Before his friendship with Mark Wahlberg, before the fish tank boombox, before the maximum contract, and before the heaps and heaps of minutes, Jimmy Butler was an elite defender.
He earned playing time in his early years because of his ability to guard guys like Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. While he was never officially recognized for his accomplishments early on, he has been a regular at the awards ceremonies in the current stage of his career.
Butler was named to the All-Defensive second team for the third consecutive year Wednesday. The votes are made by various members of the media (you can see the votes here).