"He's an incredibly talented player just like Joel (Embiid), just like Tobias (Harris), and I'm excited for Doc (Rivers) and his staff to have a whole offseason, work with the players, and come up with the best plan for the roster we'll have which we don't know exactly as we just mentioned the bench and how that's going to look," Morey said. In late September, after someone "with knowledge of Simmons' outlook" told The Athletic's Sam Amick that Simmons believed his partnership with Embiid had "run its course," Embiid backed up the prior reporting about Butler's exit, adding that he disagreed with the front office's decision at the time - and still does. Writing for Fox Sports last summer, Weitzman reported that Simmons was frustrated when Butler essentially became the point guard, and that management was concerned that Simmons wouldn't handle it well if this continued, which played a role in Philadelphia deciding not to stay in the Butler business. "I'm more valuable than that." Simmons added that he had played there before and "just made more plays from there tonight." "It's not about being in the dunker, because is definitely not that," Simmons told Lowe. Afterward, ESPN's Zach Lowe asked Simmons about spending more time off the ball, in the dunker spot. The Sixers won the game, and it was easily Simmons' best all-around game of the series. In Game 6 against the Raptors, Butler scored 25 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished eight assists, while Simmons scored 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished six assists.
Philadelphia was reportedly attracted to Horford because he could credibly defend Giannis Antetokounmpo and start at center whenever Embiid missed games. So why did Butler end up leaving? In a 2020 story for Bleacher Report, Yaron Weitzman reported that Philadelphia was worried about Butler continuing to clash with then-coach Brett Brown and his presence complicating things for Simmons - in the Toronto series, Butler became the Sixers' primary playmaker, relegating Simmons to a limited, off-ball role in the halfcourt. In the 204 minutes they shared the court in that seven-game series, the Sixers outscored the Raptors by 76 points, or 18.3 per 100 possessions.
#JIMMY BUTLER FREE#
In the 2019 offseason, Butler made his way to Miami in a sign-and-trade and the Sixers signed Al Horford in free agency.īutler and Embiid were thick as thieves during their short time together, and their team came literally as close as one can get to defeating the eventual champions.
It had an even better point differential in 173 playoff minutes, but that was that. That team's full-strength starting five - Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Butler, Harris and Embiid - played only 161 minutes in 10 regular-season games, but was downright dominant: 121.9 points per 100 possessions on offense, 102.5 per 100 on defense.
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