Bringing in Butler was a terrible idea. They should have just been patient. I get Butler can look great at times, but once a guy shows he will quit on a team there is no way you can take a chance on him. Pairing that with the fact that he needs the ball a lot to be effective should have kept the team from trading for him. If Hinkey were still there I am convinced they would not have pulled the trigger on that one. Throwing away all their depth in order to get him makes the trade look even worse.
Wow, I couldn't disagree more.
The Sixers gave up Jerryd Bayless, Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and a 2022 2nd round draft pick for Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton. Bayless was a stiff that the Sixers were happy to get off their books. Saric was a decent backup, but his defense was very poor, and he didn't have the strength or conditioning to contribute much beyond 3-pointers in a half-court set, and as the Celtics showed last year in the playoffs, you could wear him out if you forced him to play D, and the result was that he couldn't hit his 3-pointers. Covington was a decent defender, and inconsistent on O.
Butler is a better player than was the combo of Dario and Covington. In addition, he's a great compliment to Simmons, in that he's an excellent defender (unlike Simmons), and he doesn't need the ball in his hands to create his offense. Plus, for all the talk about Butler quitting on the T-Wolves, Jimmy has been happy to not demand the ball as a Sixer, while still being one of their key scoring threats in the 4th quarter.
The Butler trade did hurt the Sixers a bit in terms of depth, but the trade deadline moves the Sixers made addressed that issue.
Because Simmons is a non-factor as an outsider shooter, opposing teams often leave him unguarded in the half-court set. A perfect compliment would be a player that plays D, and also lights it up from beyond the arc. I'm sure the Sixers would have loved to have gotten someone like Caris LeVert, D.J. Augustin, Damian Lillard, etc. but their respective teams didn't seem to have any interest in giving up players like that. Butler was the best guard available, and while the Sixers paid a lot for him, they really didn't give up anyone that they miss.