76ers Still Hope To Re-Sign Jimmy Butler

[jerry25]

I follow the Sixers, and this whole Butler stuff is just nonsense;
There was a 99% chance that the Sixers would re-sign Butler BEFORE the latest news leaked, and 99% after the leak, in my opinion;
Butler responded the other day and basically said that the story wasn't true - he said there was a discussion that started with TJ McConnell; Butler mostly was correctly talking about the need for better Defense, not pick and roll offense, as Ramona Shelbourne claims; Reporter Kyle Neubeck released the content of Butler's remarks and said basically the same;

Ramona has been following the Sixers this season, and likely aggressively sought to get input from Joel Embid, who usually is too honest and "speaks his mind". I am more concerned with WHO leaked some of the content of the meeting, than with worrying about Butler; If it was Embiid, I still wouldn't be concerned, because Joel has no discipline with what he says; Joel doesn't mean harm;

The bottom line is the effect of the way the story is being reported, is that fans of other teams think they have a realistic shot at signing Butler, when the truth is that they still don't; Butler is happy in Philly and he can't afford to mess up for a third time;

Sixers can pay Butler $190 M over 5 years; Other teams can't; Sixers are doing just fine when all 3 play; Once the Sixers improve their depth by March (Zhaire and Markelle should be back and someone like The Manimal could be picked up on waivers), they will be fine; They can always trade their own 2019 pick, if necessary, to improve their time;

[Sam195]

If Philly now wanted to let Butler walk just 6 weeks after they traded 2 quality starters to get him, what a complete and utter disaster that would be. They need to do everything possible to keep him.

It is literally the Dwight Howard saga all over again - Howard gets his coach fired then is traded to a team that he didn't want to go to only to feud with the coach and stars there before leaving as a ufa with no compensation for the team that took a chance on him. Ironically Philly was also part of that debacle trading Iggy, Vucevic and picks for Andrew Bynum to go on a season long bowling vacation and be let go in free agency. Butler wanted the Wolves to trade him to Miami or one of the LA teams but landed in Philly. Dwight wanted to be in Brooklyn and ended up as a laker.