In an interesting but sometimes wandering ESPN story, we learned more about the dynamic in the Wolves locker room that preceded Jimmy Butler's trade to the 76ers.

John Calipari, who was both Karl-Anthony Towns' college coach at Kentucky and Derrick Rose's college coach at Memphis, weighed in on the subject. The Calipari interview came in November, not long after Butler was traded.

Said Calipari: "If a guy can bully you, he will bully you. And that's what Jimmy did to Karl. C'mon, that's the league."

When approached with Calipari's comments last week when the 76ers routed the Wolves in the first meeting between the teams since the trade, Butler told ESPN:

"He can call me a bully, but when [Calipari] sees me, I'm gonna confront him about it. ... When you have as much talent as [Karl] has had throughout his life, guys don't keep it real with him. I do."

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.