A report from ESPN senior writer Jackie MacMullan last night described Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns new relationship with Derrick Rose and his emergence as a team leader since the trade of Jimmy Butler to the 76ers.

It’s unsurprising, considering Towns and Andrew Wiggins were two of Butler’s prime targets when it came to his criticism of the team and their perceived lack of effort on the court.

However, MacMullan included an interesting nugget from KAT’s former college coach, University of Kentucky’s John Calipari, in which he outright accused Butler of bullying the Timberwolves’ center.

Calipari predicted, “Karl’s game is going to take off. He can be himself again,” with the exit of Butler. Calipari mentioned the differences in Butler and Towns’ personalities, how they approach competition, and the differences in how each were brought up.

Calipari said Towns isn’t one to get “into a dogfight” and it was unsurprising that he took a backseat to Butler.

“Things happen. There are power struggles all the time in [the NBA],” Calipari said. “If a guy can bully you, he will bully you. And that’s what Jimmy did to Karl. C’mon, that’s the league.”

It’s an interesting take from Calipari (and nearly every single article written on MacMullan’s report) that he perceived Butler’s actions against Towns as “bullying” in nature. Did Butler bully Towns for calling him out for what he saw as a lack of effort from one of the more talented members of the roster? When do motivation and criticism cross over from being a team leader into the bullying realm?

I’d wager Calipari has been as hard or even harder on players in his coaching career. Does he consider himself a bully? Michael Jordan is praised as being one of the hardest competitors of all time who demanded the best and every ounce of effort from his teammates during every moment of practice and every game…is he a bully?

As of yet, nobody on the 76ers has publicly claimed Butler’s actions or criticisms have gone too far while with the team.