Jimmy Butler Says NBA Doesn't Pay Attention Enough To Miami Heat

Heat star is concerned about the lack of national television games

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler is considered a blue-collar, two-player who has no problem doing the dirty work.

He often puts individual statistics behind wins but apparently wants more attention for his team. After the Heat's victory against the Houston Rockets Thursday, Butler said the NBA has an issue with showcasing the team.

"I don't feel like the NBA rock with the Miami Heat too much any way," Butler said. "At least we get to play somewhere. We don't got no TV games or nothing."

Butler was referring to the Heat's game in Mexico City Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs. The game is one of only 22 nationally-televised for the Heat. Eleven of those are on NBATV, including Saturday, but aren't as high profile as ABC, TNT or ESPN.

Despite being last year's top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Heat didn't even crack the top 10 for most games televised on the major networks, falling behind the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns.

Heat center Bam Adebayo also touched on the subject earlier this month when he spoke of the lack of media attention.

"You've got to think about: we were No. 1 in the East and people didn't even pay us any mind," Adebayo said. "Us being where we're at, they're definitely not talking about us. The biggest thing for us is to keep stacking these wins."

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Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.

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