SAN FRANCISCO – When Jimmy Butler got the call in late June that he was headed for a reunion with Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota, he was playing spades in Paris.

His old Chicago Bulls coach had played a predictable hand, sending Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick to his former team in exchange for the three-time All-Star who he saw as the perfect fit for their upstart team. And Butler, who was enjoying the company of fellow NBA stars Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and James Harden when his agent, Bernie Lee, called to share the news, clearly forgot which game they were all playing.

His poker face was on full display.

“To tell you the truth, (I felt) nothing,” Butler, 28, told USA TODAY Sports about the thoughts that crossed his mind in that moment. “At that point in time, I was enjoying my offseason. I was enjoying life. I got an opportunity to be around D-Wade and Melo and James and all of those guys, so we were just enjoying being together, and over there celebrating another successful season.

“You know, you get traded. It happens. It’s part of the business. But…now you look back on it and I think it was for the better. I like the way we’re looking right now, man. Everybody’s happy, for the most part, and we’re only going to get better because we’re only learning more and more about each other.”

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Even with the Wolves’ loss to the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, their 7-4 start is the third-best in franchise history. And truth be told, that says more about the rough history of the franchise than it does about this particular team. But with a league-long playoff drought to break (13 years and counting) and the reality that Thibodeau handpicked him to help turn it all around, Butler is ready to play this part.

The three-time All-Star sat down with USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday morning to discuss his new challenge. The following is an edited version of the interview.

Q: When you got that call from Bernie, how did you honestly process the reunion component with Thibs? I have had some people tell me how you guys are like-minded in some ways, but how in other ways Jimmy would be lying to you if he says he always loves playing for Thibs. So, what is it?

A: “Man, me and Thibs will butt heads a million times throughout this year. That’s a given. We’ll probably butt heads more than anybody else on the team, because we go about things the same way but he may see something differently the way that I see it, and he’ll speak on it and I’ll speak on it and before you know it we’re like, ‘Yo…dadadada, listen this, listen this,’ but that’s because we both want to win. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing for Thibs, man. He’s always working, always studying the game. You always see him in the gym, in his office. You’re going to ride for guys that do that, because you know at the end of the day they’re going to work just as hard as you are.”

Q: Which is your thing…

A: “Yeah, as you know. And so, like I always tell him, ‘Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it. But I think there’s a fine balance between doing what you want to do, and doing what you have to do in order to be successful. So with that being said, I think that’s why we’re moving in the direction that we are right now as a team and as an organization because everybody is doing what they’re asked to do and what they’re supposed to do to help us win.”

Q: Is it crazy for you to have this kind of voice with him, considering where the two of you started (during their four seasons together in Chicago)? Forget about hoops – if you had a boss where you couldn’t get on his radar, and now you’re a trusted voice and his right-hand man of sorts. Is that part of it crazy?

A: “It is crazy, but I’ve worked really hard in this league to get to where I am right now, and I’m to a point where I just want to win. And I think he knows that as well. So with that being said, he takes my opinion, what I’m seeing, a lot more into account because he knows how bad I want to win and how much I’m willing to sacrifice and give up just to win. That’s the only reason why I play this game. But I’m not gonna lie, it’s different, because at one point in time I couldn’t get him to say hello to me. And now, I get text messages and phone calls at who-knows what time of the night. That’s a big jump from me my rookie year to six, seven years in.”

Q: What experiences are you using to help with this challenge? Is it your junior college experience, Marquette, the Bulls years?

A: “Everything. Seriously, because you’ve got to understand that for everybody to be successful, there’s roles in this thing. And when everybody understands the role and the time that they’re called upon, that’s when we’re going to be really, really good. I had a different role when I was in junior college than when I was at Marquette. From Chicago to here, everything has been different. But you’ve got to be a superstar within that role in order to help your team win. That’s what I look upon, like everybody wants me to do this and everybody wants me to do that. In my mind, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win.”

Q: But what about the individual part? Your scoring is down, but everybody knows how huge you have been. Do you worry at all when it comes to – whether it’s an All-Star berth on the line…

(Butler gives a Harden-esque side-eye – that all but answers the question)

You just answered it right there…

A: “All Star? Man, I could care less.”

Q: But you had a basketball made with the inscription, ‘Can a kid from Tomball (Texas) be the MVP?’ How do you reconcile that?

A: “He can. He can. Like I said, I can score the ball with the best of ‘em whenever I want. If they need me to take over a game, then I’ll do that. I’m not worried about scoring. We’ve got to win. That’s something that the organization hasn’t done in a very long time, and right now I think we’re figuring out a way to make that happen. Is my scoring down? Yeah, it is (from a career-high of 23.9 points per game last season to 14.7 per after Wednesday’s game). But I’m OK with it, because we’re winning. Now whenever we’re not winning, and my scoring’s down, and I feel like I’ve got to do a lot more, then that’s when you get – quote-unquote – the Jimmy Buckets that everybody wants and everybody knows.”

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Q: That reminds me of (the Cleveland Cavaliers’) LeBron (James) the other day, when he says, ‘OK, I’ve got to score 57 because we’re scuffling…’

A: “You know what I mean? I’ve got a 50-point game in me. Don’t worry about it. Hopefully more than one. But for right now, we’re good where we’re at, and I’m happy man.”

Q: Is part of the way you’re playing maybe about inspiring the younger guys to buy in? You’re setting a tone early on here that it’s not all about you.

A: “Yeah, that’s very important. You can’t be selfish in this game. You’ve got to know, at the end of the day that it’s all about winning. And when you win, everybody looks good. Everybody gets any and every (thing) that they could possibly want. But that’s where it starts. I think everybody here is trying to show everybody here how to win, what it takes to win each and every day. And yeah, you’re going to butt heads along the way – a thousand and 10 percent. But when you win, nobody has anything to say. Nobody has nothing to say right now when we’re 7-3, but let us lose a couple in a row (and) then that’s where you start the talk. That’s when you start to hear that.”

Q: So I enjoyed your ESPN segment, but wanted to follow up with a question. When you said the Bulls took the “Fred Hoiberg route,” what does that mean?

A: “That means like everybody knows me and Fred had some riff-raff. We didn’t agree on many things. And I think eventually, everybody was like, ‘Yo, they’re either going to build the team around Jimmy, or they’re going to go the route with Fred, the up-and-down, shoot a lot of threes or, you know…

“Look, I iso-ed a little bit (smiles). Yeah, I iso a little bit. And that’s not the way that Fred plays the game. And that’s what I was saying, that it was either, ‘We’re going to build the team around me for a little bit and allow me to distribute the basketball, iso in pick and roll. Or you go with Fred – go up and down, shoot a lot of threes, that type of stuff. That spread type – kind of Golden State-esque, you know what I mean? They went that route, and that’s all I’m saying, and that’s fine. That’s what I was saying. Nothing’s wrong with that.”

Q: Is it safe to assume, though, that you wish they never fired Thibs?

A: “I mean look, it ain’t my job to say who I want the coach to be. My job is to go out there and play. I mean I guess you could guess who I would rather play for. We’re not going to sit here and say that that’s a huge secret. I mean whoever they decided to bring in, my job was to help them win to the best of my ability. And I felt like I did that in Chicago. I feel like I’m doing that here. I feel like I would do it in any organization that I would be in.

“So with that being said man, I just want to hoop. I just want to ball. I just want a chance to win a championship. I just want to win. I wake up every day smiling. Why? Because I’ve got my people around me. I really don’t give a damn what anybody thinks about me or what I say or what I do. I get to hoop, I’m happy, and I’ve got my football with me."

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick.