Jimmy Butler may be gone from Minnesota almost two months, but some of his parting words the night before he left the Timberwolves continue to define their season, and perhaps their future.
When asked after a loss in Sacramento on Nov. 9, the end of an 0-5 road trip, if the Wolves needed to be self-critical with each other, Butler said: "Yeah. But I don't think everybody can handle it. … Everybody got to talk to one another and be able to handle it if somebody says something they may not like."
The next day he was gone to Philadelphia, altering the course of the Wolves' franchise trajectory yet again.