‘Tobias Harris over me!?’ Jimmy Butler returns seeking more Sixers torment

Former Philadelphia 76er Jimmy Butler returns to The Center hoping to break hearts once again.

The Sixers had him. And they let him slip away. At one point in time, fans in Philadelphia used to debate: what was the Process Era’s biggest mistake? Was it Bryan Colangelo’s forking over two picks to select Markelle Fultz? Was it not offering Jimmy Butler a max contract? Or was it offering Tobias Harris a $180M five-year deal?

Several years later, it’s now an open and shut case. The Butler did it, with the cup of coffee, on a horse.

Butler, and all the accompanying regular season antics many local fans now find annoying, led the Heat to three East Finals and two NBA Finals since he departed Philly. The one year Miami didn’t make at least the Conference Finals in that span, Miami lost to the eventual champs, Giannis, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and the rest of the 2021 Bucks.

For the full lesson in Philly ownership’s, notably Josh Harris’ basketball operations folly causing the Process Era’s most devastating flub, I did the deep dive back in 2022, before the Miami Heat knocked the Sixers out of the second round.

But here are some key bullet points to remind you, painfully, how Butler went from Sixers hero to arch-nemesis.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Summary of obtaining then letting a top-tier superstar head to a top rival

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Offseason 2018

• In 2018, an already fumbling Bryan Colangelo mercifully “resigned” after the Colangelo family burner scandal came out.
• The Sixers conducted what Ben Detrick, the reporter who originally exposed the Colangelos, referred to at the time as a “transparently fraudulent GM search.”
• Keith Pompey, of The Philadelphia Inquirer, would explain “Yes, [owners Josh Harris, David Blitzer, and co.] want a name general manager. But they’re also looking for someone who doesn’t have the final say, so to speak. They want to do it all like a group decision.”
• Hence, Elton Brand, the team’s current GM under President Daryl Morey, who had risen up in the front office to GM the team’s G League squad was tapped to “lead” the way. But reports made clear there were “a lot of voices” making decisions from the ownership level (e.g. Harris, Blitzer, David Heller, Michael Rubin), business-sided folks (Scott O’Neil), and former Colangelo “underlings” like Alex Rucker, Marc Eversley, Ned Cohen, along with input from head coach Brett Brown (who it came out admitted he was willing to continue coaching Jimmy).
• This clip below sums it up if you’re more of an audio-visual type:

Not long before Daryl Morey was eventually hired in 2020, even Brand himself would hint he hadn’t had a chance to really put his stamp on the org. during those “collaboration days,” and most fans have fairly concluded EB was more of a nominal GM than a key decision maker; probably why teams like Charlotte were recently still interested in hiring him to fix their team.

• As Yaron Weitzman wrote in his book “Tanking to the Top:” “[Josh] Harris had been more involved in the team’s basketball operations than ever before. He’d negotiated the Butler trade. He often met with Brand after games.”
• Days later, in November, Butler buried a game-winning triple as former team Play-By-Play legend Marc Zumoff would memorably belt “Jimmy Butler, you are a 76er!”
• The rest of the season wasn’t exactly a smooth ride with Jimmy; he stopped taking threes, he blew up a film meeting, he may or may not have vanished for a day or two on the team, citing seeing a wrist specialist for a semi-suss injury. He clashed with Ben Simmons’ style of play, and openly loathed Brett Brown’s strategy and leadership.

Offseason 2019

(Embiid’s tweet, when the news started dropping that Philly was undergoing a major shakeup; it’s been rumored Joel did not involve himself much in the team’s path at the time, but we all know he has openly bemoaned Butler’s departure over the last few years).

• Despite knowing that Morey, as then GM of the Rockets, offered four first-round picks for Butler (when he was still in Minnesota), despite seeing that their team lost (on a horrifyingly quad-bouncing buzzer-beater by Kawhi Leonard, who’d then lead the Raptors to a title, despite hearing key Raps say it was the Sixers, not the Bucks, or Warriors who posed Toronto’s toughest test), despite the fanbase pleading for the org. to “run it back,... Philadelphia’s ownership-led front office zigged when they just needed to zag.
• Shams Charania of The Athletic would report: “When Jimmy Butler and the 76ers meet this weekend, one factor that will hold critical importance: The fifth year on Philadelphia’s contract offer, league sources have said. Rival teams interested in the All-Star believe that Butler and his agent, Bernie Lee, will prioritize the fifth year. Could the lack of one open Butler up to further meetings on the market?”
• We at LB were told Butler was even willing to stay for a max from a credible source under certain conditions relating to at least Brett Brown.
• They traded Butler to the Miami Heat in exchange for a player named Josh Richardson? then torched the rest of the cap space ($108M guaranteed, with incentives) on a rapidly aging 33-year old Al Horford.
• Woj made clear the Sixers never offered Butler the five-year max deal Jimmy’s agent, Bernie Lee, was (quite reasonably) insisting upon. They may never have even offered a four-year deal, LOL.

• Zach Lowe of ESPN’s supported Woj’s version: “But on June 30, there was no five-year maximum offer for Butler, multiple sources say.”
• Yes, there were reports that appeared to contradict Woj and Lowe’s version. I discussed those local reports in that link above, but go talk to a few top members of the Sixers beat, buy them a beer, and they may slyly remind you where that type of intel likely came from, and how much stake they put into it.
• Butler would tell former Sixers teammate JJ Redick on JJ’s pod: “Somebody asked ‘Can you control him? Like, can you control Jimmy? If you can control Jimmy, we would think about having him back.’ I was like, you don’t gotta worry about it.”

Piecing it all together...

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After hunting and devouring every word everyone has said on this very subject, here’s what I think went down....

Josh Harris, who has made an absolute fortune in private equity, saw the Colangelo thing blow up and decided to rely on what he knew best: an “investment committee approach; where decisions are made collaboratively, building toward consensus,” to borrow a couple of his favorite phrases.

And he was right to trade for Butler and he was right that an investment committee, collaborative approach, is the right way to go about making the best decisions.

It worked for the Golden State Warriors where names like Don Nelson, Larry Riley, and later Jerry West, Steve Kerr and Bob Meyers would out-vote names like Mark Jackson and even owner Joe Lacob on certain dynasty-building moves.

But...

A) Josh Harris was perhaps a bit susceptible to persuasion (per speculation from reporters like Weitzman and PHLY Sports’ Derek Bodner) and....

B) there was a bit of hubris involved (simply my opinion now). Harris neglected best-selling author Jim Collins’ business advice from his book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap, & Others Don’t:” ya gotta get the right people on the bus.

Philadelphia’s collaborative small cluster of top decision-makers were simply not equipped to make the best basketball decisions. If Elton didn’t have final say, ownership certainly did.

As Weitzman would say to Zach Lowe on a pod “you know, it’s like a fan running a team.”

At the time, I advocated for them to run it back with a roster that could have looked like this:

The Sixers would have been able to max Jimmy and Tobias and still duck the luxury tax in 2020.

But maybe a smarter person than me, like Daryl Morey, would have let Redick, Mike Scott (sorry Zainab) and perhaps even Tobias Harris walk, setting themselves up for long-term dynastendership.

Again, we at LB resorted to pleading with the Sixers to run it back.

Former LB writer Matthew del Rio insisted they “do it for the fans,” underscoring the importance of continuity — something Embiid himself bemoaned earlier this year he’s lacked over the years here.

We even made music videos trying to persuade the investment committee to simply do what any top-five NBA GM woulda done: back up the brinks for J-bleepin’-B!

And we specifically pointed to what a mistake it would be (before it happened) to pivot to Al Horford, building “on top of Embiid instead of around him.”

So I guess after collaborating, with Horford in mind, knowing they could blow the Celtics’ offer to Al out of the water, the Sixers approached Jimmy from a position of: whatever, we’re good either way, so here are some conditions (e.g. don’t disrupt meetings, don’t ride horses down Broad, let Simmons play the point, don’t have 10 coffees and go to the US Open before the biggest game of the year, just stay under control and we’re willing to do it) rather than rolling out the velvet red-domino-adorned-coffee-and-cowboy-themed carpet he deserved.

Something like ‘Hey, we’ll fire Brett if you want, we’ll make you the point guard, we’ll go after a GM like Daryl Morey ASAP, fuck it, we’ll even trade Ben Simmons down the line if he doesn’t like the dunker spot, please take every penny you deserve!’

That woulda got it done, I think.

And if Ben had a problem with it, fine, pay Simmons anyway, and shop him ASAP (like Morey knew to do from the jump of his tenure here).

But as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst would say at the time, “other organizations see Jimmy Butler as bringing baggage, the Heat see that as an asset.”

Sighs.

Sixers host Heat Wednesday, winner heads to NYK, loser likely to Boston

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Now The 34-year-old is a six-time All-Star, a former Most Improved Player, the 2023 East Finals MVP, a five-time winner of an NBA All-Defensive Second Team, and five-time member of one of the league’s All-NBA squads.

But wait, that guy isn’t even half as talented as “Playoff Jimmy.”

Butler needs just 140 more playoff points to surpass Bill Russell for 39th all-time. With another 15 playoff steals, he’ll surpass Gary Payton and Andre Iguodala in potentially far less total minutes than those pro cat-burglars needed.

Jimmy is the one who got away. Once he was signed, the team could have offered Simmons and Harris all the money in the world and lived with the results if they turned it down. Sure, maybe Tyrese Maxey wouldn’t be here, but it’s also possible he would be. That was a Thunder pick Morey used to select Maxey no. 20 overall in 2020, the pick acquired by Brand in that Markelle Fultz swap with Orlando.

Jimmy is the one whose departure we may look back upon and have to admit that’s why the Process Sixers never won a title. Even Embiid might have been more open to load management over the years if he knew the team wouldn’t fall to pieces whenever he sat one out with JB at the helm.

And now JB wants to torture the Sixers once again. “Tobias Harris over me?!” he wickedly crowed after knocking the Sixers out in six back in 2022.

And holy mackerel, are the stakes high

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The winner of this series would obtain a far less daunting first-round opponent. If the winner could escape the Play-In and the Knicks, this Giannis injury opens the door for a series against Indiana in round two; another quite beatable team. Boston might make quick work of either Miami or Philly, and losing in round one could even make that unfortunate team less attractive to star free agents possibly seeking new homes come June and July.

If the Sixers could beat Jimmy at the crib, it would not only feel immensely cathartic, but it would also open a tantalizing door to a place we haven’t seen since the days of that A.I. dude who just got his statue erected... the Eastern Conference Finals.

If the Sixers win, they would also likely foist the Tomball, Texas native, who has been a top-three playoff performer in three-of-the-last-four playoffs, onto Boston. Mwahahah!

Sure, you’d take LeBron in 2020, Giannis in 2021, Steph in 2022, and Jokic in 2023 over Mr. Buckets, but Playoff Jimmy would have to be in consideration for your second or third pick in basically each of the ‘20, 22, ‘23 postseasons.

He’d also bring his #culture, and his brilliant coach Erik Spoelstra with him to Bean Town for hopefully all the 64-win Celts can eat, or at least inflict a few battle scars before the Celts’ cakewalk Cleveland or Orlando.

Can you even imagine your delirium if Miami knocked Boston out while the Sixers topped the Knicks booking a trip to Indy for round two?

But hey, if Philly wins or loses Wednesday, don’t assume you’ve seen the last of Jimmy.

There’s always the slim chance the Heat and Sixers could meet again in the Eastern Conference Finals — which would begin on South Broad with a Bell Ringer ceremony. Wonder who they’d dial up.