A top-heavy Eastern Conference got a bit heavier Saturday with reports that the Philadelphia 76ers were finalizing a deal to acquire Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In adding Butler, the 76ers essentially made the big-swing move they whiffed on this summer. For Philadelphia, that comes at the cost of some very good young talent in Dario Saric and Robert Covington, according to reports from ESPN and the Athletic, but the team keeps its core talent in place while adding an All-Star-caliber player in Butler.
If the Sixers were perceived to be lagging behind East favorites Boston, Milwaukee, and Toronto, then this blockbuster certainly injects them into the mix.
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Philadelphia had already won six of its past eight with help from some eye-popping numbers from All-Star big man Joel Embiid and was starting to regain the NBA’s attention after an underwhelming 2-3 start to the season.
Butler’s arrival doesn’t solve the Sixers’ most obvious issue - a lack of shooting - but that’s always something the team can address further down the road. What Butler’s addition does is injects an obvious two-way talent and a 29-year-old with six years of playoff experience onto an intriguing young roster.
After coming up empty this summer with hopes of attracting a game-changer like LeBron James or Paul George to pair alongside Embiid and Ben Simmons, the Sixers now add a player from a slightly lower tier of talent. How will he fit in Philadelphia? Coach Brett Brown can figure that out on the fly.
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What this move does is announce that the Sixers are not content to simply wait out another season to truly contend. They are legitimate playoff threat with a ceiling that elevates if all things click with the arrival of Butler.
Celtics fans will wonder if Butler’s personality could cause some issues but winning typically keeps players happy. There will be kinks to work out and roles to establish, and the Sixers’ depth is depleted a bit by the move, but it’s a risk that Philadelphia had to take in this post-Process era.
For the Celtics, the Butler trade adds another contender to a conference that many had suggested was ripe for Boston to claim after LeBron's departure this summer. Instead, the Celtics have stumbled a bit out of the gate while trying to figure out how all their parts work together when fully healthy, all while the Bucks and Raptors hit the ground running.
Boston still has the deepest roster of the East contenders — though a healthy Kawhi Leonard makes it a close call with Toronto — but the Celtics have yet to harness their talents with a 7-5 start.
The Celtics scored an opening-night victory over the Sixers, who they eliminated in five games in the East semis last season. The two teams meet again on Christmas Day in Boston.
For now, the Celtics can’t worry about what their primary rivals are doing. Boston has to figure itself out and then it can assess the rest of the East further down the road.
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