The 76ers made a blockbuster trade acquiring Jimmy Butler who has played 7 games and already has made an enormous impact for the Sixers. Will the 76ers be favorites now to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Playoffs? Also in other Philadelphia sports news Flyers relieved Ron Hextall of his duties as GM and Executive VP.
Butler For Three!
The Philadelphia 76ers on November 10th made a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves by sending Robert Covington, a fan favorite Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second round draft pick for Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton. Jimmy Butler is a 4 time all-star who is one of the top two-way players in the NBA. Butler is a piece the Sixers have been looking for to be able to pair up with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Jimmy shoots threes which Robert Covington and Dario Saric have been very inconsistent at and only left JJ Redick to make threes consistently after they lost Belinelli and Ilyasova in free agency over the summer. Brett Brown also prides his team style to play strong defense and the scoring will come with it. So, Jimmy Butler a great defensive, perimeter shooter, and clutch player in the NBA will be able to team up with two of the best young players in the Eastern Conference of the NBA. Butler’s first game with the 76ers was against the Magic on November 14th. The 76ers lost that game 106-111 but the team has been struggling on the road so far this season. It was also Jimmy’s first game to start getting acclimated with the team. The 76ers so far with Butler in the lineup have been 5-2.
In just 7 games so far with the 76ers Butler has made two game winning threes against the Hornets and the Nets. Butler has looked strong and eager to start playing with a new team after rumors of him being a toxic teammate and causing problems in the locker room. Jimmy’s comments, attitude, and play have shown the opposite of the rumors. The night in Charlotte, North Carolina Butler didn’t do too much scoring but he definitely made up for it by hitting the game winning step back three with .3 seconds left in OT. Jimmy’s heroics spoiled Kemba Walker’s 60 point performance, Kemba also scored more than half of his teams points which came out to be 59. Then 8 days later Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid took over in an improbable comeback vs the Brooklyn Nets when they were down by 20 at one point in the game. Jimmy Butler scored 34 points and had 12 rebounds. Butler again like he did in Charlotte hit the game winning step back three with .4 seconds on the clock this time from the same exact spot on the court to end a comeback victory of 127-125. Jimmy Butler is definitely a 76er and the city loves it.
The Beasts of the East?
The 76ers with Jimmy Butler have looked like a really strong team that can win close games and have clutch players step up. The Sixers, Raptors, and Celtics were the clear-cut strongest teams that were predicted to be contenders this season after Lebron James left Cleveland to go to LA and join the Lakers. So far this season Toronto has looked very good with Kawhi Leonard and are in first place in the Eastern Conference. The story though for the Raptors is will this team be able to end its horrors of never being able to produce in the playoffs because Lebron was always there to stop them. One of the teams people overlooked were the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have looked impeccable so far this season and they are a really good team at home. The Bucks right now sit in 2nd behind Toronto. The Sixers are in third and have looked like a better team with Jimmy Butler than what they did with Saric and Covington because of the inconsistencies. Sixers are a powerhouse at home and finally lost a game to the lowly Cavs back on Black Friday. The Celtics started off hot between Kyrie, Tatum, and Gordon Hayward coming back from his season ending injury, but have found themselves in a little slump right now. It’s still early in the season and I’m sure the standings will change often, but right now the Sixers have to be pleased with how they are playing and think it’s a possibility of being the Eastern Conference Champs and play for the trophy and rings come June of 2019. I still give the edge to the Raptors of making it out of the East because the Sixers haven’t been too good on the road which is a must when the playoffs start and they are struggling to keep big leads and making games more difficult than they should be.
The Flyers Shake Up
The Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, November 26th announced they have relieved Ron Hextall of his duties as GM and Executive VP. This was kind of shocker that Hextall was the first to go instead of the head coach Dave Hakstol who has been so inconsistent and bad for the last couple of seasons that the fans are fed up and angered at what this team puts out on the ice. The Flyers hockey universe has been making speculations that Hextall might have been fired because he wouldn’t fire Hakstol himself and this is the hill he decided to die on. I liked Hextall, he did a lot of good things for this franchise by getting us out of the salary cap debt we were in and building a very strong prospect pool. This doesn’t give him a scape goat though to not shake things up when it is needed. You can be only patient so much but something has got to give. Hextall kept stating that this team needed to start producing quickly or somethings going to happen, but Hextall never pulled the trigger when it came down to it. Now the Flyers wait for whoever their next GM will be which has been stated that they would have full control over the coaching staff when they come in to start their duties. So the clock is ticking on what might be the last couple of days Dave Hakstol is the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Conclusion
The 76ers made a great deal on acquiring Jimmy Butler who has shown his worth already in the first 7 games of being on this team. The team needs to make sure they can resign him though when his contract expires in the summer after the season. The 76ers are looking dangerous right now and if they can figure out how to start winning most of the time on the road and closing out games and not blowing leads they might very well find themselves playing in the NBA Finals come June of 2019. Then the Flyers finally made some noise by firing Ron Hextall and have began their search for a new GM that will have full control of the coaching staff of this team and hopefully will fire Hakstol when they get here. Philly fans rejoice we might start seeing results again from our sports teams instead of the stagnant inconsistencies that have plagued our city’s sports for years.
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