The Jimmy Butler Experiment Was a Colossal Failure
The dust is finally starting to settle for the Sixers and the rest of the NBA after a chaotic past day or so. Everyone seems to be winners so far except the Knicks and the realtor who sold Jimmy Butler that $6 million house in Ambler.
For the Sixers, they took three dubs yesterday. They re-signed Tobias Harris, some much needed stability for Tobi and the team. They invested in Al Horford, which to me, looks like investing in Joel Embiid’s well-being. And the lastly, the big one, the Mike Scott hive is back baby.
But, the Sixers did take one L so far: the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade.
Let’s just follow this chain of events:
The Sixers trade two valuable role players (Saric and Covington) to get Jimmy Butler
The Sixers seasons ends and they don’t make NBA Finals
The Sixers do not max Jimmy Butler (although they intended to) and he doesn’t stay past one season
The Sixers trade Jimmy Butler for one valuable role player (Josh Richardson)
That math doesn’t add up!
There are conflicting reports right now in regards to whether or not the Sixers actually were willing to give Jimmy a 5 year, or even 4 year max deal. If they weren’t, this was a failure beyond belief. Why make that trade with the intention to re-sign him and then not do it? Even if you thought he didn’t mesh, that’s still a failure to make that trade and not want him back.
If it’s true that Butler wanted to take less money after the Sixers offered him the five year max to go to Miami (which I wholeheartedly believe), what a completely moronic move. I cannot believe that guy kicked and screamed his way out of Minnesota, just to fancy a team who is just Minnesota’s roster with palm trees outside. He took less money. He took less years. He is leaving a competitor. There is nothing the Sixers can do about stupidity. What they can do is get a better haul back than JUST Josh Richardson. In this case, it’s not failure beyond belief, buttttt they still failed. They gave up two assets for him. Got one back. Don’t need to be an analytics nerd to figure that one out.
Oh, and if you’re thinking, well maybe they wouldn’t have been able to sign Horford or re-sign Harris with Saric and Covington’s contracts still on the book, given they never did the trade in the first place. Look at how quickly the Warriors were able to dump Andre Igoudala. Look how many hoops the Heat were able to jump through to pull this off.
In the end, Jimmy Butler was who I thought I was in the beginning. A phenomenal talent. And a jackass. Because of that, when the Sixers pushed their chips to the table, they lost. Can you blame them for going all-in? Not really. I’m sure the Thunder were happy they did with Paul George. I have a slight feeling that the Raptors are quite alright they did it with Kawhi. It’s just that we went after the guy who leaves his decision making process up to a god damn sous chef and a personal mini-van driver. We went all in, and we lost the hand that was dealt.
I have no problem with them star-hunting. I have no problem with Harris or Horford. I have no problem with Josh Richardson being involved in that deal.
But, they traded for a star in Jimmy. They didn’t win a title. They didn’t make it to the Finals. He left and when you traded him his value depreciated to one role player. THAT’S where I have a problem, because that’s failing.