It was just 15 months ago that Jimmy Butler walked into the Mall of America, wearing a sharp blue suit as he sat down next to his old — and new — coach, Tom Thibodeau.



Butler craned his neck upward, taking in the scene as hundreds of success-starved Wolves fans lined all three balconies that encircled the mall’s rotunda, eager to get a look at the All-NBA player that was there to vault their long-suffering team into relevance.



Butler smiled and put his right hand on Thibodeau’s left shoulder. The two ex-Bulls were together again, and the typically all-business coach relented to allow the introductory press conference to be pumped full of the pomp, circumstance and commerce-driven buzz of one of the Twin Cities’ defining, if uninspiring, venues.



In his opening remarks, Butler thanked Thibodeau, who had just finished an underwhelming first season in Minnesota. The mutual respect between the two was evident from the outset and...