Eying the next level, Butler eager to showcase his skills with Wildcats
LEXINGTON, Ky. (KT) — It didn’t take much for Mark Pope to convince Lamont Butler to finish his collegiate career at Kentucky.
“It’s easy to sell Kentucky and Kentucky basketball,” Butler said.
Mark Pope’s selling point was the program’s success rate of sending players to the next level. Former Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard was drafted as the third overall pick by the Houston Rockets in the NBA Draft last month and turned heads in the Summer League that recently concluded.
“His main thing was just about me having an opportunity to to go live out my dreams and that’s playing in the NBA,” he said. “He felt the way he plays and the way Kentucky basketball is viewed, I’ll have the best chance to do that here. I believe, in everything that he was saying. I’m excited. I’m excited and honored to be here for sure.”
Butler spent four seaons at San Diego State, where he served as the team’s primary point guard. He averaged 25 minutes per game during the past two seasons for the Aztecs. He’s used to being a leader by example, but is trying to be more vocal.
“Being a vocal leader, it’s not natural for me,” Butler said. “I’m kind of like a ead by example type of guy — just go out there and play hard. Do the right stuff.
“Being a vocal leader is kind of toug, but this team is kind of looking at me to be one of our leaders. I think stepping up as a voice, every day is going to be big for us.”
Butler has been impressed with his new teammates and added, “everybody’s really good” from. top to bottom.
“We’re all new,” he said. “It was great to see the talent that the coaches has put together. I think we’re going to be a really good team. Every year everybody’s really good. I’m excited for y’all to see.”
Butler got a taste of his future support system during a recent TBT game featuring former Kentucky players at Rupp Arena and was impressed by Big Blue Nation.
“As soon as we walked in here, we got a standing ovation before the game started,” he said. “You can see this love the people of Kentucky have about Kentucky basketball. I’m really excited to go out there and to win games and play for them and to be able to meet me a lot of fans and interact with them. I think that’s going to be big.”
Butler added the team is beginning to form a bond on and off the court.
“We’ve been hanging out a lot every day and just building that team chemistry,” he said. “You can see it on the court now, we’re able to talk to each other at a high rate. We all know what it takes to to go out there and win.”
What Butler has witnessed has been a team that can shoot, which he says will be the team’s biggest strength this season.
“We can shoot the ball,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that can just just go out there and shoot. I think that’s going to be our biggest strength.”
