Jimmy Butler debuts in Orlando tonight.

Here’s the starting lineup:

Sixers starters: Ben, Jimmy Butler, JJ, Chandler, Embiid.

— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 14, 2018

It’s the right move.

Let Markelle run point on the second unit. Put the ball in his hands and let him create. Get him in his best position and see the confidence level improve.

I was listening to Mikey Miss on the ride home today and he was discussing foul shooting with his producer, Tyrone Johnson, who now doubles as the co-host of Sixers Outsiders on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The entire conversation centered around white players vs. black players and Mike’s assertion that white players typically have upper tier mid-range jump shot and free-throw percentages.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, but then I got home and logged on to see this clip on Twitter:

Here, Plato and Socrates discuss modern philosophy and the place of man in the universe : pic.twitter.com/JPxmgKuHug

— Couch Correspondent 🦅 (@notkerouac) November 13, 2018

That 30-second clip doesn’t really do Mike any favors.

You’re just gonna have to trust me when I tell you that the conversation went on for something like five minutes after that and didn’t have any kind of nasty offensive racial undertones. It felt like a scene from White Men Can’t Jump more than any kind of truly sinister shit.

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NJ.Com is looking for a Sixers writer.

Zack Rosenblatt used to do the gig, but he was moved over to the Eagles beat when Matt Lombardo ended up switching gears to cover the Giants instead.

Eliot Shorr-Parks recently went over to Sports Radio 94 WIP, so they’re down a dude and looking for a replacement, which doesn’t have to be a dude.

Here’s the job posting on Twitter via Sports Director Kevin Manahan:

1/ NJ Advance Media looking for a digital sports journalist to cover the Philadelphia 76ers. The part-time position (monthly stipend) includes covering practices, shoot-arounds, home games and occasional travel — if you prove you're worth the investment.

— Kevin Manahan (@KevinCManahan) November 13, 2018

2/ Contact me if …

You have covered a pro or college team (and not from your basement).

You know the difference between “reporter” and “content creator,” and you can do both.

You have a tireless work ethic.

You can write sentences.

You know what a sentence is.

— Kevin Manahan (@KevinCManahan) November 13, 2018

3/ You know the NBA and/or the Sixers.

You can ask tough questions.

You’re not the reporter standing outside the pack recording over everyone else’s shoulders.

You’ve heard of Twitter.

You pay attention to what fans are talking about on social media or sports talk radio.

— Kevin Manahan (@KevinCManahan) November 13, 2018

4/ You react quickly to news.

You want to do the job — more than you want a press box seat and a business card that says “sportswriter.”

You are ready for a great opportunity.

Dazzle me with your brilliance in an email to kmanahan@njadvancemedia.com

— Kevin Manahan (@KevinCManahan) November 13, 2018

5/ BTW: Here are some of our former Philly bloggers: @JordanRaanan @EliotShorrParks @MattLombardoNFL @ZackBlatt. You might recognize the names.

— Kevin Manahan (@KevinCManahan) November 13, 2018

My first thought was that this comes off as somewhat snarky and condescending. If you’re reading the job posting on Twitter, then obviously you’ve heard of Twitter, so I don’t know what that line was all about.

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Jimmy Butler says he wasn’t wearing a suit at his introductory press conference because things were moving so quickly since the completion of the trade that brought him to Philadelphia along with Justin Patton.

“As you can tell, I’m the only one up here without a suit on because the suit got here late this morning.”

We got some more good quotes from Butler on Tuesday morning, who will make his Sixers debut Wednesday night in Orlando and home debut Friday against Joe Ingles and the Utah Jazz.

It really was a spectacle at the Camden training complex, with a stage set up on the far court and the entire Sixers office staff fanned out behind assembled media. It really did feel like the Andrew Bynum press conference from five or six years ago, though I think Butler is going to be just slightly more effective as a 76er. All he has to do is play 30 seconds for that to happen.

Josh Harris opened the press conference by saying that his team now has three of the top-20 players in the NBA, which is probably true, depending on how you feel about Ben Simmons. Whatever the case, this was an aggressive move to replace a pair of solid starters with one superstar starter.

Say that ten times fast.

Listening back to the 30 minute press conference for the second time, this is what jumped out to me as most relevant:

• Elton Brand says the Sixers front office reached to Minnesota when they became aware that Butler was available. Brand says he called Wolves GM Scott Layden so frequently that they had a running joke: “hey this is Elton with our daily call.” Brand says that Josh Harris’ relationship with Minnesota owner Glen Taylor helped push the deal to finality.
• on the topic of his personality and perceived conflict with teammates and coaches, Butler said he loves his teammates and thinks he’s “an incredible human being and teammate” and that he’s looking to prove that to the rest of the squad in Philadelphia
• Elton Brand says he’s looking forward to having discussions about Butler signing an extension beyond this season, but that both parties are not at that point just yet.

Butler was asked about Markelle Fultz and how he can help the second-year player get over the hump:

“He’s a talented young player. I think that, from what I can tell, a lot of things are mental. In this league, I think 90% of it is mental. If you think you can do something, then you really can. I know how hard he works because I’m in LA and I know he comes by and trains. I know some of the people that know him and they tell me how great he wants to be. As long as he’s going hard and giving it his all every day, the guy has my respect. I just want him to go out there, play hard, be who he is, stick to his strengths, and I know he’s going to thrive and be successful.”

More notes and quotes after the jump:

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We got Sixers General Manager Elton Brand off to the side after the Jimmy Butler press conference, so I want to start with that first, then I’ll transcribe some of the stuff from earlier. In between these stories, I’m gonna ride over to Five Guys in Cherry Hill and house a couple of burgers.

Brand talked about Markelle Fultz, the double-clutch free-throw from last night, and his current status with the team.

Here’s the verbatim of the Q/A session with non-Fultz questions removed:

Jon Johnson (94 WIP): I hate to ask you this on such a day; a lot was made last night about Markelle Fultz’s free throw. Did you see it? What was your reaction?

Brand: I saw the free throw, for sure. I’ve been seeing him work this summer, and all of this season, and he has times where something like that happens. But following that, he shot it very well and it looked very fluid. He’s going to have some ups and downs. He’s going to have more ups than downs. You saw the talent level in flashes, how talented he is.

Crossing Broad: Elton, is he still working with Drew Hanlen? There was a report last night that he and Drew were no longer on speaking terms.

Brand: I’m not sure about that. We have our coaching staff here and he’s working with our coaching staff. But there’s a window from before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. that you can work with outside trainers in our facility, but I’m not sure about that.

More after the jump:

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I’m sure you’ve read about the Markelle Fultz and Drew Hanlen craziness by now and probably seen the horrendous free throw all over social media and ESPN.

So let’s talk about Joel Embiid instead, because I feel like I really haven’t written much about him this year. In every recap, it goes something like, “oh yeah, by the way, Joel had 32 and 12 last night, he’s just been so good in 2018.”

I guess the reason for the lack of words is because Joel is a known quantity. You expect him to go for 28 and 15 in every game now, and in the early part of the season, we’re focused on things like Markelle and Ben and their shooting and some of the new faces on the team.

Joel is on pace for a historic season. He put up 35 and 18 last night with six offensive rebounds. He shot 8-15 from the field, 3-4 from three, 16-20 (!!!) from the foul line, and turned the ball over twice while committing just one foul. That is a ridiculous basketball line, just elite in so many ways, especially for a 7’2″ center in the modern day NBA.

This is a 24-year-old guy who didn’t even start playing basketball until he was a teenager. The minutes restriction is a thing of the past. He is fully healthy and he is certainly an MVP candidate if he keeps playing this way.

Year to date, Joel is playing about five more minutes per game. His shooting is up and pretty much everything extrapolates to an improvement when you run his per-36 numbers.

Lemme give you the raw stats first:

His field goal percentage holds steady from last year, but you see a lot of improvement from the foul line. He’s getting there 11 times per game and hitting at 80%.

Here’s what it looks like if you run last year’s numbers on 36 minute parameters:

29 and 14 per 36 minutes. That’s wild stuff.

He’s averaging more points on fewer two pointers, and you see the increase in three point and free throw shooting.  His turnover numbers are down significantly and his rebounding and block numbers look good. I think the improvement from the foul line has been a really pleasant surprise.

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I hate writing this, but I have to.

Markelle Fultz looks broken. Over the past few weeks, he’s looked more engaged defensively and has had spurts of attacking the rim with reckless abandon, but that jumper he spent the summer working on with Drew Hanlen? Gone. Its absence has overshadowed any positives the most ardent supporter could muster arguing. Any threat of a shot from outside five feet? Non-existent. Now it appears his relationship with Hanlen is just that:

Markelle Fultz and Drew Hanlen are no longer working together or on speaking terms, according to league sources. No word on why the two parted ways, but their relationship deteriorated about three weeks ago. Prior to this falling out, Fultz spent the summer training with Hanlen.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) November 13, 2018

There’s no way to quantify what it meant for Fultz to work with Hanlen, other than to state the obvious: the broken shot we saw Fultz use tentatively last season was replaced with a somewhat repeatable, quasi-functional jumper. But it’s gone. It’s really gone.

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Johnny Clark does it again.

I need to get his airport sources.

Jimmy Butler landed in Philly a short time ago:

Would be nice if he touched down in Miami, but he’ll make his debut Wednesday night in Orlando.