Jackie Butler
 Butler in March 2006 with the New York Knicks. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 10, 1985 McComb, Mississippi |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) |
| Listed weight | 260 lb (118 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school |
McComb (McComb, Mississippi) Laurinburg Institute (Laurinburg, North Carolina) Coastal Christian Academy (Virginia Beach, Virginia) |
| NBA draft | 2004 / Undrafted |
| Playing career | 2004–2007 |
| Position | Center / Power forward |
| Number | 45 |
| Career history | |
| 2004–2005 | Great Lakes Storm |
| 2005–2006 | New York Knicks |
| 2006–2007 | San Antonio Spurs |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Jackie Butler (born March 10, 1985) is an American retired professional basketball player.
Early life
Butler was born in McComb, Mississippi and attended McComb High School and originally committed to play at Mississippi State University but failed to qualify academically. He later enrolled at Laurinburg Institute, then transferred to Coastal Christian Academy prep school in Virginia Beach. Although he wanted to sign with the University of Tennessee in 2004, he decided to declare for the 2004 NBA Draft, the first player that year to do so.[1]
Professional career
No team drafted Butler in 2004. Butler signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves and was cut training camp.[2] Butler played briefly with the New York Knicks for the 2004-05 NBA season. He scored ten points over three games, by successfully making all four of his field goals and both free throw attempts. Butler finished the 2004-2005 season with the Continental Basketball Association where over 40 games with the Great Lakes Storm he averaged 18.1 points (tenth in CBA), 10.7 rebounds (third) and 1.45 blocks (third) per game. He later was drafted in the 2005 AAPBL Draft. However the league folded soon thereafter.
When Larry Brown was hired as the New York Knicks' head coach, it was unclear what sort of role Butler would have. After the pre-season, Brown publicly commented on how happy he was with Butler, and considered him his fourth rookie (along with Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee). After a rocky start, Butler was soon praised as being the Knicks' best center, with Eddy Curry and Jerome James having disappointing starts to their Knick careers. For the 2005-06 NBA season Butler played in 55 games averaging 13.5 minutes, 5.3 points (54.4% field goal percentage) and 3.3 rebounds per game. He earned $641,748 with the Knicks.
In July 2006 Butler signed a three-year, US$7 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.[3] He was considered a long term project. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said on Oct 26, 2006 "...most of his playing time in the initial part of the season is going to be in practice, learning what a work ethic is day in and day out and what it takes to play at this level."[4] Butler never played with the Spurs during the 2007 NBA Playoffs, but the Spurs won the 2007 NBA Finals.[2]
On July 12, 2007 the Spurs traded Butler and the rights to Luis Scola to the Houston Rockets for Vasileios Spanoulis, a 2009 second-round draft pick and cash.[5] He played on the Rockets 2007 summer league team, but was waived in the 2007-2008 preseason (October 2007).
References
- ↑ Monter, Chris (February 12, 2004). "Jackie Butler is first early entry into NBA Draft". CollegeBasketballNews.com. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- 1 2 "Jackie Butler bio". NBA. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- ↑ Beck, Howard (July 20, 2006). "Looking at Bottom Line, Knicks Let Butler Go". The New York Times.
- ↑ Ludden, Johnny (October 26, 2006). "Butler finding right track with Spurs". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008.
- ↑ Ludden, Johnny (July 12, 2007). "Spurs find spot for Scola, Butler — Houston". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008.