Sixers at Magic: 3 Storylines to Watch in Jimmy Butler's Debut

It's all about Jimmy Butler tonight in Orlando. The starting lineup has been changed. It's be Butler, Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Wilson Chandler and Joel Embiid.

Here are three storylines to watch in tonight's game.

Who takes over in crunch time?

As Brett Brown noted the other night, the Sixers have struggled in both pick-and-roll and isolation situations, especially in crunch time. Having Jimmy Butler should radically change that. I'll have my eye on how the offense opens up because of what Butler can do off the pick-and-roll. And if this is a close game down the stretch, who brings the ball up? Who takes the final shot? How do late-game situations change?

Our culture is built on defense

At shootaround this morning, Brown echoed the following: "Our culture is built on defense.'"He reminded his team that they finished third in defensive rating last year. Joel Embiid is the anchor of the defense, and the new concepts they've been implementing are contingent on what Embiid does defensively. How does having one of the best defenders in the NBA (fun stat: Butler's 3.6 deflections per game is tied for first in the NBA) immediately up their defensive intensity? I'm not as worried about concepts at this point as I am about the effort and energy, and I'd be surprised if we didn't immediately see Butler up this tonight.

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Butler's ball dominance

There's been a lot of talk about how Butler being a ball dominant guard will impact both Simmons and Embiid's game, and this is certainly going to be under the microscope tonight. Is it as big of a deal as people are making it out to be?

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