Jimmy Butler Reveals He Wasn't Too Fond of Sixers' Head Coach Brett Brown

When the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Jimmy Butler last season, there have been a handful of warnings surrounding the move. After Butler caused issues behind the scenes while with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves, a lot of teams were making offers with caution when it came to Butler.

Sixers' General Manager Elton Brand wasn't worried about the rumors. The first-time GM needed to make a splash, and the opportunity to do so was on the table. Without hesitation, Brand moved a couple of pieces from the Sixers' process days in exchange for the established star, Jimmy Butler.

At first, Butler's time with the Sixers seemed to have gone swimmingly. But from the outside looking in, things weren't great, apparently. After last year's season wrapped up in Toronto, Butler's impending free agency was all of the talks around Philly.

Many thought the veteran All-Star enjoyed his time with the Sixers. Therefore, they believed there was a good chance he would be back. However, that's not the way things went. After showing tons of interest in potentially joining the Miami Heat, the Sixers worked a sign and trade with the team down in South Beach to grant Butler's wishes.

While things have worked out for the former Sixer, he still couldn't help but tease the fact that something went wrong in Philly, which prevented him from having the desire to stay. Butler kept making cryptic statements, but wouldn't go into detail. Finally, though, the Miami Heat forward has issued some clarity on what happened as he joined JJ Redick's podcast to talk about last season.

As many expected, Butler's relationship with Sixers' head coach Brett Brown wasn't great. While Butler described his connection with Brown as "professional," the Miami Heat star had a hard time agreeing with some of the questionable decisions Brown has made during the short amount of time Butler spent in Philly.

His most notable issue with Brown was the fact that the Sixers' coach decided to switch ball-handlers in the playoffs. Throughout the entire season, Ben Simmons handled the ball for the Sixers and was the All-Star point guard for Philly. Once the playoffs rolled around, though, Brown made a switch to put the ball in Butler's hands a lot of the time. Many believed Butler wanted it to be like that all along, but it turns out that's actually the opposite of how the former Sixer was thinking.

"I don't think it was fair to switch over like that," Butler told Redick. "The entire year, Ben had the ball. So you mean to tell me that in one playoff series, you just switch up like that? I would be like how [Ben Simmons] was, I would feel a type of way!"

For a while, many were under the impression that Butler wasn't too fond of Simmons, and would've preferred to take over the Sixers point guard's job as the primary ball-handler. However, Butler debunked that thought process not only during Redick's podcast but also during a sitdown interview with Sports Illustrated's Andrew Sharp.

"I didn't have a problem with [Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid]. I still talk to those dudes. I wish them the absolute best. A career of great health, make as much money as you can, win as many championships as you can. I did not have a problem with any of those guys. It just didn't work out the way we wanted it to work. That's life.

At this point, it's clear Butler's beef wasn't with Ben Simmons, or Joel Embiid, like the masses speculated. Instead, it sounds like he had a significant issue with Coach Brown. Not only because of the switch from Simmons to Butler handling the ball in the playoffs but also because he felt "nothing got accomplished" during team meetings.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_