Bulls' Jimmy Butler Removed His Car's Rearview Mirror As Symbol To Never Look Back In Life
(CBS) Bulls wing Jimmy Butler's rise to stardom has been well-documented.
He grew up in Tomball, Texas, in a broken family and was taken in by a friend's family. After being ignored by major program on the recruiting scene, he went to Tyler Junior College for a year. He then moved on to Marquette, where he rose from a part-time defensive specialist as a sophomore to a go-to player on both ends as a senior, earning honorable mention all-Big East honors.
Butler was the 30th overall pick of the 2011 draft by the Bulls. After mostly riding the bench for a couple years, he took on a big role in 2013-'14 after Luol Deng was traded. After a breakout 2014-'15 season in which he was named the NBA's Most Improved Player, Butler inked a five-year contract worth around $95 million in July.
Hanging out with Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg is now the norm for Butler.
So what's Butler think of all that past? It's part of what made him who he is, but it's nothing to dwell on. So much so that Butler, according to a Chicago Magazine profile story, has removed his rearview mirror on his car as a symbol of never looking back in life.
Still, he loathes reliving the past — so much so that he has removed the rearview mirror on his car (yes, really) as a symbolic reminder to never look back. His coach at Marquette University, Buzz Williams, says Butler was so sensitive about his upbringing that he swore Williams to secrecy while playing for him.
When I ask why he hates talking about the past so much, Butler shifts uncomfortably on the sectional in the grand San Diego house. "It's because I don't ever want that to define me," he says. "I hated it whenever it came up because that's all anybody ever wanted to talk about. Like, that hasn't gotten me to where I am today. I'm a great basketball player because of my work. I'm a good basketball player because of the people I have around me. And if I continue to be stuck in the past, then I won't get any better.
Give the wide-ranging full story a read here.
