Fully Allowing Jimmy Butler to Be a Psychological Assassin is a Recipe for NBA Success

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has been known as a bit of a hothead, but his temper and bravado often end up getting the opposing team in trouble more often than it does himself. Case in point: Butler managed to get physical and exchange profanities with Indiana Pacers forward TJ Warren Wednesday night, but it was Warren who got the boot as the Heat kept beating up on the Pacers.

If there is ever a way to call someone a basketball psychopath in the most positive way conceivable, Butler is the No. 1 guy who fits that description. Because his occasionally outlandish persona is helping to produce results that speak for themselves.

Butler is averaging 20.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 2.0 steals per game to go along with elite-level defense, so there is plenty of bite to go along with his bark. In addition, he has helped lead a ragtag bunch of no-names down in Miami to a 27-10 record, putting them in surprise contention to make a serious run in the Eastern Conference.

As Butler and his utterly unique, bombastic style of basketball go, so do the Heat.

Jimmy Buckets' fiery personality can sometimes rub his own teammates the wrong way, as we saw during the course of his scorched-earth exit from Minnesota. But it's ultimately rare for a guy to play with this level intensity, aggression, and passion for 48 minutes while maintaining a key leadership role on a legit playoff team, and the former Marquette star has managed to pull it off.