Braids were the order of the day a week ago for Heat forward Jimmy Butler. (Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel)
Hair today, gone tomorrow.
Jimmy Butler says you better get used to it, now that his braids are gone.
“For one, there’s some culture in there,” Butler interjected after the Miami Heat’s Thursday shootaround at Baruch College. “They’re not braids, they’re dreads.”
Duly noted. And duly gone.
“I can play with them in,” Butler said when asked about removing the extensions ahead of the preseason, after creating a social-media buzz at media day and training camp with his coif couture. “To tell you all the truth, what I wanted to do was just do it for media day, so everytime you all see me on TNT, when the Heat play the Grizzlies, that’s the picture you all are going to see.”
And, no, the hairy decision was not about a maintenance program.
“I mean, either way it could go,” he said ahead of Thursday night’s exhibition against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. “My barber, Kenny, flies in from Philly. And then my hair braider, Diamond, comes in from L.A. So every week, every week and a half, I’m getting a hairdo, anyways.
“I’m definitely probably going to go back to it during the year, so you all be on the lookout. It’s definitely going to happen.”
When it comes to critics, Butler said only one matters, his 3-year-old daughter, Rylee.
“To tell you the truth,” he said, “my daughter really liked my hair like that, so that’s all I really care about. I care about my daughter’s opinion. She doesn’t like my no facial hair, so I’ve got to grow my facial hair back. But she loves the dreads.”
To Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, there is little new about Butler’s new looks.
“He can pull it off,” Spoelstra said. “The first time I met Jimmy in Europe, he had blonde hair then. And then he came into training camp and it was gone. But he can pull off a lot of different looks.
“The hair didn’t really throw me for a loop. It was when he shaved, that’s when he looked totally different to me. And he shaved eight, 10 years off of him.”
When it comes to facial hair, that’s where Spoelstra said the playing field is evened with his All-Star forward.
“Jimmy and I could probably have a good competition: who can grow the worst beard,” Spoelstra said with a laugh. “Neither one of us; it doesn’t fill in.”
Going short
The Heat went into the game against the Nets without guard Tyler Herro, who was given the night off after bumping knees and remaining in Tuesday night’s exhibition loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at FTX Arena.
Spoelstra said the absence was precautionary, with Herro downplaying the knee after Tuesday’s game.
In addition, guard Victor Oladipo remains out of the Heat’s exhibition plans, amid his ongoing rehab from knee and quadriceps issues the past four seasons.
“We’re just getting him ready, and that’s really it,” Spoelstra said. “He had a very good camp. He’s doing some really good work right now, and we want to keep him in this good place.
“He’s doing a lot of lifting and working out. So we just want to make sure that we’re doing all the appropriate steps as we keep on getting him feeling great.”
Also limited is guard Gabe Vincent, due to knee soreness.
“It’s really just preparation and ramping things up,” Spoelstra said. “He’s feeling good. He’s going to be ready to go full-go pretty soon.”
()
Originally published at Tribune News Service