Rumors

How does Jimmy Butler motivate people so well? Anthony Tolliver: Well, I mean, he’s just a professional hype guy. No, I’m serious. Like he knows how to. He knows exactly what to say and how to say it to certain people in order to get the absolute most out of those people. I truly believe that. That’s why I said, he’s such a good leader because that’s what leaders are supposed to do. That’s one of the biggest functions of a leader: the ability to get the most out of the players that you have. Just to have somebody like that, that can do that at that level, it’s pretty incredible.

HoopsHype

Do we give 'Heat Culture' too much credit instead of Jimmy Butler? Anthony Tolliver: So think about the Heat before Jimmy, right? They were superstars. They had Dwyane Wade and Shaq and Alonzo Mourning, and like, that’s what made them really good. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Their role players are great, but when they won the championship, D Wade, Shaq, role players were Antoine Walker, Gary Payton. I mean, come on. Like, you know, these are ridiculously good players. Right? None of those guys were undrafted or whatever. What Jimmy has done, you know, to a guy like Duncan Robinson, obviously, but he’s made his name for himself for multiple years now. All these new guys, though, that no one really knew. All of a sudden, these guys look like killers. Right? They look unbelievable. Why? It’s because Jimmy, like Jimmy is that dude, he’s just freaking good.

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Anthony Tolliver: Going back to Minnesota, the first time we were pretty bad. The second time, it was a team with Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague. We had guys that made the playoffs the previous year, we’re the eighth seed, but Jimmy had missed like 28 games. I’m a free agent coming off one of the best years of my career, and I’m thinking, “Man, Minnesota, the only thing they were missing last year was shooting.” So I’m thinking, “Man, I’m about to go to Minnesota and fill this gap. I’ve already been there before. They built up this incredible team with three really good players that we can play by and be around. I’m going to be shooting open shots all day with those three guys on the court.” But I just didn’t realize it was a dumpster fire. No one told me it was a dumpster fire prior to signing. Yeah, that situation turned sour really quick for many different reasons.

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Was that infamous practice with Jimmy Butler as crazy as depicted by the media? Anthony Tolliver: It was accurately depicted, I guess is the best way to put it. Probably most of the things you’ve heard about it are true. I was there, for the whole thing. I haven’t really heard anything that was over-exaggerated, even like, wow. Pretty sure every report I’ve heard about how it went and everything else, and how he left the practice early, and went and did an interview with Rachel Nichols. We got done with our practice. By the time we were in the locker room, he was on ESPN. It was bizarre. It was something that we didn’t even know how to react to because it was so bizarre. It was truly awkward.

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Anthony Tolliver: And so, remember, I go back to what I said earlier: Jimmy is the best leader I’ve ever played with. It’s because he can take someone who, like I said, guys who are fringe NBA players at best, right? He took them and made them in one practice, three scrimmage games. So, it’s not like you’re gonna say, “Oh, still,” but listen, I’m gonna bring this into today’s world, right? He took those guys, and he purposely did not shoot because he wanted to show how dominant he truly was. He wanted to show that he was the best player on our team. Because they didn’t pay him max money. He was like, “Screw you guys.” Now, I don’t know all, I know there’s some other stuff too. It wasn’t just about money, but that was a big part of it too. They didn’t pay him what he thought they should have. They should have paid him.

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This wasn't against Thibs? Butler was more against the front office? Anthony Tolliver: Oh, it was against all of them. It was against everybody. He never had a lot of the blame put on him having beef with KAT and we can work with? Oh, it wasn’t about them. Like disrespect. I truly believe 90 percent of it was from the front office and above, like everybody outside of our locker room. That’s my interpretation. Right? Do I think that he thought that KAT and Wiggins could have played harder? Yes. He made it very clear in the media. Andrew Wiggins is one of the most gifted players he has ever seen in his entire life, which is completely true. KAT is one of the most skilled big men ever in the history of the league. So, it’s not like he was jealous or something. He’s like, no, these guys are incredible players. He saw more, I think he saw more in them than they saw in themselves, which rubbed him the wrong way.

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Did you foresee Nick Nurse becoming an NBA coach during your time playing for him? Anthony Tolliver: Um, no, I did not think, just from playing for him, that he would be a head coach one day. Yeah, this guy’s gonna be a head coach one day. Honestly, being a head coach is kind of a crapshoot, you have to get lucky, not gonna lie. There are only 30 head coaches. There are many guys who deserve to be head coaches, but most won’t get the opportunity due to timing. You need an entire organization willing and able to believe in your leadership ability. It’s similar to playing in the NBA, especially as a role player or non-superstar, it’s all about timing.

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You went to the same high school as Brad Pitt, how was it following that legacy? Anthony Tolliver: I mean, he’s a movie star. Obviously, it’s hard to beat Brad Pitt in a popularity contest. He’s kind of the big shot that came from my high school. I actually had a classmate, Lucas Grabeel, who was one of the stars in High School Musical. We graduated the same year from Kickapoo. I don’t know if Brad Pitt had any big-time sports guys in his year. One of the most popular movies of all time is High School Musical, and with me playing in the NBA for 13 years, we had a pretty strong class. We also had a guy we graduated with who has won multiple Grammys for producing. So, yeah, we have a very successful class.

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Will Guillory: Sources: Anthony Tolliver has cleared health and safety protocols and is eligible to be signed immediately. Tolliver’s 10-day hardship deal with the Pelicans was voided due to a positive test.

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The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has signed forward Feron Hunt to a 10-day contract via the COVID hardship exception. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. In a related move, the Pelicans voided the contract of Anthony Tolliver.

NBA.com

Will Guillory: The Pelicans voided Anthony Tolliver's 10-day contract after Tolliver tested positive for COVID-19, sources tell @TheAthletic. Tolliver will be available for teams once he clears an isolation period.

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Shams Charania: The New Orleans Pelicans are signing NBA veteran Anthony Tolliver to a 10-day contract, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

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Multiple sources say Noah is used in some form by roughly 20 of the NBA’s 30 teams. Nurse estimated that the Raptors spend only about 5 percent of their time with the system on situations like Lowry’s cold streak a couple years ago, with the bulk instead focused on long-term development and similar areas. “You don’t become a great shooter if your shot is completely different from one shot to another,” said Anthony Tolliver, a veteran NBA player who’s used Noah with multiple teams throughout his career — and believes in it so much that he sits on the company’s advisory board. “But the differences are very small; with Noah, you can identify what those are pretty darn quickly.”

FiveThirtyEight

Shams Charania: The 76ers are waiving forward Anthony Tolliver, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Tolliver's guarantee date was today.

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