What the fro?

Jimmy Butler's hairdo had been an interesting discussion topic among fans. The Bulls guard started growing his hair out a year and half ago, and what began as a respectable high-top fade morphed into a style that was, well, hard to describe, but we know Sideshow Bob would've been proud.

But for a guy who wears cowboy boots almost every day, his hairstyle was reflective of someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. And it was only a matter of time before it reached cult status.

"I just wanted something different for a little while," Butler said. "I wanted my hair to stand out a little bit, and it did. So we'll see what I'm gonna do with it next."

After appearing on the red carpet at the ESPYs this summer and in BMO Harris Bank TV spots lately, no doubt @JimmyButlersHair was on the verge of its Twitter debut.

Then the unthinkable happened: Butler got a haircut. And the fallout in the Bulls locker room was immediate.

"To tell you the truth, I don't like this haircut," Derrick Rose said. "I liked the way he had it before. He was being him. I think he listened to too many people and he cut it. I liked the old style better. [The change] was definitely a shock. He came in with a hat on and I could tell by how low the hat was and I'm like, 'Man, he got a haircut.'"

But the disappointment didn't end there.

"I want him to grow his fro back," Marquis Teague said. "I got used to him with the fro. I didn't think he was ever going to cut it because he loved it so much."

"He looks like rookie Jimmy," Taj Gibson said. "I guess he got mad because Mike [Dunleavy Jr.] said he looked like Shump [New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert], and it seemed like five minutes later he cut his hair."

Despite his teammates' assertions, Butler insists he was planning to cut his hair all along. But as usual, in a way only he could get away with.

"I was gonna cut it before the practice we had before we left for Toronto," he said. "I was gonna come in with half of it low and the other half still nappy. But my barber told me not to do it because if I didn't have enough time before we left for Toronto to get another cut, I would've been playing in the game with my hair like that."

Whoever Butler's barber is, if you're reading this, we salute you.

Finally, Butler's biggest detractor knows a thing or two about his hair being more popular than he is.

"I think it's terrible," Joakim Noah said. "I'm not the type of guy that's going to talk about another man's haircut, but if you're gonna do the damn thing, do it. Stick with it. Don't fake the funk.

"Before he cut his hair, that was the real Jimmy Butler. I don't know who this is," Noah said jokingly before adding, "It's all good; Jimmy is still my brother. I still love him."

Bryan Crawford is a RedEye special contributor.