Philadelphia 76ers: Evaluating Jimmy Butler’s impact

Now that the Philadelphia 76ers’ trade deadline acquisitions have had time to mesh with the incumbents, it feels like one player in particular has been shrouded.

Ever since the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Tobias Harris, it’s been argued that a certain other in-season addition has been marginalized. Swingman Jimmy Butler has hid in the dark for most contests post-trade deadline, but he has by no means been ineffective.

It’s cliche to say Butler’s impact is more than meets the eye, but it’s true. Although he doesn’t take over in clutch moments like he used to, that doesn’t mean he’s not helping the team at a high level.

To start, let’s look at one of the easiest ways to measure player impact: Net Rating swing. Although the team still outscores its opponents by 0.4 points per 100 possessions without him, that superiority jumps to 7.2 points per 100 possessions when he takes the court, meaning the Sixers play like a 60-win team when Butler plays.

Now it’s easy to argue around this. Butler plays a significant chunk of his minutes with Joel Embiid, which will naturally inflate his Net Rating. But even without Embiid, the lineup of Butler, Simmons, J.J. Redick and Tobias Harris still outscores teams by 7.2 points per 100 possessions.

Head coach Brett Brown has even found ways to use him as the main initiator, which puts a capable shooter in control (good) while also marginalizing T.J. McConnell (better). He’s a solid pick-and-roll initiator, though Brown doesn’t like to run that too often. Come playoff time though, Brown won’t have much of a choice; Embiid post-ups will be diagnosed by elite defenses, and Simmons’ inability to shoot makes him a poor choice to run pick-and-rolls.

Butler’s “capable shooter” tag has gotten some flak recently though, as he’s only made 19.0 percent of his 1.6 3-point attempts per game since the Harris trade. Despite this, he’s still put up an effective field goal percentage of 50.3 (ranks top 100 in the NBA) on a volume of 13.7 shots a game (12.8 per game since the Harris trade) in Philly.

How does he maintain a good efficiency? Cuts. Butler has the highest field goal percentage on cuts of anyone with over 1.0 possessions per game of such nature (Butler is at 1.4 in Philly), at 82.7 percent. He’s a smart slasher, and Brown makes sure to use him in this way.

Although his on-ball defense seems to wane on occasion, he’s still amassed 1.9 Defensive Win Shares as a Sixer, and has the seventh-highest steal percentage in the NBA (2.7).

In all honesty, the best versions of Butler are yet to come. When the game slows down in a playoff environment, he is sure to strut his best stuff. His tangibility may oscillate, but he’s still important.

One minute, fans and pundits were complaining that Butler was taking touches from Simmons and Embiid. The next, they griped over his lack of assertiveness. Seemingly no one other than Butler himself is happy with his role on the Sixers. His style doesn’t look fluid during the ebbs and flows of the game, especially while integrating the team’s fourth pillar, but it quite frankly never has. His game in Philly is smoother than ever, and to say he hasn’t been impactful is ludicrous.