Butler: 'I didn't know who the f--- was in charge' during 76ers tenure
Warning: Story contains coarse language
More than nine months after leaving the Philadelphia 76ers for the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler shed light on the dysfunction he perceived during a 55-game tenure with the Sixers.
"It was so different and on any given day, me as a person, as a player, I didn’t know who the fuck was in charge," Butler said during a recent appearance on "The JJ Redick Podcast."
"I think that was my biggest thing. I didn’t know what the fuck to expect when I would go into the gym, when I would go into the game. I was like, 'Man.' I think I was as lost as the next motherfucker."
In particular, Butler referenced a meeting between himself, Redick, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and 76ers head coach Brett Brown during his first month in Philadelphia, stating that "nothing got accomplished at all."
"'Why did we sit through this?' That's literally what’s going on in my head," Butler told Redick about the meeting.
That meeting was separate from a previously reported disagreement that Butler had with Brown during a film session later in the season.
On the podcast, Butler also questioned Brown's decision to make him the primary ball-handler - instead of Simmons - at times during the 2019 postseason.
"Even though I think we played great basketball like that, I don’t think it was fair because the entire year Ben had the ball," Butler said.
He continued: "So you mean to tell me that in one playoff series, you just switch it up like that?"
Butler then spoke specifically about his decision to leave Philadelphia.
"Somebody told me a main reason that I didn't go back was because somebody asked, 'Can you control him?' ... The fact that you're trying to control a grown man, nah, I'm cool. ... If that's what y'all worried about, I think man, good luck to y'all," Butler said.
The 30-year-old has enjoyed a strong debut campaign in Miami, where he's averaging 20.2 points, 6.1 assists, and 6.6 rebounds through 54 games for the fourth-seeded Heat.