When the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Jimmy Butler in November, some felt the 76ers would ascend into the NBA's elite, as a trio of Butler, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons certainly looked tantalizing.
But there were some who understood the potential risks, citing Butler's penchant toward causing locker room issues.
There was always an excuse, though.
In Chicago, it was Tom Thibodeau and then Fred Hoiberg's fault. In Minnesota, it was Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, who Butler said lacked the desire to win.
So what's the excuse now?
According to Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Butler is already causing problems in Philadelphia two months into his arrival, apparently challenging head coach Brett Brown to the point that some people have considered “disrespectful.”
Add this on top of the fact that Joel Embiid recently expressed some unhappiness with his offensive role since Butler came to town, and you have the recipe for disaster in the City of Brotherly Love.
Now, Brown has an awful lot on his plate.
There had been rumors about the relationship between Embiid and Simmons not being so great to begin with, and Shelburne and Wojnarowski essentially confirmed that in their article, mentioning how Brown has already had to work on their “tenuous” partnership.
In addition to that, Brown has Butler's abrasive personality to deal with, as well.
This could be disastrous for the Sixers.
Let's be real here: no matter what Philly did this season, it wasn't going to the Finals. The Sixers are clearly a fourth or fifth banana in the Eastern Conference, with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks currently representing the class of the East, and the Indiana Pacers showing that they are pretty good, as well.
Adding Butler was just a way for the Sixers to try to increase their chances, but in doing so, they lost two of their only good perimeter shooters in Robert Covington and Dario Saric. So, they swapped perimeter shooting (which they didn't have much of to begin with) for star power, and now there are problems, even with a stellar 25-14 record overall.
Not enough was made about Philadelphia losing Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova over the summer, as those two were paramount in providing the floor spacing necessary for Embiid and Simmons to operate last season.
So, the Sixers had already lost Belinelli and Ilyasova, and then they traded Covington and Saric in the Butler deal. Of course, in a vacuum, Covington and Saric for Butler is phenomenal value for the 76ers, but basketball is not played in a vacuum.
Outside of JJ Redick, Philly does not have any reliable 3-point shooters. Butler is only mediocre from there, Embiid should not be taking many 3s and we know Simmons won't even entertain the thought of taking a triple.
Stylistically, Butler was always going to be a strange fit in Philadelphia, especially given the fact that he is a ball-dominant player, which definitely makes life more difficult for Simmons.
The problem is, it apparently isn't just style that is the issue.
This recent news, coupled with Butler proclaiming that he wants to retire from basketball by age 35, trumps any concerns with fit. This is going beyond that point.
Luckily for the Sixers, they did not give up any really valuable long-term assets. Saric is just okay, and the 2022 second-round draft pick means little to nothing.
That's not the problem. The problem is that the 76ers have now handicapped themselves in terms of making other trades, as, outside of Markelle Fultz, whose stock is dropping like a rock, they have virtually no one that any other teams would have any interest in.
The trade deadline is next month, and all of the other teams in competition with them in the Eastern Conference have the assets they need to add other pieces. The Sixers? They already unloaded their clip into the Butler deal. Understandable at the time? Of course. They were outgunned by the Celtics and Raptors and they knew it. Did it reek of desperation? Yes.
Let's remember that Philadelphia had dreams of acquiring at least one of LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard or Paul George this past summer, and they struck out on all three. The Sixers even struck out on Nemanja Bjelica, who backed out of an agreement with them and ended up signing with the Sacramento Kings.
The only notable moves Philly made during the offseason included re-signing Redick and trading for Wilson Chandler, the latter of which seemed like an “oh, well, guess we have to do this now” type of maneuver.
Also, let's not forget that Butler is a free agent this coming summer and is seeking a max contract, so they could lose him. That might not necessarily be a bad thing given the current situation, but it will just further illustrate how badly the Sixers struck out this past summer if it happens.
Here is the thing with the Sixers: everyone overrated them last year. They had a great second-half run, but much of that came at the expense of lottery teams/tanking teams. They then drew the weakest playoff team in the first round in the Miami Heat.
Once they played a disciplined Celtics team that was missing Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and backup big man Daniel Theis, their flaws were exposed in a five-game loss.
Then, they lost a couple of key players during the offseason and really didn't do anything to replace what they brought to the table.
Coming into this year, it was blatantly obvious that Philadelphia didn't have enough. Even the most die-hard Sixers fans had to know deep down that their team was in no condition to make a deep playoff run, particularly with Boston reloading and Toronto acquiring Leonard.
The Sixers understood this, too. So, they took a big swing and landed a disgruntled star who had caused issues—serious issues—on both of his former teams.
But we made excuses for him, and maybe Philadelphia did in a way, too. Maybe the Sixers thought that Butler would be different in Philly than he was in Chicago or Minnesota.
What we failed to recognize is that a tiger doesn't change its stripes whether it's roaming in Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia or Tokyo.
The Sixers are now finding that out the hard way.
As far as Butler? It's time the excuses stop.
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