Jimmy Butler Talks 76ers Tenure, Says Some Teammates Didn't Work as Hard as Him
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has long portrayed himself as being a tirelessly hard worker that puts winning above all other considerations. This offseason, for instance, he posted an image to Instagram of one of his workouts at 4 a.m.
It was rumored that his work ethic wasn't reciprocated during his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves and that he thought players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins were soft, hence leading to his decision to force a trade last season. He ended up with the Philadelphia 76ers, but when asked by Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill this week if he thought all of his teammates in Philadelphia worked as hard as him last season in the pursuit of a championship, Butler answered, "No."
"But everybody don't do that," he said. "Everybody don't work like that. That's just what it is. And I've learned that over the years, you know? Is there something wrong with it? No, there's not."
"Is everybody playing this game for a championship? ... [Some guys are playing for] the money, the houses, the cars, the fame, " he continued. "There is so many other things that people can play this game for."
Neither Butler nor the 76ers have openly talked about why Butler wasn't retained this offseason as a free agent, but clues are starting to trickle out. Butler's comments to Goodwill are certainly one clue, as were his comments praising Miami's culture during an interview with The Athletic's Michael Lee:
"You look at everything we have. Everything this organization has done. It just fits me, man. So, I'm happy. Miami is a place where I'm happy. People overlook the fact that this was one of the places I was trying to get to, early on. For that reason. Because life isn't always about basketball. It's about principle. It's about character. It's about so many different things.
"Basketball is great here, but the people here, what they expect of you on a daily basis. The level that they hold you accountable at here, is something that I respect. It's something that I really love—not just like, really love—because it's about having good people and doing things the right way. Because when this basketball thing is over with, you're still going to have to have those morals. And if you don’t have that, you're in for a rude awakening."
Butler also told Lee "obviously, something happened" regarding his departure from Philly.
"We're not going to say what it was," he continued. "We’re not going to go into detail. We can't keep living on that. They can't. But I'm happy, man. It brings me joy, being around this group of guys [in Miami]. I don't regret nothing, you feel me?"
But the Sixers have been letting it be known that they are very happy with their current culture as well.
"The chemistry is much better," Ben Simmons told Zach Lowe of ESPN last week. "Guys are giving up their time to bond."
As Lowe added in that article, "After Game 7 of their epic series against the Toronto Raptors, the parent of one Sixer confided to higher-ups that the team's chemistry felt off, sources say—that they seemed like a group that would rather ride home in separate cars."
This year, however, the Sixers are organizing regular team dinners with "sometimes 14 or 15 guys" in attendance, as Tobias Harris told Lowe.
Was it a coincidence that the Sixers talked up their culture a few days before they blasted Butler and the Heat, 113-86? Perhaps. But it does raise eyebrows when many of the leftover Sixers from last year are praising their current culture, much as Butler is in Miami.
Then there was the rather curt response Brett Brown offered when asked about Butler:
It isn't hard to read between the lines here—Butler and the Sixers obviously weren't the best fit from a culture perspective. Precisely why remains unclear. Was it simply basketball reasons? Simmons and Butler were never the best fit, for example. And in Miami, Butler is the leader and best player. Philadelphia will always be Joel Embiid's team.
Was it personality? Did the young Sixers not put in the work up to Butler's standards? Or did Butler—who has a reputation for being abrasive and perhaps confrontational—rub members of the organization the wrong way?
Lots of questions that will surely be answered in the coming years. For now, however, it appears both Butler and the Sixers (outside of perhaps Embiid, which is an interesting wrinkle in all of this) are perfectly fine with their divorce.
