Jimmy Butler (Probably) Challenged Brett Brown To A Fight

(WOJ) – Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Jimmy Butler has aggressively challenged coach Brett Brown on his role in the offense, complicating an already tenuous chemistry among the team’s Big 3 hierarchy, league sources told ESPN.

Butler has been vocal in his contesting of Brown and his system, including a recent film session in Portland that some witnesses considered “disrespectful” and beyond normal player-coach discourse.

Brown has told people within the organization that he had no issues with that exchange and considered it within the confines of the relationship that he’s developed with Butler, sources said.

While a source close to Butler contends that his intense, direct style can come off as combative as he’s trying to make clear his viewpoints, Butler’s sluggish assimilation into the Sixers environment is causing some concern about his long-term viability and fit with the organization, league sources said. Nevertheless, the franchise’s full focus and resources remain on making this new partnership work this season and beyond.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times: if you had a roof over your head every night of your life Jimmy Butler simply does not respect you. And Brett Brown seems like a relatively homed individual so there’s no chance Jimmy is going to listen to him or his little “coaching” ever. But who could have possibly seen this coming? Jimmy Butler demanding a trade to get out of a situation only to go to a team with young players and not being happy with his new team? No one, not Merlin, not Miss Cleo, not Nostradamus, NOBODY could have foreseen this.

I doubt Philly regrets the trade… yet. Mostly because, if Jimmy truly never does mesh with Embiid, Simmons and Brett Brown they can just let him walk at the end of the year and regroup from there. But, the whole reason Philly traded FOR Jimmy was to form their own Big 3 to contend this year and beyond. “The only team with 3 top 20 players” is what Sixers fans were shouting from the rooftops once they shipped Covington and Saric to Minnesota. And now, just a month-and-a-half later, Jimmy is already wondering why that coward Ben Simmons gets to touch the ball more than he does, why Wilson Chandler is even still in the League, and he probably thinks T.J. McConnell is Brett Brown’s son who didn’t earn his own way in to the League.

I remember the one time Rajon Rondo threw a Gatorade bottle at a projector because Doc Rivers said something incorrect during a film session and the media acted like he pulled out a gun and started pistol whipping his teammates one by one. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do here and now with Jimmy in Philly. And no matter how quickly this is resolved, I’m going to pretend that the Sixers all hate each other and wont be able to get out of the first round. Doesn’t matter if it’s true, that’s just how this is going to go the rest of Jimmy’s tenure in Philly moving forward.

In all seriousness, the biggest problem with Jimmy is simple reality. He wants to be the man, and that’s commendable to a point. If he can’t accept that he isn’t better than Joel Embiid in 2019 then he’s poison in that locker room. Him thinking he’s better than Simmons is fine, they’re incredibly close to me. But Embiid is legitimately on the short list for MVP this season. If he wants his own team, just sign with Brooklyn or the Clippers this summer. Cause as long as Joel Embiid is in Philly, Jimmy can never be *the* man on that squad. And Philly shouldn’t want him to be, either. If Jimmy can figure out how to be the #2 in addition to the secondary ball handler, this team will be scary and everything will be fine. If he can’t then, well… it was good while it lasted, I suppose.