA.com, he ran more miles per game than all but two other players during 2016-17, and led the entire league in each of the previous two seasons.)

"The man, simply, is addicted to working," says Butler's personal skills trainer Chris Johnson.

His weekly schedule consists of approximately nine hundred thousand hours of on-court basketball drills, spliced with a grueling workout plan that made my eyes water when I first heard it. Without an alarm, Butler is out of bed by 5:45 AM and on the court by 6:00.

"He's a serial killer's dream. He does the same shit every fucking day."

Meals hardly deviate. It's scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, and a protein shake for breakfast. Lunch is Chipotle, with plain white rice, double chicken, light lettuce, and half a cup of vinaigrette (no cilantro). At night, his chef will prepare a dish around fish or chicken. He hasn't had red meat in years and steers clear of alcohol.

When Butler isn't drenched in sweat, most of his free time is either spent in his theatre watching the same movies over and over (Friday is a favorite), or escaping into never-ending games of Spades or dominoes. Yoga is on the docket. Nightclubs are not.

"He's a serial killer's dream," says Butler's personal strength trainer Travelle Gaines, who counts NFL superstars like Antonio Brown and Demaryius Thomas as clients. "He does the same shit every fucking day."

Butler is shirtless in tan pants and Jordan slides when we first meet outside his pool house. "Want a beer?" He reaches into a brown Albertson's bag and removes a cold can of Michelob Ultra. His hair is braided tight like a crown, and it's impossible not to notice how much his chest looks like gladiator armor. This is also a reminder that our interview (and a photo shoot he's doing) have pushed Butler's out of his usual routine, but he doesn't seem too worried about it.

"I'll just make it all up in a short period tonight and be really tired in the morning when I wake up and start my schedule all over again, but it's part of it," he says.

The mood when Butler enters a room somehow relaxes and tightens at the exact same time. His personality glides from standup comedian to superintendent. He's genuinely curious, cerebral, and a little mischievous. Ultimately, everything, from his schedule to his diet to the people he chooses to spend every waking minute around, is about efficiency. Even in this wonderland, with potted lemon trees at every turn, a hoard of wicker patio furniture, and a Southern California sun that dares anyone under it to do nothing but sip gin and tonics on end, Butler's playfulness has limitations.

"I'm confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go."

The conversation turns to his work ethic. He understands not everyone is as driven as he is, but can't comprehend the thought of someone (especially another NBA player) not doing all they can to reach their full potential. It bugs him, even though he knows it shouldn't.

"I think it's wrong for me to think that people want what I want because in reality they don't. Some people are OK with getting drafted. Some people are OK with playing two years in the league, four years in the league, six years in the league. Some people are OK with just scoring a basket in an NBA game. I'm not OK with any of that. I'm not satisfied until I win a championship," he says. "I want everybody to work the way that I work and it's wrong for me to think like that because people don't do it! But in my mind I'm just like why? Why don't you want to chase greatness the way that I do?"

Last January, after a humiliating loss in Atlanta that saw the Bulls blow a 10 point lead with three minutes left, Butler was fined for publicly dragging his teammates through the mud. After he was traded, former NBA player Antoine Walker called Butler a "bad locker room guy." A recent report suggested the Boston Celtics had concerns about trading for the three-time All-Star because Butler might clash with Gordon Hayward, who they eventually signed in free agency.

Butler has little patience for people less driven than he is. Photo: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports.

"Even as a first-semester freshman, he wasn't gonna let guys drift through practice," says Mike Marquis, Butler's coach at Tyler Junior College. "He is very, very competitive, and he is great when he finds an enemy. I think that's one of his charms. He knows how to psychologically find an enemy and attack it."

I ask Butler if he's a difficult person to be around.

"Yes," he says.

But it's not as simple as that. Difficult is in the eye of the beholder, just like laziness.

"But then again it's bad on my part because I know better," Butler says. "It's kind of contradicting itself. It's like, 'Well Jimmy you know better, don't do that.' But then the other half is just like, 'Well, if you can do it everybody can do it.' But then it goes back again. 'You know that it don't work like that, right? Yeah, I know, but I think that it can so everybody needs to work like this.'"

"I think it takes a very special person to deal with Jimmy Butler," says Gaines. "He's actually too smart for his own good."

Once the photo shoot ends, we migrate down to the main house. Ready to play Spades, Butler is hunched over a square folding table that's been pummeled by thousands of domino tiles. He's flanked by Phil Ducasse, his newly appointed personal photographer, Ifeyani Koggu, a former Arkansas State guard who Butler introduces as his brother, and Mike Smith, Butler's mentee, of sorts, from Chicago who's about to enter his sophomore season at Columbia. A chandelier the size of a kiddie pool hangs overhead. Boxes of Size 14 retro Jordans are stacked against the dining room wall, with loose jewelry and designer clothes casually spread across the table and floor.

Nearly two hours later the card game ends and Butler recedes to his theatre. He acknowledges that his whirlwind ascent altered relationships and transfigured his behavior in Chicago, but doesn't feel taken for granted by the Bulls organization. Still, an old truism lingers: the one about how those who start in the mailroom can never shake how co-workers perceive them no matter how high they climb within the company. There's a sense, from the outside looking in, that the Bulls didn't appreciate how awesome Butler truly is.

He didn't crack 400 minutes his rookie year. By his third season—his first of three straight appearances on the NBA's All-Defensive second team—Butler averaged a team-high 38.7 minutes per game. That year he averaged 13.1 points. Two seasons later he was up to 20.9.

"I think they maybe expected me to stay the same, and I don't think that that's right. Like, I have changed. I will tell you that. But I think that I've changed for the better," he says. "When I say for the better, whenever I was a rookie, averaging 0.8 points per game or whatever it might be, it wouldn't matter if I scored that 0.8 because it wasn't going to win or lose us a game. Now, you go forward a couple years when I'm averaging 20 points per game, that's more than likely gonna cost us a game. It's gonna be the difference between winning or losing. Am I right? So now I don't give a damn about pressure, but if someone's going to take the blame for something, who they gonna point to? Me. So yeah, I've changed, because I want to fucking win. I want to show that I can win. So the way I go about things, it's not gonna be the way I went about things when I was a rookie, [when] I'm not gonna say anything. Now I've got something to fucking say."

This is what he has to say. Or at least some of it:

"I'm confrontational. I feed off of confrontation. It makes me go. Not everybody's like that. [Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg] is not that coach, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are different coaching styles and people are gonna say—which is what they did say—'It's gonna be Jimmy's team or it's gonna be Fred's team.' Two total opposite ends of the spectrum. They're either gonna try to win it now or they're gonna go young. And you see which way they went with it. Completely fine. Yo, it's y'all's business. It's y'all's organization. It's cool. And now I'm in Minnesota and couldn't be happier."

Despite elevating his game to an all-time high last year, too often he was forced to be MacGyver, constantly scraping for useful contributions from his scanty supporting cast while refusing to let constant double and triple teams minimize his impact. The Bulls struggled to boil water whenever he rested on the bench.

Chicago ranked 28th in three-point rate and 24th in three-point percentage yet Butler still dragged them to the playoffs. The floor opened up a tiny bit when Nikola Mirotic played the four, but aging, antiquated guards like Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo too often made the offense feel claustrophobic. It wasn't an ideal environment for a wing scorer to thrive, but somehow Butler did.

From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of Butler's two-point field goals that were unassisted increased by just over 20 percent, but his True Shooting percentage didn't fall. He finished with more Win Shares than LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Kawhi Leonard last year, and was third in "Real Plus-Minus Wins," a stat that estimates how many wins a player contributes to his team's season total, behind only LeBron James and Steph Curry.

"You can't put somebody in a box and then have them think outside the box. Jimmy thinks like there's no box, so he has no ceiling. Every day we wake up to break boundaries," Johnson says. "I'm able to develop him as a point guard, as a shooting guard, as a small forward, as a power forward, and as a center. He's a basketball player. He's a scorer. He's not a shooter. He's not just a primary driver. He can do pretty much anything that is asked of him from his coaches because he allowed me to prepare him for every single situation. The only person who can stop Jimmy is Jimmy. He don't have a flaw."

Even for a person as motivated as he is, Butler's journey to the NBA was a miraculous tightrope walk. There were no AAU connections or free sneakers. Butler is from Tomball, Texas, a slight town about 30 miles outside Houston. After his mother kicked him out of the house when he was 13, Butler couchsurfed through his teenage years before finding relative stability when his friend's mother agreed to take him in. The story has been told often, but remains too incredible to be sensationalized.

For the typical prospect, coming to average 20 points in the NBA is less likely than purchasing a winning Powerball ticket. For Butler, it was less likely than holding said ticket while riding in the backseat of a limousine with Beyonce, eloping in Vegas.

Butler didn't receive any scholarship offers out of high school, but he did get noticed by a scout named Alan Branch. Branch identified qualities his colleagues missed, and started to chirp in the direction of any coaches who'd listen. You guys are missing a steal. But no offers were made even after Butler played well in a couple spring tournaments. Nobody thought he was Division-I material.

"The biggest thing I can say is he wasn't flashy, he wasn't a freak talent, and he was in the bushes," Branch says.

So instead of preparing for his first year at a school like Texas Christian University or Morehead State, Branch introduced Butler to Coach Marquis at Tyler Junior College, about three hours north of Tomball. He spent a day working out in their gym, scrimmaged with some of their players and local high-school competition, and was offered a spot right away.

"Mike never saw him shoot the basketball," Branch said. "Jimmy played like four or five possessions, made the right passes, got a rebound. He was just solid. You could just see the IQ."

It's impossible to know what would've happened had Branch never brought Butler to Marquis's attention. There were other junior colleges in the area that might have granted Butler a chance to walk on, but a few critical variables would've spun in unpredictable directions had he played anywhere else. To start, Tyler was very good, and good teams draw Division-I eyeballs.

Up until that point in his career, Butler mostly operated in the frontcourt. He crashed the glass, defended well, and offered a tenaciousness that probably wouldn't have the same effect against bigger, stronger competition. But thanks to the team's roster construction, Marquis shifted Butler to the perimeter on a full-time basis, forcing him to showcase a more appealing and varied skill-set.

"I didn't think people would draft him out of junior college after one year, but I thought he was draftable," Marquis said. "I called [Bulls general manager] Gar Forman, who I had known since he was coaching at Iowa State and New Mexico State, and said there's something special about Jimmy. If they just continued to watch his progress, they'd really, really like him."

Far and away the longest lasting benefit from his time in Tyler was who he met while there. Butler's roommate that season was a 6'7" wing named Joe Fulce, who was recruited to play for Marquette University by the school's then-assistant coach Buzz Williams.

"Every time I went to go see Joe, of course, I would say hello to Jimmy," Williams says.

Fulce—who's now a graduate assistant coach under Williams at Virginia Tech—and Butler were like a pair of Siamese fighting fish (who also happened to be friends). They competed in everything and played countless games of one on one, after practice, before games; even at random times in the middle of the night—whenever Butler wasn't hypnotized by his eight hundredth viewing of The Lion King.

"I don't know how many times I'd either wake up in the morning or wake up at night and his ass is sitting in bed, eating some snacks, with his feet crossed, with a cowboy hat on, watching the damn Lion King with some country music softly playing," Fulce said to VICE Sports. "His ass is weird." (Butler still really loves country music.)

Butler led Tyler in scoring and guided them to a 24-5 record. All the while, Fulce relentlessly pitched Williams on his roommate's all-around potential. A little while later Williams became Marquette's head coach. Butler was the first player he signed. His letter of intent was famously faxed over from a nearby McDonald's, and his first day on campus doubled as the first day of school. Butler still had Fulce as his roommate, but never visited Milwaukee beforehand.

"I think from day one until the day he graduated, he became much more confident in who he was on and off the floor," Williams says. "I think he became less distrustful. His personality showed more often. He was much more comfortable. Obviously, that was an extended period of time where his environment and the people in his environment were stable."

In three years, Butler never dropped a class, skipped a meeting with his tutor, or showed up late to a weightlifting session. In large part due to Butler being Williams's first signing, there was inescapable pressure on them both to perform. And through some tough times early on, a mutually beneficial bond was formed.

"What can I say, in some ways I'm proud of it and in other ways I'm not proud of it," Williams says. "I was hard on him. I was hard on him in every way. I never gave him any relief in any facet of his life, and to his credit he never wanted one. I think as our time together transpired, he expected that. He wanted that. He wanted that as an example to everybody else on the team."

Butler says the lessons learned in three years at Marquette still resonate, and his relationship with Williams remains strong. Now the head coach at Virginia Tech, Williams gave Butler a journal during his second year in the league. He still writes in it.

Next year, the journal will be different. He'll be in a new city, with a new team, and a new set of expectations—at least externally. Internally, Butler still has a bottomless urge to be great. He's forever that serial killer's dream. He rolls out of bed each morning focused and ready to go for a 90-minute session with Johnson. It's the first of two workouts they fight through every day. They start by zooming in on ball-handling, finishing, floaters, runners, one-legged jumpers, off-balance jumpers, side pick-and-rolls, middle pick-and-rolls, pick-and-roll passing, and so on and so forth.

He's already one of the craftiest and effective downhill playmakers in basketball, but for Butler to truly max out his potential in the coming seasons, that jumper needs to stabilize. Last year, he knocked down 36.7 percent of his threes, which is right around league average and an improvement on the previous season. But a higher percentage of his field goal attempts were launched from the inefficient mid-range, where he only canned 38.2 percent. On the whole, that's not an atrocious number, but it badly trails positional peers like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Kevin Durant.

Later in the day, the second session with Johnson is devoted to shot mechanics—how he can better himself shooting on the move and off the bounce. They study preferable ways for him to create separation and sharpen his technique on fadeaways. Every workout is filmed, allowing Butler and Johnson to obsess over ball and hand placement. They really dig into the finer details that are necessary to make him a more potent all-around weapon.

After the morning workout, Butler rewards himself with a five-minute break and then embarks on a soul-crippling hour with Gaines. Gaines and Johnson work with other professional athletes but have still met with Butler almost every day for the past four years. They will continue to do so in Minnesota. When Butler goes on vacation, be it to Europe, Canada, Mexico, or Mars, Gaines and Johnson come along for the ride.

"I'm not cheap," Gaines says. "But he pays whatever it costs and whatever it takes to keep his body right."

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are reserved for corrective exercises, movement prep, movement training, and strength training. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for conditioning work and agility training. Saturdays and Sundays are strictly conditioning. Sometimes they race on the beach or hop on a football field to sprint 110 yards at a time.

Sometimes they'll get back on an actual basketball court just to embrace the delightful sensation that a gasser can have on the human body. Gassers are timed sprints where, starting on the baseline, Butler has 17 seconds to go half the court and back, then dart to the opposite end line before returning to where he started. "We'll do 10 to 15 of those," Gaines said. It sounds like torture, but for Butler the entire process is more vital than oxygen.

There are obvious reasons to think the hard work will continue to pay off. This year, Butler may find that instead of doing more with less, he'll have the chance to do more with more. In Minnesota, defenses will have to worry about Towns, Wiggins, and Jeff Teague, the kind of score-first point guard Butler hasn't played with since Derrick Rose's body broke down. He'll be able to allocate more energy towards the defensive end—Butler failed to make an All-Defensive team for the first time in three years last season. Despite just four percent body fat hanging from his 230-pound frame, Butler still gets tired every once in a while.

If he can hunt for more open opportunities behind the three-point line instead of settling on tough, contested heaves, he can be one of the most efficient players in the entire NBA.

That won't necessarily be easy. The Timberwolves actually finished behind Chicago in three-point rate last season. And given how their roster is built, Thibodeau will likely lean on dated lineups that can be exploited when up against modernized rotations. Gorgui Dieng and Taj Gibson will platoon the power forward position, even though they're both better suited as backup fives. Life on the court may be cluttered once again.

But if Towns leaps forward on the defensive end, Thibs could deploy more versatile units that will accentuate Butler's strengths. The floor will open up and, if that's the case, it's hard to see how he won't be a legitimate MVP candidate. According to Synergy Sports, Butler ranked in the 77th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler last year. He was 95th in transition, 92nd in spot-up situations, and 91st in the post.

The Timberwolves boast a core that can, in Towns's words, evolve into a dynasty. Butler likes the fit and is confident he can teach Thibodeau's system to younger teammates who struggled to grasp it last season. But he's also understandably cautious when it comes to attaching any bold claims to a group that ranked 26th in defense last year.

"I don't like the word 'Super Team'," he says. "I think everybody's human. That's [what] people label Golden State. They're a really really, really good basketball team. Super team?...On any given time they can be beat, too. It's all about who's playing basketball the best at the right time."

Towns and Wiggins can fill an ocean with their upside. Photo: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports.

Dethroning the Warriors is goal number one. But even if the Timberwolves fall short, Butler will certainly use his time in Minneapolis to expand his fame over the next few years. With the league's popularity increasing every day in countries all over the world, a genuine superstar's brand is worth exponentially more than the $19.3 million Minnesota owes Butler this season. Off-court opportunities are constantly nipping at his attention. Three years ago, he took a 75 percent pay cut to go from adidas to Jordan, joining Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and over a dozen other NBA stars. (During our day together, Butler poked fun at a camera operator wearing adidas tennis shoes.)

Bonobos, a menswear company that was recently bought by Walmart, made Butler their brand ambassador last August. And just this month he released his own signature underwear line with PSD, a company Kyrie Irving and Chandler Parsons are also affiliated with. (Butler's photographer Phil envisions a coffee table book. "If Kim Kardashian can do it," he says. "Why can't Jimmy?")

Last year, he dipped his toe in Hollywood by appearing in Office Christmas Party, a comedy his life guru Mark Wahlberg helped put him in. Butler met Wahlberg in 2013 while the actor was filming a Transformers movie in Chicago. They've been close friends ever since, with Butler citing the 46-year-old's vigorous work ethic as one of the biggest inspirations in his life.

"He's already one of the best at what he does, but he works as though he's not. The guy wakes up at 3:30, 4:00 AM to work out. Then he'll go take his mind off of stuff and play some golf," Butler says. "He eats healthy and spends time with his family and he's reading scripts and he's in meetings and he's on phone calls. Before you know it, it's time to do it all over again the next day." (Butler's all-time favorite Wahlberg movie is Shooter. "Bob Lee Swagger is that dude," he says.)

Butler played himself in Office Christmas Party, alongside Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn. He wasn't stiff in his only scene; the film's two directors, Josh Gordon and Will Speck, were impressed by his initial foray into a brand new field. "LeBron surprised everyone in Trainwreck by being so fully formed as an actor," Gordon told VICE Sports. "If Jimmy wanted to [act in the future], he could do it. He's got that kind of charisma. It's up to him."

Butler isn't sure how much longer he wants to be an NBA player, but hopes to squeeze in at least seven years, two championships, and widespread respect as one of his era's greatest stars before his body cries uncle. (No big deal.) If he opts out of his player option in 2019, the former Most Improved Player can experience unrestricted free agency for the very first time; just about every team that can afford a max contract will be interested. Even though that level of courtship is something Butler has never gone through before, he's yet to think about what it'll feel like.

"I'll tell you one thing," he says. "I'm gonna go or I'm gonna be or I'm gonna stay wherever I'm wanted, man. Because that's all anybody ever wants," he says. "To be appreciated."

Jimmy Butler Has Something To Say published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv