Feb. 15--NEW YORK -- Merely a few games into Jimmy Butler's lone season at Tyler (Texas ) Junior College, coach Mike Marquis called Bulls general manager Gar Forman, whom Marquis knew from Forman's college coaching days.
"I told Gar, 'There's something special about Jimmy,' " Marquis recalled of the 2007 phone call. "And it wasn't just his basketball. It was everything -- work ethic, intelligence, drive, demeanor. I didn't know how high Jimmy was going to reach. But I knew he wouldn't back down from reaching it."
How does NBA All-Star sound?
That's where Butler has arrived in the midst of his breakout fourth season, all the way from Tyler Junior College, and before that, Tomball, Texas, where his well-documented but rarely-publicized back story began.
You remember the one: Butler's father drifted out of his life when Butler was an infant. His mother kicked him out of the house at age 13 for reasons Butler has said he doesn't know. Butler bounced from friend's house to friend's house, sleeping on floors and couches for his first three years of high school before a deeper friendship with Jordan Leslie formed.
Jordan Leslie's mom, Michelle Lambert, had three children with her first husband, who died. She subsequently married Michael Lambert, who had three kids from his previous marriage. They added one child together.
A then-shy Butler became No. 8.
"This means a lot -- to me and my family," Butler said. "This is something we always dreamed of. My brothers are here to experience it with me. And that's the way it should be done. I wouldn't be here without their support."
Butler doesn't discuss or dwell on his story much. He's not embarrassed by it. In fact, he's appreciative of the lessons of overcoming adversity and love and acceptance that it taught him.
Mostly, it's because Butler dwells on strength, not sympathy.
"Jimmy never really over-advertised his background," said Scott Monarch, a Tyler assistant who moved to Marquette for Butler's three seasons there and now is at North Texas. "It was, 'This is a part of my life and the hand I was dealt.'
"But even in junior college, he always was giving to homeless people. It's something that later on, you say, 'Oh, that's why.' Marquette is a downtown campus, and he was always at the homeless shelter, laughing and joking with people there. It was never anything he said. It was what he did in his actions."
Added Marquis: "You knew what he had gone through, and there was a unique quality about him. But he didn't discuss it here. Jimmy is one of those guys whose glass is three-quarters full. And he's always non-stop looking ahead -- the next day, the next game, the next workout."
This quality has served Butler well in basketball, which he pursued to the point that he attended Tyler despite being an academic qualifier coming out of Tomball High.
"He had fabulous grades," Monarch said. "He didn't have to go to junior college. He just didn't have any (Division I scholarship) offers."
Those came quickly after a dominant lone season at Tyler, where he not only befriended Derrick Rose's close childhood friend, Randall Hampton, but assimilated himself into a strong team by guarding everyone from point guards to power forwards.
"Early on, he often took a back seat because we had a lot of good players," Marquis said. "But after Christmas, he decided, 'OK, I'm not going to do that anymore.' And he got more and more aggressive.
"Being good was never enough for him. He always wanted to be better than that. A lot of kids think practice is enough. That was never enough for Jimmy. He always wanted to come in and take more shots, work on footwork, watch videotape. He just really pushed himself."
As in his junior college experience, Butler began at Marquette on an established team and established his role defensively before branching out. He accomplished this while then-Marquette coach Buzz Williams relentlessly pushed and prodded him.
In an interview with the Tribune shortly after the Bulls drafted Butler in 2011, Williams admitted being harder on Butler than any player he previously coached.
"Buzz was really able to tear him down and build him back up," Monarch confirmed. "But that's because Jimmy wasn't like the rest of the guys. He didn't have all the AAU people around him, telling him, 'You're this or that.' He wasn't contaminated by a lot of the foolishness that goes on in today's game.
"He just really was open to everything and getting better and better. He carries himself like he has a plan."
Again, when you have lived through what Butler has, hard coaching doesn't faze you.
"Things that don't go his way don't make him quit," Marquis said. "They motivate him to be better, be stronger, be tougher. His inner drive is very special."
Monarch said Butler never needed extra tutoring while majoring in communication studies and displayed a charisma on campus that would have allowed him to succeed whether he played basketball or not.
"He didn't need that uniform to make it," Monarch said.
Butler attended Monarch's daughter's first few birthday parties and visited with him after the Bulls' recent game in Dallas. Most Septembers, Butler returns to Tyler Junior College to address Marquis' current team.
"He's the same person that he was when he was here," Marquis said. "I don't think the fame or the money or the attention has turned him into something that he's not. He has really stayed loyal to his values and who he is. That's what makes him so likable."
Butler is happy to be on the Eastern Conference team for Sunday's All-Star Game. He's just not too impressed with himself.
"This doesn't change anything for me," he said. "I still have to play with a chip on my shoulder and continue to work to help us win games. Hopefully, this is the first of many All-Star appearances."
kcjohnson@tribpub.com
