A snoozer-squad's surprise savior - Rising Star: Caron Butler

ASK AN NBA PLAYER HOW HE would describe himself as a person and he'll probably look at you as if an extra head just grew out of your shoulder. But Caron Buffer doesn't hesitate: "I'm just a nice, easygoing, down-to-earth dude who likes to keep it real. Really."

That type of smooth attitude and verbal at-ease will surely come in handy for the rookie Miami Heat swingman this season. Not only because, carrying the nickname "C-Butt," he'll surely be in for his share of rookie razzery, but also due to the fact that the Heat are in sore need of some relaxation-cum-leadership both on and off the floor.

Alonzo Mourning's kidney ailment prevents him from filling a leadership role. Eddie Jones is too quiet, and Brian Grant too immature. As Buffer says, "I ended up in exactly the right place. Last year, this team was very close to the playoffs. It probably needed just one more thing to be a winner. I think it was me."

Heat coach/GM/president/deity Pat Riley must think so, too. Customarily about as excited about playing rookies as having a root canal, he's been seen chuckling all over Miami about his unexpected fortune of grabbing Butler on draft day at No. 10. "I don't know if he'll start but he'll get his minutes," Riley says. Translation: He'll play until he drops.

Otherwise the once-hot Heat--a consistent playoff contender that finished a shockingly dullish 36-46 last year--will drop off the NBA map altogether, probably taking Riley's gig right with it. This snooze-inducing bunch needs new blood like Dracula after a dry night. And Butler is the best--and most incomprehensible--No. 10 pick in draft history, or at least since his role model and potential playalike, Paul Pierce, dropped to the 10-spot in 1998.

How does a potential NBA superstar fall all the way to No. 107 Coincidental needs by nine other teams did conspire. But if you listen to Buffer, there was another, far more devious, conspiracy afoot as well: "People were whispering behind the scenes that I got shot in both legs," he says. "It never happened. But some agents I decided not to go with figured, well, if they can't have me, no one can."

The slimy 10-percenters got their material based on Buffer's way-back past when, at the age of 15, he did spend 15 months in jail for bringing a small amount of cocaine and an unloaded gun to school. "I don't run away from what I was--a kid who grew up in the streets," the Racine, Wis. native says. "Incarceration was the best thing that could happen to me. Where else would you have more time to think? I learned how to be a better person. I want to show kids that, if you work hard at doing the fight thing, you'll always get another chance."

By all accounts, the 22-year-old Buffer--who hasn't had as much as a speeding ticket in seven years--has indeed grew into a young man with a profound knowledge of himself and life. "I need the challenge of a tough coach to bring out the best in me," he says with a smile. "That's why I went to Maine Central Institute to coach [Max] Good. That's why chose UConn, to work with a guy like coach [Jim] Calhoun. And that's why I know that coach Riley and myself, we will get along just fine."

Calhoun, before Butler had ever played a minute for UConn, called the kid "the single greatest talent we've ever had here." But, though he was very good--and sometimes even better than that--he was no Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, or Donyell Marshall at first.

Then last February rolled around, and something happened. "Coach told me it was time to step it up, take over, carry this team, and show what I can do," Buffer recalls. "And when a Hall of Fame coach like Jim Calhoun says something like that to you, it does wonders for your confidence. You feel you can do anything."

He just about did. Already a fine physical force and one of those rare "perception" players, the 6'7", 235-pound Buffer added a smooth handle, purer touch, far more range on his shot, and ice-in-his-veins clutchness to his neverending skills. Butler carded the otherwise puppy-esque Huskies to the Big East Tournament finals and the NCAA Elite Eight with a rarely-seen two-month display of total domination (including an all-time UConn record 26.5 ppg in the NCAAs).

Now, once again, the Heat is on--and at a much higher level. But don't expect Butler to get out of the kitchen.

"I expect us to be a much better team," he says matter-of-factly, without a trace of egotism in his basso profundo voice. "And I expect I'll have a lot to do the Miami Heat getting hack into the playoffs."

COPYRIGHT 2002 Century Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group