MINNEAPOLIS — The All-Star forward Jimmy Butler comes across as the proudest former resident in the history of tiny Tomball, Texas. What he doesn’t advertise in his Twitter biography, but also doesn’t dispute, is that he grew up dreaming of becoming a Houston Rocket like his hero Tracy McGrady.
“It was Houston everything for me,” said Butler, who grew up in Tomball, roughly 30 miles from Houston’s city center. “Whatever sport I was in love with at the time, I wanted to be playing for the Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, Houston Texans. I was Houston to the death.