The pairing of Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns proved to be a poor fit during a year-and-change of being partners on the court, which can be traced to having much different personalities. The now-Philadelphia 76ers forward thinks his former teammate is just “too nice” — which likely played a part in why Butler didn't see the fire in his game.
“Is Karl too nice?” Butler told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. “At times, yes, I do think that, but that's who he is and that's who he's going to be, and there's no problem with that.”
Towns views it a different way, hoping to spread positivity rather than take Butler's leadership approach.
“I like being positive,” Towns says. “If you speak positively, you get positivity back. I got a lot of alpha dog in me, but I think negativity speaks too loudly.”
The two put together just simply didn't work. Butler is an ultra-competitive, hard-nosed player with a prickly personality that rubs most players the wrong way, though finding a player with similar traits can give a team an invaluable edge.
Joining a team of young, easygoing players was a recipe for failure, as their personalities didn't mesh well enough to produce wins.
Karl-Anthony Towns can now take over at his own accord, while Butler can also be who he is on a team that expects to make the playoff and expects to go deep into them — a goal that had the need for that competitive edge and accountability.
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