Jimmy Butler is back with the Heat after missing the first three games of the season on paternity leave.
Butler, who is expected to start and make his Heat regular-season debut in Tuesday's home game against the Hawks, missed Wednesday's season-opening win over the Grizzlies and did not travel with the team on its recently completed two-game trip. He remained in South Florida to spend time with his newborn daughter.
The name of his daughter? Rylee _ pronounced like Riley (not after Heat president Pat Riley).
"I'm fortunate to have a baby girl now," Butler said in advance of Tuesday's game against the Hawks. "Hell, I started looking at life different a long time ago. But I definitely look at it a lot differently now. I feel like every time I leave the house, every time I hop in the car, every time I do anything, I feel like I got to make it home. I look forward to having that feeling for the rest of my life."
Butler said the plan was to not skip any regular-season games, with Rylee's due date coming during the preseason. But Rylee was born a little over a week late, with Butler getting the call that she was coming just hours before tip-off on opening night.
"I just had a feeling that God was going to show me what was truly important in life," Butler said. "That whole week leading up to it, I was like, 'OK, ain't nobody going to know anything. I'm not going to miss any games, I'm still going to hoop.' God was like, 'Nah, this is family. This is everything.' It happened to be on opening night."
The three-game absence not only gave Butler a chance to bond with his daughter, it also allowed him to scout his new team. Miami posted a 2-1 record without Butler, including Saturday's dramatic comeback road win over the Bucks, and others stepped up while he was away.
Over the three games, forward Justise Winslow averaged 19 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists; center Bam Adebayo averaged 15.3 points, 11 rebounds and 5.3 assists; rookie guard Kendrick Nunn averaged a team-high 22.3 points on 51.9% shooting; and veteran guard Goran Dragic averaged 19 points and five assists in his new bench role.
"We played hard. Everything that we do, we play to win," Butler said. "I would hope that I would make a little bit of a difference while I'm out there. But I just love the competitive edge and nature that everybody is out there playing with. It starts at the top. We want to win. So your head coach leaves the bench and walks to the other side of the court, that right there, if that don't get you fired up, I don't know what does. We live for that, we breathe that here."
With Butler now able to return to the basketball court, he has no complaints about how the start of the season unfolded for him.
"Change is always going to happen. I feel like we grow stronger in change because everything is new," Butler said. "You don't know what you're doing, but you welcome it. You try to make the most of it in every situation. It's tough not sleeping (because of a newborn baby) and still getting up and training, coming in at night and training. But I guess this is the life I chose and God chose for me. I know I can handle it. It's fun. I get to be a dad and I get to hoop. Life is good."
