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The stars of the Young Philadelphia 76ers, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, are optimistic about the addition of All-Star forward Jimmy Butler to the team.
On Saturday, the Sixers agreed to acquire Butler – and striker Justin Patton – as part of an exchange against Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick in 2022.
"You definitely add another star member to the team," Simmons told Butler on Saturday night via ESPN. "A guy like him who can come in, score the ball, lead the veterans, do the experiment – he's going to find his place here." Our culture is to win, to play together as a team and to play hard. He will bring that. "
Embiid agreed that Butler could help the Sixers tremendously at both ends of the ground.
"I think he's going to help us a lot – offensively and especially defensively as well," said Embiid to Butler. "I think he's one of the best defensive players in the league, I can not wait to see where he is taking us and how much better we are going to watch."
Butler initially requested an exchange with the Timberwolves in September after playing a season with the franchise. Butler, who spent the first six years of his NBA career in Chicago with the Bulls, was traded to Minnesota in 2017 in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen. He helped the Wolves lead their first playoff appearance in more than a decade last season, but he had some friction with young Wolves players – namely, Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins. He had refused an offer to extend Wolf's contract during the off-season.
In Philadelphia, Butler will join a budding young competitor built around Simmons and Embiid. On paper, at least, he plans to be a solid addition to the field for both players as he provides the team with the competent scorer from the perimeter they need. If all three are able to freeze, they could form one of the most powerful trios in the league.
Simmons briefly spoke to Butler on Saturday after the announcement of the breakdown of the agreement and said the two men had a similar state of mind.
"He said that he just wanted to win," Simmons said. "I think that's the mentality we all have here, we're excited to have Jimmy come here … Between me, Jo and Jimmy, we all have the same state of mind. It pisses us off, we want to win. "
Embiid did not speak directly to Butler [yet], but he spoke to a couple of former Butler – Wiggins and Towns – teammates who thought Butler would suit Philly perfectly.
"They thought it would be good for us," said Embiid. "They thought we would really get along, he wants to win. [Wiggins] I said that he thought we were going to win the East for sure. "
Although the Sixers are clearly excited about adding a two-way high-caliber talent, like Butler, they are also sad to see some of their long-time teammates leave the city.
"Dario and Covent miss me," said Embiid. "They gave us a lot these last couple of years, I felt like we started playing really well together, we understood, Dario found himself, and Cov is an all-in-one defense team, doing his job and knocking over felt we were starting to really like to understand and play well together.
"But it's a business, you have to move on, I love these guys, wish them good luck, I miss them, I love them, I have to keep in touch with them."
Only time will tell if Butler will prove to be an ideal complement to Embiid and Simmons, but for the moment, optimism is not lacking in Philadelphia.
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