Jimmy Butler on Heat so far: ‘Mediocre’

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler is never shy about speaking the truth.

Last year, he confidently guaranteed the Heat would beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. So he will tell you when the Heat are playing well.

He will also tell you the truth when they’re not.

“We stand right where we don’t want to be, which is very mediocre. Not good, not bad, just mediocre,” Butler said, via Brady Hawk of Five Reasons Sports. “You talk about our offense, it’s been mediocre. You talk about our defense, it’s been mediocre.”

The Heat (11-9) currently sit in a tie for seventh place in the East with Cleveland. But we’re just 20 games in. If there’s one thing we learned about the Heat on their way to the Finals last season, it’s that they were pretty much mediocre until the playoffs started.

So mediocre after 20 games? Butler is right. That’s where the Heat are. Still, if we’ve learned one thing about the Heat, it’s that they tend to play their best basketball when it means the most, with no less than Butler leading the way.