J-Speaks: Butler Traded to the City of "Brotherly Love"

Over the summer, then Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler turned down a four-year, $110 million contract extension and asked for trade in a meeting with Team President and head coach Tom Thibodeau where he asked to land in either the “Big Apple” or the “City of Angels.” That grenade that the former Chicago laid onto his team at the end of last season has divided the locker room in a major way and is a big reason why the T’Wolves, who made the playoffs for the first time in 13 years in 2017-18 has gotten off to a rough start at 5-9. It was a matter if Timberwolves front office would blink and trade Butler but when, and to where. That decision came over the weekend where Butler was traded back to the Eastern Conference but to the “City of Brotherly Love.” 

In a trade that occurred over the weekend and was approved by the NBA office on Monday, the T’Wolves dealt the four-time All-Star along with second-year center Justin Patton to the Philadelphia 76ers for starting forwards Dario Saric and Robert Covington, reserve veteran guard Jerryd Bayless and a 2022 Second-Round pick. 

Butler, who is averaging 21.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 steals so far this season on 47.1 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from three-point range for the T’Wolves in 10 games played was formally introduced in a press conference on Tuesday at the Sixers practice facility in Camden, NJ and is expected to make his Sixers’ debut on Wednesday night at the Orlando Magic (6-8). 

Sixers’ owner Josh Harris said on Tuesday the addition of Butler now gives the team he believes three of the Top 20 players in the NBA. 

“I made this move because I feel it’s what’s best for our team,” General Manager Elton Brand said about acquiring Butler.

“We have a championship window, and it’s important for us to capitalize on that. Jimmy is one of the best players in the league, hands down.”  

“Butler’s goal match ours and the city of Philadelphia,” Brand also said about the addition of the four-time All-Star alongside reigning Kia Rookie of the Year in lead guard Ben Simmons and All-Star center Joel Embiid on a team that has high expectations to come out of the East this spring. 

Simmons and Embiid when they heard of the trade echoed those same sentiments about adding the All-NBA Third Team selection the past two seasons.

“We add another All-Star to the team, definitely,” Simmons said to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon before the Sixers 112-106 overtime loss at the Memphis Grizzlies (7-5) on Saturday night about the acquisition of Butler. “A guy like him who can come in, score the ball. Veteran leadership, experience. I think he’s going to fit in here.” 

“Our culture is winning, playing together as a team, and playing hard. So, I think he’s going to bring that.” 

Embiid echoed those same sentiments said Butler will help them a great deal offensively and defensively, and he is “excited to see where he takes us.”

To put into context the kind of team that Butler got dealt to, the Sixers won a total of 47 games the past three seasons between 2013-2016. They won a total of 52 games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and won a playoff series for the first time since that spring. The No. 3 Seeded Sixers defeated the No. 6 Seeded Miami Heat in five games in the opening round before falling in the Semis to the East runner-up Boston Celtics in five games. 

The expectations which were extremely high entering this season were just risen even more with Butler coming on board. 

Hall of Famer and former Sixer and NBA on TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley said that this deal made the Sixers better than they were. 

“I do worry a little about their depth now,” he added. “Because they gave up really two starters. They got one back but Saric coming off the bench was really a terrific player.” 

“So, I worry about their depth but you know what they had to do some because they were not going to win the way they were structured.” 

Perhaps the bigger concern is how well Butler will mesh with the two young pillars of the Sixers in Simmons and Embiid. 

At least in his introductory presser Butler seemed like someone who was ready to come in and be a better version of himself from a personal side with his new team. 

“I think I’m an incredible human being, teammate and I’ll show that to the guys here,” the 30^th overall pick in the 2011 draft out of Marquette University said on Tuesday. 

He added about playing for the city of Philadelphia, PA, “I like the fact that they like people that grind. That go hard. That’s what I’ve always built my basketball talent off of. I’ll tell you right now I’m not the most talented guy. I just think I just play hard. Like I’m up early before a lot of people in the gym just because I want to do whatever it is that my team ask for me to do to help us win as many games as possible.”

One huge reason Butler was even dealt to the T’Wolves on draft night 2017 for guard Zach LaVine and the No. 7 overall pick Lauri Markkanen is he had clashed with the younger cast of the Bulls even though he had All-Stars Dwyane Wade, now with the Miami Heat and current Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo alongside him. 

When Butler arrived in the “Twin Cities” he said at his introductory press conference about anyone who wanted to ask about his combative nature with his younger teammates in the “Windy City,” “My phone’s in my back pocket right now. If whoever has anything to say to me fell free, 773-899-6071. So, if you want to interview me there you have it.”

Rejoining the coach that he had made a name for himself in the league in Tom Thibodeau, who also is the T’Wolves team president this looked like a match made in heaven with him and former Kia Rookies of the Year in All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. 

That was the case until he got hurt in the middle of last season and the T’Wolves went from the Top 3 in the West to the No. 8 spot and had a quick exit in the opening round against the West runner-up Houston Rockets in five games. 

Then all the mess came to ahead where Butler clashed with some of his younger teammates, especially Wiggins and Towns, who in the past two off-seasons got their rookie contracts extended for $146.5 and $190 million respectably and their effort was nothing compared to his. 

Butler told Thibodeau at the end of last season, on several occasions over the summer and even before the start of training camp that he wanted to be traded. 

That forced the team’s owner Glen Taylor, general manager Scott Layden, and Thibodeau’s hand because it was obvious that with Butler’s upcoming unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2019 he was not going to re-sign. So that left the T’Wolves with the options of finding the best deal to get most you can in return or lose Butler in free agency for nothing. 

Taylor was the one more motivated to trade Butler than Thibodeau. So much so that he engaged himself at the ownership level with other teams. 

“I made it clear to Jimmy that [if] there’s a deal and it’s not good for us then we’re not interested, and it may not be a team that you wanted to go to,” Thibodeau said at the team’s Media Day on Sept. 24. 

Thibodeau chose to play the hand of bring him into training camp and see if he can smooth things out with him and the rest of the team.

The T’Wolves and the Miami Heat had talks in early October about acquiring Butler but those talks fell apart to where Heat president and Hall of Famer Pat Riley said in a phone call with the team to get their “[expletive] house in order.”

When Butler arrived for his first practice with the team on Oct. 10, he more than made his presence felt as he challenged the organization and the team’s young stars in All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns and talented swingman and former Kia Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins, whose play on the floor has suffered under this dark cloud. 

Butler during that practiced even expressed his feelings to Layden yelling during that practice “You [expletive] need me.” 

He said of that practice in an interview with “NBA: The Jump” host Rachel Nichols in an interview one day later, “I think that I was honest.” 

“Was I brutally honest, yes. But I think that’s the problem. Everybody’s so scared to be honest with one another.” 

When Nichols asked if the situation was fixable, Butler said, “It could be. It could be.” 

For Butler, he carried on as if all was fine with the world and he got the fans on his side as he turned boos at the start of the team’s home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers to MVP chants as he scored 33 points on 10 for 12 shooting and 12 for 12 from the free throw line with seven boards and four steals in the 131-123 win on Oct. 19. 

“The boos I’m okay with it,” Butler said after the win to reporters in the team’s locker room. “You’re allowed to dislike me but can’t say I don’t play to win.”

Unfortunately, Butler’s energy and focused did not trickle down to the rest of his teammates, especially on their recent five-game road trip where they went 0-5 and just 24 hours following the fifth loss on that five-game West Coast swing at the Sacramento Kings (8-6) 121-110 last Friday night a report came out from ESPN NBA Insider that Butler was traded to the Sixers.

To put this point into context, with Butler on the floor, Wiggins and Towns averaged per 36 minutes 18.2 and 14.6 points respectably this season. With Butler off the floor, the two averaged 27.4 and 23.0 points respectably.

In Tuesday aforementioned introductory presser Butler again found himself responding to criticism that he as former All-Star and NBA champion in 2006 with the Miami Heat, and Chicago native Antoine Walker put it “a bad locker room guy.”

“I love my teammates. I don’t think there’s too many of them that will tell you that I’m a bad teammate,” he said. 

“The funny part about it is all you here is sources say. You never here a player say it and I think if a player had a problem with anything they would.” 

“That’s how I feel about the situation and unless everybody in my past locker rooms is just that fake, I don’t think I was that big of a problem at all.” 

Butler also said that even after all that went down in Minnesota that he still had great conversations with his now former teammates and that he wishes nothing but the best for them, especially for Towns and Wiggins because they are very talented players.

Embiid said over the weekend that he spoke to Wiggins after initials reports of the trade where he said, “Wiggs told me that he thought that we we’re going to win the East for sure.” 

For both the 76ers and the Timberwolves, this trade has in some ways given them a fresh start. 

For the Sixers, they added a prime-time player to their young super star duo and they have a real opportunity to win the East if things all come together. 

Senior NBA writer of “The Undefeated” Marc J. Spears said on Monday’s edition of “NBA: The Jump” that if Simmons, Embiid, and Butler really want to make this partnership work, they should call future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to come meet with them and discuss how they along with Hall of Famer Ray Allen made it work when all three were with the C’s and helped them win a championship in 2008 and nearly won another in 2010. 

“They have a chance to be the dominant team perhaps in East, maybe in a year or so,” Spears said, “but they have to be on the same page.” 

For Butler, he really has to not only play well on the floor but he has to co-exist better with Simmons and Embiid. He wanted out of the “Twin Cities” because he felt like the rest of the team specifically Towns and Wiggins did not play at the level that he brought to practice and to games. 

What he has to do with the Sixers is bring that same work ethic without all the antics. He has aide in the growth of Embiid and Simmons and not be a hinderance to them or the team. If he does, the fanbase will love him, and he will get that max deal from the Sixers or someone else. If he does not, that same fanbase will turn on him in a second and ruin his chance of getting that max contract this summer.

While the trade has put the Sixers into the mix of winning the East, they are still a team in need of a lot of tweaking, especially against their Atlantic Division rivals in the previously mentioned Celtics (7-6); the current East leading Toronto Raptors (12-2) and Milwaukee Bucks (10-3) who are right ahead of them at the moment. 

There had been reports of the team being intrigued in bringing 10-time All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony if he does get waived by the Houston Rockets. Also, that they are interested in acquiring veteran sharp shooter Kyle Korver from the four-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers, who are struggling with this season at 2-11 with four-time Kia MVP LeBron James now with the Lakers. 

“Despite what’s been reported we’re gonna take our time and evaluate the landscape,” Brand said about the Sixers other plans to improve the team. 

“We feel that we can actually add an important piece with that roster spot. So, we’re not in a rush…We think we can use that to do some real damage and help our team.” 

For the T’Wolves the trade cleared the air that was very toxic in their locker room and brought in two very good players as mentioned in Saric and Covington, who including the playoffs have 398 starts combined in their time with the Sixers. 

Talent wise Towns and Wiggins are two of the best in the NBA, but as Butler exposed their softness or as ESPN.com’s Jackie MacMullan said got a public humiliation that rarely happens to players of their stature in that practice in early October by Butler. 

That is why as ESPN NBA studio analyst and Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady and ESPN.com writer Nick Friedell said Coach Thibodeau held onto Butler not only to save his job as the T’Wolves head coach and team president because he was willing to call out Towns and Wiggins when they were not bringing the kind of effort to the table their talents and contract extensions demanded. 

“I think Thibs is gone at the end of the year if not sooner because I don’t see them making some grand turnaround,” Friedell said on Tuesday. 

Hopefully Towns and Wiggins learned from this rough experience and will now take the leadership role on the team by the throat. If they do, there is a chance they can make it back to the playoffs, all be it as a lower seed in the rugged Western Conference. If they do not, it will only prove Butler right and Coach Thibodeau could be shown the door at season’s end or sooner.

How this trade will work for both the 76ers and Timberwolves remains to be seen. It will be fun to watch how this plays out in an NBA season that has given us one great story after another.   

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 11/12/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Jackie MacMullan, and Marc J. Spears; 11/12/18 www.nba.com story, “76ers, Wolves Complete Swap for All-Star Butler,” by Tim Reynolds of “The Associated Press;” 11/13/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Tracy McGrady, Jackie MacMullan, and Nick Friedell; 11/13/18 7 p.m. NBATV’s American Express Halftime Report of the Charlotte Hornets versus Cleveland Cavaliers with Kristen Ledlow, Grant Hill, and Kevin McHale; http://www.nba.com/games/20181114/PHIORL#/preview; www.espn.com/nba/standings; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/6430/jimmy-butler; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Butler_(basketball).