Jae & JFB

[mileskishnish72]

Jae and Jimmy are guarding each other tonight. Fun to watch. Both have had steals in the last minute or so.

[Marqevans]

Crowder vs Jimmy on TV right now in Chicago.

[VegasWarrior77]

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons  25 minutes ago
My dad is visiting. I just reminded him that the Celtics took JaJuan Johnson over Jimmy Butler. Might have to call the paramedics.

[mr.MUskie]

Chicago Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler, a potential All-Star, had nothing but compliments for his former Marquette teammate, Jae Crowder. The two played together for one season with the Golden Eagles and Crowder, the Celtics' starting small forward, left quite an impression on the older Butler.

"I think we pride ourselves on toughness and being an underdog," Butler said Friday prior to Chicago's 119-103 win at TD Garden. "It's just how hard we work and I think that has a lot to do with it. He's a junior college guy just like I'm a junior college guy, so a different path, but we're still here."


Butler said he tried to influence Crowder with his work ethic. Butler was selected 30th overall by Chicago in the 2011 NBA Draft. Crowder was selected 34th overall a year later by Cleveland and promptly traded to Dallas.

"You show by your work, what you do on the court," Butler said. "You can talk about all you want and I think he started to buy into that. When he bought into it fully, he became the player that he became. I would probably say he had a better college career than I had — Big East Player of the Year, nobody has done that at Marquette in a while. The guy, he's really, really talented. He does so many things well at both ends of the floor.

"This is a great opportunity for him here. I think he's really going to help this team win a lot of games."

Butler said that because Crowder arrived at Marquette as the national junior college player of the year while at Howard College in Big Spring, Texas, he may have felt entitled in his early days.

"He came in thinking, 'Aww, I'm going to be the man,' and it's tough," Butler said. "It's kind of like first getting into the NBA when you're the star on your college team and coming in thinking you're going to be the man. Nah kid, there's been guys . . . doing this for eight-plus years. They already put the time in, so you've got to take a back seat and learn the ropes first.

"That's how he started. He bought into the work. The rest shows for itself."

Said Celtics coach Brad Stevens: "Those guys that come out of Marquette have really all done well. The way that Wesley Matthews [of Portland] has improved. We've seen Jae's improvement just from being here and getting the opportunity and Jimmy might be the most improved guy in the league. Those guys are good players."