They erected a statue for Michael Jordan. Then they told Jimmy Butler he was the new face of the franchise.
Turns out that experience left Butler with just an unhappy face, which led to his trade to the Timberwolves. Butler vented his frustration to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
“It doesn’t mean a damn thing,” the three-time All-Star told the Sun-Times in a phone interview from Paris on Friday. “I guess being called the face of an organization isn’t as good as I thought. We all see where being the so-called face of the Chicago Bulls got me. So let me be just a player for the Timberwolves, man. That’s all I want to do. I just want to be winning games. Do what I can for my respective organization and let them realize what I’m trying to do.
“Whatever they want to call me … face … I don’t even want to get into that anymore. Whose team is it? All that means nothing. You know what I’ve learned? Face of the team, eventually you’re going to see the back of his head as he’s leaving town, so no thanks.”
The Bulls traded Butler and the 16th pick in the draft to Minnesota for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick. Then they chose Arizona stretch 4 Lauri Markkanen with the seventh pick.
