Jackie Butler

Jackie Butler
Butler with the New York Knicks in 2006
Personal information
Born (1985-03-10) March 10, 1985 (age 39)
McComb, Mississippi, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
High school
NBA draft2004: undrafted
Playing career2004–2007
PositionCenter / power forward
Number45
Career history
2004–2005Great Lakes Storm
2005–2006New York Knicks
2006–2007San Antonio Spurs
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Jackie Butler (born March 10, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He attended McComb High School in McComb, Mississippi, and transferred to Coastal Christian Academy in Virginia Beach for his final high school season.

Butler skipped college and declared for the 2004 NBA draft, but was not selected. He joined the Great Lakes Storm of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), and won Rookie of the Year whilst also being named to the All-CBA First Team. Butler signed with the New York Knicks in February 2005. In July 2006, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs, whom he won the 2007 NBA Finals with.

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 enrolled at Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina for academic purposes but he departed after a reported altercation with a teammate.[1] He then transferred to Coastal Christian Academy prep school in Virginia Beach.[2] 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.[3]

Professional career

Great Lakers Storm (2004–2005)

Butler went undrafted in the 2004 NBA draft and signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was then cut training camp.[4] Butler began the 2004–05 season with the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) where over 40 games with the Great Lakes Storm he averaged 18.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game.[5] He was named the CBA Rookie of the Year and selected to the All-CBA First Team.[6]

New York Knicks (2005–2006)

On February 27, 2005, Butler signed with the New York Knicks for the rest of the 2004–05 NBA season,[5] scoring ten points over three games. 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 preseason, Brown publicly commented on how happy he was with Butler, and considered him his fourth rookie (after 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 Knicks careers. For the 2005–06 NBA season Butler played in 55 games averaging 13.5 minutes, 5.3 points (54.4% field goal accuracy) and 3.3 rebounds per game. He earned US$641,748 with the Knicks.

San Antonio Spurs (2006–2007)

In July 2006, Butler signed a three-year, US$7 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.[7] He was considered a long-term project. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said on October 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."[8] Butler never played with the Spurs during the 2007 NBA Playoffs, but the Spurs won the 2007 NBA Finals.[4]

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.[9] He played on the Rockets' 2007 summer league team, but was waived in the 2007–08 NBA preseason (October 2007).

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004–05 New York 3 0 1.7 1.000 — 1.000 .0 .0 .3 .0 3.3
2005–06 New York 55 0 13.5 .544 — .753 3.3 .5 .3 .6 5.3
2006–07† San Antonio 11 2 9.4 .457 — .900 2.0 .5 .2 .0 3.7
Career 69 2 12.3 .539 — .775 3.0 .4 .3 .4 5.0

References

  1. ^ "Grandmother Says Butler Didn't Receive Money". Enterprise-Journal. March 15, 2021. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  2. ^ "A Prep Player's Journey to Pros". Wall Street Journal. March 14, 2005. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  3. ^ Monter, Chris (February 12, 2004). "Jackie Butler is first early entry into NBA Draft". CollegeBasketballNews.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2007. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Jackie Butler bio". NBA. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Teenage Center Signs With the Knicks". The New York Times. February 28, 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  6. ^ "Jackie Butler minor league basketball statistics". Stats Crew. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  7. ^ Beck, Howard (July 20, 2006). "Looking at Bottom Line, Knicks Let Butler Go". The New York Times.
  8. ^ Ludden, Johnny (October 26, 2006). "Butler finding right track with Spurs". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008.
  9. ^ Ludden, Johnny (July 12, 2007). "Spurs find spot for Scola, Butler — Houston". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008.