Philadelphia 76ers: Jimmy Butler’s scoring is the final puzzle piece

The Philadelphia 76ers helped to complete their roster with the blockbuster trade for Jimmy Butler and his scoring will help the Sixers rise in the East.

The Philadelphia 76ers made the first blockbuster trade of the 2018-19 NBA regular season when they dealt Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for disgruntled star Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton. Though Saric and Covington were good for the team for a while, Butler is exactly what Philly needs to take the leap.

A few days ago, I wrote about how the Sixers’ losses against the best teams in the Eastern Conference should concern fans. Two major themes in those losses were the inability to guard superstars and the inability to hit shots. Butler can do both of those things and he does them better than almost anyone in the league.

A four-time All-Star and four-time All-Defensive team honoree, Butler already has the individual accolades to show he will bring a lot to the table for a Sixers team still trying to balance winning and developing talent.

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His ability to get buckets on demand paired with his experience means he instantly becomes another guy the team can defer to during a cold spell and that takes a lot of pressure off Joel Embiid. The center sits in seventh place in the league with a usage rating of 32.1 percent, so adding another All-Star will make defenses hesitate to send a double team at the Cameroonian.

Elton Brand made a real statement of intent when he gave up two beloved Sixers for Butler, but adding a player who can create his own shot helps the team greatly. Only Embiid and Markelle Fultz are consistently able to create their own shots from multiple areas of the floor, and while Embiid has put up MVP-level numbers so far, Fultz’s shots have not fallen at a high percentage.

Butler has hit 47.1 percent of all of his shots so far, equivalent to sixth-best on the Philadelphia 76ers, and much higher than any perimeter scorer on the team. Covington has hit 42.7 percent of his field goal attempts, Landry Shamet makes 41 percent, Markelle Fultz scores 39.5 percent, J.J. Redick hits 38.6 percent, and Saric makes 36.4 percent. Additionally, Butler’s 22.7 usage rating is higher than that of all those players except for Redick.

The former Marquette wing averages 21.3 points per game on 15.7 field goal attempts per game, and that along with his high usage rating proves he is the efficient perimeter threat Philly has needed for a long time. This season, Saric and Covington have averaged 11.1 and 11.3 points per game respectively, so if Butler’s scoring keeps up, he will single-handedly match their combined scoring totals.

Consolidating two players’ production into one opens up more minutes in the rotation and more shots for other players, so the Butler trade will give young players like Fultz, Jonah Bolden, and Furkan Korkmaz the chance to state their cases for regular minutes.

For Fultz, adding Butler appears to be a vote of no confidence. The Washington product will still probably start, but the new acquisition’s All-NBA-level ability with the ball will force Fultz to see a lot less of it when they share the court. Since Redick will probably move into the starting lineup as a result of the trade, Fultz will have a lot more responsibility as the backup point guard to Ben Simmons since he will face stretches where he is the first option in a lineup of bench players.

Butler gives Philly the star outside scorer they have needed for a long time, and he makes the team a lot more efficient from outside. Head coach Brett Brown and Brand realized playing two players struggling as badly as Fultz and Saric was unsustainable, so Brand made a deal that should see the 76ers make the leap to become a tier-one Eastern Conference team.

Butler’s dynamic and versatile scoring makes him a great compliment to Embiid, and his shooting ability will see Simmons have more space. All in all, this trade benefits the Philadelphia 76ers in almost every aspect, and Butler’s excellent ability to get buckets on demand will make the biggest difference in the team’s offensive strategy.