Tag Archive for: Joel Embiid

Old Teammates Won’t Let Jimmy Butler Move On

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Jimmy Butler seems to be living his best life of late.

He got paid this offseason, and traded to the city where he wanted to play.

He is a new father — of a baby girl.

And he with a team and teammates he clearly likes.

But others in the NBA won’t let the man be.

Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns, two of the game’s elite bigs — and each problematic for his own reasons — got in a skirmish Wednesday in the game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

These days, what isn’t settled in person spills over into social media.

So it did.

And Embiid, well, he can’t leave anything alone, except the Eastern Conference Finals. He and Butler were on good terms in Philadelphia last season as teammates — Butler roundly praised Embiid a month ago during Heat training camp.

Butler was never as glowing about Towns, with the fraying of that relationship playing into his desire to leave the Timberwolves — that set up his brief partnership with Embiid in Philadelphia. Embiid apparently knows the history. Quite well.

The “3rd stringers” is a reference to Butler, during his self-imposed sabbatical in Minnesota, supposedly teaming up with 3rd stringers in practice and routing the Wolves’ starters, including Towns, in practice. You’ll remember Woj giving Jimmy something akin to Paul Bunyan status for this.

So, with two of his ex’s squabbling, will Butler leave this alone?

The answer, naturally, is no.

Butler chimed in on Embiid’s Instagram post.

So this won’t be the last of it.

Butler will be asked, probably prior to Thursday’s Miami Heat game in Atlanta. And you can be sure, he’ll answer. It would be fun if he just buried both of them.

 

Embiid Tells ESPN “Butler Was a Big Loss”

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Joel Embiid took a few shots to his own teammates, somehow…

Apparently, Philadelphia 76ers fans don’t agree with their star center about Heat forward Jimmy Butler.

While those fans have been furiously tweeting that Butler didn’t choose “winning” when he decided to leave for Miami in free agency this summer, Joel Embiid told Rachel Nichols of ESPN in a sitdown, ”I wish Jimmy was on the team.”

“When it was the 4th quarter we knew, the ball would be in, me (sic) or Jimmy’s hands. I knew I could count on him.”

Embiid went on to speak about how he can improve his abilities in late-game situations, but does not speak of how this role could possibly be shared with other teammates. This includes former first overall pick Ben Simmons, who has received criticism for his poor long-range shooting throughout his career.

It appears Simmons still has work to do if he wants to reach Jimmy Butler level of trust with Embiid.

So what was Butler’s response to this?

Here’s the full clip (warning: there’s Jimmy language in it):

Butler on Embiid: “That’s my dog, for real. We talk all the time. Even when I was traded here, I told him to continue to dominate. Continue to prove why you’re the best player in this f—ing league. I believe that.”