Philadelphia 76ers: Jimmy Butler is paramount to stop Kawhi Leonard

If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to blow past the Toronto Raptors and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, Jimmy Butler has to take care of Kawhi Leonard.

When the Philadelphia 76ers traded Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jimmy Butler and (a recently waived) Justin Patton, it looked like the team had finally added their third star.

While some initially hoped that player would be Markelle Fultz, as Bryan Colangelo did trade a future first-round pick to acquire him in the 2018 NFL Draft, that dream all but fell by the wayside when he was diagnosed with ‘thoracic outlet syndrome‘ and effectively removed from the team’s rotation.

Since then, Butler has largely been a disappointment.

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Now don’t get me wrong, ‘Jimmy Buckets’ hasn’t been bad by any stretch of the imagination, as he did average 18.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, four assists, and 1.8 steals a game in 33.1 minutes of action a night, but each and every one of those numbers were downgrades from his stat line in Minnesota and his career averages from 2014-18.

Sure, he recorded his fair share of buzzer beaters as the Sixers’ self-proclaimed ‘closer’, but even Butler’s shooting percentages, both from the field and 3 point range, took dives when he made his way to the City of Brotherly Love.

Maybe chalk it up to playing on a stacked offensive team with Joel Embiid in the paint, and eventually Tobias Harris, Mike Scott, and James Ennis on the wings, but Butler quietly went from the second (or even first) scoring option on a mediocre team to at times the fourth option on a team with much less usage to go around.

However, if the 76ers are going to claw their way past the Toronto Raptors and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, the team is going to need Butler to exhibit some serious star power.

While the 76ers have suffered defeats at the hands of the Raptors both with and without Kawhi Leonard on the court, the team is going to have to find a way to best the club four times over a seven-game period, with at least one of those wins having to come on the court of the Scotiabank Arena.

And it all starts with Butler.

As things presently stand, many consider Butler to be the second-best small forward in the Eastern Conference, the 1B to Leonard’s 1A if you will, but when you look at the stats, they’re a lot closer than many outside observers would initially believe; with Butler receiving the nod in quite a few categories.

Sure, many will point to Leonard’s 26.6 points per game average as a clear indicator that he’s the better player, but the former two-time Defensive Player of the Year has actually slacked off considerably; going from the 17th best defensive small forward (1.25) and second-best overall small forward (7.08) in the league in 2016-17 according to ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus, to the 50th best defensive small forward (-0.35) and sixth (2.87) best overall small forward in the league in 2018-19.

Butler, on the other hand, ranks top-5 in both categories this season; finishing out the season as the fourth best defensive shooting guard in the league (1.61) and second-best overall RPM rating of any shooting guard in the league (3.91).

While the duo are more or less equal in several areas, outside of points per game due to Leonard’s status as the Raptors’ number 1 scoring option, Butler has been a far more effective defender and could help to neutralize Toronto’s top offensive weapon.

And fortunately for fans in Philly, he won’t have to do it alone.

While it’s assumed that Butler will be on Leonard for much of the game, Ben Simmons could also take a turn covering the NBA Champion; ensuring that the team always have a dominant an All-Star caliber defender on him for the duration of the 38 minutes a game he typically plays.

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Will that be enough to stop the Toronto Raptors and get the City of Brotherly Love one round deeper into the postseason? Only time will tell, but it’s clear that Jimmy Butler’s ability to eclipse Kawhi Leonard will make or break the Philadelphia 76ers Eastern Conference Semifinals appearance.