The Miami Heat have slumped to a disappointing 2-5 start to the NBA season, but star man Jimmy Butler is not concerned. Far from it, in fact.
"We’re going to win the f****** championship," he defiantly declared just moments after losing to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, refusing to get bogged down in his team's poor early form with 75 games still to play.
The small forward wants to see more urgency from his teammates, but he is sure the Heat have all the tools required to go all the way and he warned any doubters not to write them off this season.
Butler told The Athletic : “We’re still going to win the championship, and I don’t care what nobody says. Count us out. We’re going to win the f****** championship. I’m telling you. I don’t give a damn that we started 2-5.
"We’ve got time, man. We’ve just got to play with a little bit more urgency and realise how fragile this thing is, trust in one another and play basketball the right way on both sides of the ball.
"There’s a lot of good things, so I don’t get discouraged. I know we have these (good) stretches (in games), and it’s like, ‘Damn, they really can do it.’ We can do it. We’ve just gotta do it consistently.”
The Heat were considered fringe contenders for the NBA title before the season started, with the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics among the betting favourites, but Butler has never lacked belief in himself and his team.
Just five months ago, they were beaten in the Eastern Conference finals by the Celtics and they should be well placed to contend, but Butler has put their sluggish start down to 'growing pains' from changes to the roster including PJ Tucker departing and star sixth man Tyler Herro stepping up to a starting role.
"On paper it looks like we have the same team, but we’ve gotta figure out a lot more things because things are different," Butler said.
"As much as they are the same, they are different. And I’m telling you, it’s not bad because we’re going to figure it out. Two and five is not that bad.
"When you talk about all the practice that we’re going to get in, how we’re going to break down the film and talk about how ‘We need to be here (on the floor). We need to be in this spot.’
"Like, sometimes we’ll be confused where everybody needs to be out on the floor, you know? And that’s OK. It’s growing pains. It’s not bad, and we’re gonna be just fine. … Y’all will look back at this, and be like, oh man, they started 2-5 and they ended the season f****** 77-5."
