"Congratulations. Welcome. Maybe come by tonight and chill out for a bit and get to know each other" was the text received by Bulls first-round pick Jimmy Butler from Derrick Rose before he got on a plane to Chicago Sunday. So they did.
Coincidently, Butler attended Tyler (Texas) Junior College with D-Rose's boy from Simeon, Randall Hampton, before moving onto Marquette. The three of them chilled out hard with some BET Awards watching after Butler's plane arrived.
"We went to Derrick's house and watched the BET awards and just talked about basketball, my life. Me and Randall were joking about our junior college days. It's crazy that I used to watch Derrick on TV and now I'm a teammate. I try not to let that show too much. He's a good dude. He's just like me for the most part. He just wants to win."
I too watched a few minutes of the BET Awards -- for obvious reasons* -- and I can say without a doubt that that little dude from Soul Plane rambles more than the excitable character in an Aaron Sorkin** flick.
Anyway, welcome to Chicago, Jimmy Butler. I hope you changed the channel before this happened.
*My hip-hop loving lady roommate made me.
**It should be noted that I love Sorkin. Been watching "Sports Night" straight for the past five days on NetFlix. So very good.
Twitter @ZWMartin