Getty Philadelphia 76ers guard Jimmy Butler
He’s the unscratchable itch, one that keeps you up at night. Only this itch might be the first sign of a grim diagnosis.
Jimmy Butler had been coy about his controversial decision to leave Philadelphia for Miami. Technically, the Sixers traded him but he clearly forced his way out of town. Either way, the Heat forward has been starting to share secrets from the marriage with various sound bites.
Butler’s most recent comments, as told to his former Sixers teammate J.J. Redick, might be the most damning yet. It paints the picture of a rudderless ship, a locker room devoid of leaders and a head coach lacking full control.
Butler, who recently revealed he had no issues with Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons, admitted to the J.J. Redick Podcast with Tommy Alter that he didn’t know who was in charge of the Sixers.
“Hell yeah, it was difficult. It was so different,” Butler said on the podcast. “On any given day, me as a person, as a player, I didn’t know who the [expletive] was in charge. I think that was my biggest thing.”
“I didn’t know what the [expletive] to expect whenever I would go into the gym, whenever I go onto the plane, whenever I go into the game,” Butler continued. “I was like, man. I think I was as lost as the next [expletive].”
Both Butler and Redick wound up leaving Philadelphia in the offseason. Butler left in a trade to Miami that netted the Sixers Josh Richardson in return while Redick bounced to sign a two-year, $26.5 million with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Butler Talks About Watching Game Film in Silence
Jimmy Butler’s most troubling remarks come in regard to a team meeting back in November 2018. The Sixers were going through game film and nothing was getting accomplished. No one was talking about what they were watching. No one was offering any solutions on how to improve.
These pointless meetings were commonplace, according to Butler, and even led to a reported blowup with head coach Brett Brown in December 2018. There was an eerie quiet in the room as players stared at the screen. At one point, Butler stood up for former Sixer T.J. McConnell who had been asking for more pick-and-roll plays.
Playoff Jimmy Butler was different.
Notable Games:
30 PTS 5 AST 11 REB 1 BLK
22 PTS 9 AST 9 REB 3 STL 1 BLK
29 PTS 4 AST 11 REB 1 BLK
22 PTS 7 AST 5 REB 1 STL
25 PTS 8 AST 6 REB 2 STL
Against the number one defense and eventual champs.
Heat need this Jimmy in the playoffs
“We’re all sitting in there and nothing got accomplished at all,” Butler said. “‘JJ, why would I ever go back in there again?’ Nothing is getting accomplished.’ Nobody is saying nothing to anybody and we’re just sitting in there watching film and you can literally hear the thing clicking. I may have been two, three weeks there tops.”
Butler had been asking for a larger role in the offense at the time and, eventually, he got it. Remember, Butler was the main ball-handler last year during the playoffs, a role relegated to Ben Simmons for much of the regular season. It seems that Butler was making a suggestion, not demanding a change.
“I don’t think it was fair because the entire year Ben had the ball,” Butler told the J.J. Redick Podcast with Tommy Alter. “So you mean to tell that in one playoff series, you just switch it up like that? I would be, like he was, I would feel a type a way. I would think that’s it f—ed up to play one way the entire year and then be like you know what? Boom! This is how we’re gonna do it. I would tell Brett, ‘I think we should mix in me handling the ball a little bit.'”
The Philadelphia fallout, Mark Wahlberg, and much more with @JimmyButler on ‘The @jj_redick Podcast With @talter’
Listen here: t.co/TRLd245dRX
