Philadelphia 76ers roundtable: Thoughts on the Jimmy Butler trade

Jack Duffy

I was out eating lunch with my brother when I looked up at the TV and saw the Jimmy Butler trade break. I immediately got up and walked outside and paced for a few minutes. My first thoughts were “NOOOOOOO RoCo!” (and Dario of course).

I previously thought that Jimmy Butler would be very bad for the locker room with a young, laid back, comedic, Joel Embiid and a 22-year-old Ben Simmons. These ideas stemmed from Butler’s recent history struggling with Timberwolves young bucks, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Locker room drama could potentially up this Sixers young core.

After I let the news settle, the more I saw exactly why Elton Brand made this move. This summer the 76ers most likely weren’t going to land a marquee free agent, so trading for Jimmy gave them the best chance they had at becoming a championship contender in the East. They now have three top-20 players in the NBA.

With Jimmy Butler, the Sixers now have a go-to wing scorer that they desperately needed to coincide with Simmons’ playmaking abilities and Embiid’s post presence. Butler running the pick-and-roll, being able to create his own shot on command, the ability to draw fouls, and the fact that he can score anywhere on the court is exactly what Philly needed. Markelle Fultz was supposed to be that guy but with his delayed development, that will come somewhere down the road.

Prior to this trade the Sixers were out of contention in the East, behind Boston, Toronto and Milwaukee. Now they entered themselves right back into the mix. The only other NBA team with three top-20 players are the Golden State Warriors. The Sixers are nowhere close to the Warriors but this star-studded team can definitely make some noise in the East for years to come.

I kept watching every farewell RoCo and Dario Saric tribute video I could find this past weekend. That made me very emotional. RoCo and Dario will be remembered, but at the end of the day, the NBA is a business. The goal of every NBA team is to win a championship and this move gave the Sixers a higher chance at doing so, so it had to be done.

All in all, I’m incredibly pumped for what Jimmy Butler can bring to Philly this season. I predict that he will have no problems with Embiid and Simmons due to their love for defense (unlike KAT and Wiggins). Jimmy will provide the Sixers with scoring down the stretch and the ability to hold onto leads, which the 76ers have struggled with in the past.

I’m counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until Jimmy Butler’s Sixers debut Wednesday night.