Jackie Butler

Jackie Butler (born March 10, 1985) is an American retired professional basketball player.

Jackie Butler
Butler in March 2006 with the New York Knicks.
Personal information
Born (1985-03-10) March 10, 1985
McComb, Mississippi
NationalityAmerican
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 Basketball-Reference.com

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

Butler went undrafted in the 2004 NBA draft and signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was then cut training camp.[2] Butler began the 2004–05 season with the Continental Basketball Association where over 40 games with the Great Lakes Storm he averaged 18.1 points , 10.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game.[3] On February 27, 2005, Butler signed with the New York Knicks for the rest of the 2004–05 NBA season,[3] 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.

In July 2006, Butler signed a three-year, US$7 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.[4] 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."[5] 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.[6] He played on the Rockets' 2007 summer league team, but was waived in the 2007–08 NBA preseason (October 2007).

References
  1. 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.
  2. "Jackie Butler bio". NBA. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  3. "Teenage Center Signs With the Knicks". The New York Times. February 28, 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  4. Beck, Howard (July 20, 2006). "Looking at Bottom Line, Knicks Let Butler Go". The New York Times.
  5. Ludden, Johnny (October 26, 2006). "Butler finding right track with Spurs". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008.
  6. Ludden, Johnny (July 12, 2007). "Spurs find spot for Scola, Butler — Houston". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008.
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