76ers' Brett Brown talks Jimmy Butler, locker-room and growing expectations for still-flawed Philly



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MIAMI – Jimmy Butler is officially a Philadelphia 76er. Sixers coach Brett Brown discusses the role of the Sixers coach Brett Brown, who is one of the leaders in the world. Brown feels "mirrors the spirit of Philadelphia."

"Defensively, and the physicality that he plays with, he's fierce competitor," Brown said. "It's a perfect fit for the city and for our program."

Brown refers to the Sixers as a "program" a lot. There is a college feel to the team in that way. A six years of the now-famous – or infamous, depending on how you choose to look at it – process. This is Joel Embiid's team. Ben Simmons is pure alpha. We are here to help you learn more about cornerstones in Minnesota. How to get into this Philly locker room, before the basketball stuff was even considered, was not something Brown and the Sixers took lightly. He and Butler talked about that and more on a FaceTime call, then again on the phone. Brown did his research long before that.

"I've paid him for years. [trade] did not just happen, "Brown said." There were rumblings for a while. We're very protective of who we bring into the program. It's not like anybody's welcome. You do your homework. and [Jimmy] is for sure welcome. "

"I get whatever things around, but this is the NBA," Brown continued. "This is my job. [Jimmy] into a pretty strong culture [is my job]. We're six years in, so it's not like, like, we have a way, and how we play. It's been on display. We've been doing this for a while. So to absorb Jimmy into a culture and a locker room, I'm afraidless. I am incredibly excited. Because what I know is he cares and he competes. I'll figure out.

"… I'm not naive enough to think it's all clear and everything is fine off a 20-minute call, I just feel like, you know, he's easy to talk to, you can tell he wears his heart on his It's a real way, it's a real way, and I'm attracted to that. "

Playing hard and competing like Butler does a virtual coveted. But make no mistake, Butler is being welcomed in Philly, first and foremost, because of his talent. Yes, the Sixers need the locker room dynamics to mesh, but when Minnesota's asking price dropped as low as Robert Covington and Dario Saric (with all due respect – those guys are good players), with no future first-round picks included in the deal, this became about Butler's talent simply being worth the minimal risk of the locker room not working.

On the short, we know what Butler brings in. As Brown, this defense can be a monster with Butler, Simmons and Embiid giving the Sixers all-NBA-level defenders, two of which can comfortably switch one through four. Simmons can be a guardian Embiid is plenty able to perimeter and protect it all on the back side. The Sixers are already a stout defensive team. Butler stands to make them flat-out scary.

"Then you come over to the offensive side of the ball," Brown continued in his appraisal of Butler's value. "We run the least pick and rolls, and the least isolations, of any team in the NBA." We do not believe it's our strength. [Embiid]. But that [style of play] Has a lifespan when it gets to crunch time. Butler gives us an All-Star, take your pick, pick and roll, insulation, [etc ..] It's a really great fit. "

In other words, you can not count it on the ball and posting Embiid to create the shots of the stretch of games, particularly in the playoffs. I'm talking to a lot of people – Damian Lillard, Tony Parker, CJ McCollum, Mike Conley, scouts across the league. They all say the same thing: With all the switching defenses of these days, possessions are often going to devolve from a series of failed actions to a certain inevitable scenario in which somebody simply has to beat his man one-on-one.

Simmons, for his inability / unwillingness to shoot, is not that guy in the half-court. Markelle Fultz certainly is not that guy. J.J. Redick – who is a problem in the field of semi-short perimeter offense in the field of semi-short runner-ups. Posting Embiid is a steady-diet type plan. Butler, then, becomes the one guy you can depend on for yourself in the half court.

What does it mean to do, or what Butler is some kind of a cure-all for what Brown describes as the Sixers' illnesses – which include turnovers, giving up too many offensive rebounds, and most of all, shooting . To that point, I'm talking to one person in the league who does not feel the Sixers are done maneuvering. Kyle Korver is available. Trevor Ariza could become an option at some point. The Sixers landed Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova in the buyout market last season, and it took their team to another level.

Still, for now, all we can go to is the roster that's in place, and from a standpoint standpoint, it's flawed. Philly lost two reliable 3-point shooters in Covington and Saric and only got one back in Butler. The expectation is that Redick will return from the bench to his traditional starting role. If Fultz continues to start, that would be Simmons, Redick, Fultz, Butler and Embiid.

It should not, however, be considered a lock, that Fultz will hang onto that fifth starting spot for long.

Now that Butler is on board, the expectations are raised, and Brown is not shying away. "You welcome that," Brown said. What can you do to have patience? Sixers have shown how to develop, and build his confidence and overall game to a point where he can be a dependable playoff option, is anyone's guess. What we know is what we have in the world and we are all over the world who are complete non-shooting threats – it's a problem that's only going to get worse in the playoffs and defenses start attacking weaknesses like a gimpy gazelle in the Serengeti.

More, what little success Fultz has experienced this season in his homepage from Simmons, where he can at least control the ball rather than serve as an off-ball player have to be guarded. A scout I have been told about this is killing the Sixers, who are trying to force me? If Fultz does go to the bench, from a purely shooting standpoint, rookie Landry Shamet would add considerable distance to another 3-point threat to go alongside Redick and Butler. Wilson Chandler, who is presently on a minus restriction, is another option as a floor-stretching forward who would give the Sixers four good-to-great defenders, all with the perfect size to become nimble as a switching unit with Embiid protecting the rim on the backside.

"In my head, I know, in my mouth I'm not going to say it," said Brown of his starting-lineup plan. "My hope is that I'm thinking about it, I know it's well thought out, and we're going to talk about that in Orlando."

Orlando is Wednesday night. Butler's expected Sixers debut versus the Magic.

This thing is just getting started.

It has the potential to end up somewhere pretty special.

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