Jimmy Butler Has Strong Message for Sixers After Series Win
The Miami Heat knocked the Sixers out of the playoffs in the second-round of the NBA playoffs.
Jimmy Butler helped make it happen and had a pretty clear message for the Sixers after he knocked them out - they made a mistake.
Butler was walking to the Miami locker room saying "Tobias Harris over me?"
Philadelphia chose to re-sign Harris to a five-year, $180 million contract over keeping Butler, instead sending him to Miami in a trade for Josh Richardson.
However as ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reports, the Sixers didnt really choose Harris over Butler, they instead decided on Ben Simmons over Butler.
Both needed the ball in their hands, which pitted them against each other. Eventually it got to the point the organization felt it needed to choose between them, according to team sources, and it chose Simmons. He was younger, and at the time, seemed to have a higher ceiling. He was also still on a rookie-scale deal, and not due for a massive free-agent contract. Plenty of organizations would've done the same.
Simmons at the time was just 22 and seemingly had a higher ceiling than the older Butler, something Joel Embiid addressed back in September during the whole Simmons circus.
"We got rid of Jimmy (Butler), which I still think was a mistake, but he (Simmons) needed the ball in his hands and that’s the decision they made. But, like I said, it is surprising."
Butler obviously remembers the decision the Sixers made and took it out on his former team, scoring 32 points in the closeout game and averaged 27.5 in the six games during the series.
"I’ve got a lot of love for this city," Bulter stated. "Love for guys like him (Embiid), so anytime we can beat a tough team it’s special."
If only the Sixers made the right choice.
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