It ended in heartbreak, but there are plenty of positive takeaways from the Sixers’ 2019 playoff run. Here are 10 thoughts based on the 12 playoff games Philadelphia played.

1. ‘Playoff Jimmy Butler’ is a very real thing

Throughout the regular season, there was looming anxiety amongst the fan base about Jimmy Butler’s value and role. At times, Butler played too passively on offense. His 3-point shot would disappear strangely, and then re-emerge when you least expected it. His defense often left something to be desired, too. There was underlying hope, though, that Butler had another gear that he’d tap into for the playoffs. That turned out to be very true.

It’s easy to argue that Butler was the Sixers’ best player throughout the Raptors series. He led the team in points and assists, and operated as the centerpiece of the offense throughout much of it. Check out his regular-season numbers compared to his numbers against Toronto below. Butler’s increase in time of possession — from 3.0 minutes per game in the regular season to 5.6 minutes per game against the Raptors — is especially notable.

Butler stepping into that role as the fulcrum felt natural for the Sixers. Between Ben Simmons’ limitations in the playoffs and the challenges of posting up Joel Embiid against Marc Gasol and the Raptors’ swarming defense, it made sense for Butler to become the centerpiece — and he filled the role as well as anyone could have expected.

Butler’s regular-season tendency to float in and out of the offense disappeared in the postseason. He was indispensable, and proved himself to be the level of player advertised following the November trade.

2. Ben Simmons’ defense takes another step forward

Ben Simmons’ offensive limitations have stolen the headlines of late, and we’ll get to that. But that storyline has unjustly overshadowed a magnificent defensive showing throughout both rounds of the playoffs.

It started with Simmons locking up D’Angelo Russell in the first round against the Brooklyn Nets, and denying him relentlessly off the ball. In the second round, Simmons was the only Sixer who could make Kawhi Leonard’s life remotely difficult. Simmons’ peskiness shows in the tracking data, courtesy of NBA.com/stats:

D’Angelo Russell

16/48 (33.3 percent) shooting, 6 assists, 7 turnovers versus Simmons

21/55 (38.2 percent) shooting, 12 assists, 7 turnovers versus others

Kawhi Leonard

44/87 (50.6 percent) shooting, 12 assists, 12 turnovers versus Simmons

43/77 (55.8 percent) shooting, 16 assists, 9 turnovers versus others

Simmons, 22, has already achieved the type of defensive identity that no one expected him to reach coming into the league — a player capable of lockdown flashes, who checks the opponent’s best scorer on a nightly basis and tracks him step for step.

In addition to his on-ball prowess, Simmons has also been a menace off the ball. He led all players in deflections per game in the playoffs by a wide margin. If there were an All-Defense team strictly for the playoffs, Simmons would be on it.

3. … but his offensive game remains uncertain in the later stages of the playoffs

Simmons’ offensive game later in the postseason remains as much of a question mark as it was coming into the playoffs. It’s not rocket science as to why: When the game slows down, and you’re facing smart, well-prepared teams stocked with athletic wings, Simmons becomes less valuable. That will always be the case as long as Simmons does not have a jump shot.

Game 6 of the Raptors series provided something of a template as to how Simmons can be effective in a playoff environment — hunt for transition opportunities, run occasional pick-and-rolls and crash the offensive glass. But we need not forget that Game 6 was an outlier. It’s instructive, for sure, but the broader picture is more complicated.

The fact remains: Tough shot-making in the half court is a crucial skill for any major contributor in the playoffs, and Simmons provides very little of it. When teams take away his transition opportunities and stick an athletic defender on him in the half court, it’s unclear how or where Simmons can create offense. As a result, the ball is better suited in other players’ hands. Unless he develops a jump shot, Simmons’ role in the playoffs will always be a complex science.

4. Backup centers are important

Here are your final raw on/off numbers for Joel Embiid in the Sixers’ second-round series:

Embiid on: 237 minutes, +90

Embiid off: 99 minutes, -109

Really think about that for a moment. The Sixers played the equivalent of just more than two games worth of minutes with Embiid on the bench, and in that time, they were outscored by 109 points. And in the roughly five games worth of minutes with him on the floor, the Sixers outscored the Raptors by 90.

You could blame the loss of the Raptors series on many things, but it should start there. The front office’s inability to acquire a playable backup for Embiid — either last summer or at the trade deadline — was a major failure. Especially given Embiid’s health history, finding a backup five should be a top priority this summer.

5. Hiding JJ Redick on defense is not impossible

Throughout the regular season, JJ Redick’s poor on-ball defense was a constant theme, and it was undoubtedly a reason for the Sixers’ disappointing year on that end of the floor. Coming into the playoffs, many feared that opposing teams would be able to hunt him on switches and feast in isolations. But the Sixers proved that, with a playoff-level of focus, it’s possible to keep Redick perpetually hidden on the opposing team’s fifth option.

By the end of the Raptors series, Toronto was hardly even trying to hunt Redick on switches. He’d mastered the art of hedging and recovering without giving up an advantage. In that series, Redick contested only 2.7 shots per game, per NBA.com, which was eighth most on the team — a sign that the Sixers successfully kept him removed from the action.

Joel Embiid shoots a 3-pointer against Toronto. (James Lang / USA TODAY Sports)

6. Improvement to Embiid’s 3-point shot would make a world of difference

If you look at the stagnation of the Sixers’ late-game offense throughout the Raptors series, a good bit of it results from sequences in which Marc Gasol leaves Joel Embiid at the 3-point line, shuts down the ball-handler and Embiid then misses a three or opts out of the shot entirely.

What else can the ball-handlers do? The Sixers don’t have many potential counters in these situations, so Embiid has to make the defense pay.

(Clips are from Games 2, 4 and 7.)

Embiid has to find some way to make himself effective in pick-and-roll situations. And since he’ll never have elite rim-running ability, he simply has to become a reliable 3-point shooter. Otherwise, he’s just not a good partner for a ball-handler.

It’s not just pick-and-rolls, though. In any given offensive possession, the added spacing that’d come from Embiid’s improvement as a shooter would be massive. Against both Brooklyn and Toronto, Embiid was completely ignored on the perimeter.

Against the Nets, Embiid was able to make up for it by driving straight at Jarrett Allen any time Allen sagged off and by bullying his way to the rim. But against Gasol and the Raptors’ rangy defenders, Embiid’s drives weren’t as effective:

Embiid against Brooklyn: 7.0 drives per game, 7.3 points from drives, 74.1 FG% on drives

Embiid against Toronto: 6.7 drives per game, 4.0 points from drives, 45.5 FG% on drives

He doesn’t have to become an elite shooter, but a modest improvement into the 35 percent range would make a world of difference.

7. Brett Brown is capable of making key adjustments in a playoff series

From a tactical standpoint, Brett Brown — who will return to the team as head coach next season, the front office confirmed today — delivered a very solid performance throughout these playoffs. Here’s my list of some of the key adjustments he made:

Benching T.J. McConnell after Game 1 of the Nets series and playing Butler as backup point guard (more on that next)

Shifting to more aggressive off-ball defensive schemes against Brooklyn

Picking apart the Nets by adding layers to their “Hawk” play against Brooklyn in Game 3

Shifting Simmons onto Leonard at halftime of Game 1 against Toronto And subsequently tweaking the rotation to align Simmons’ and Leonard’s minutes

Slotting Embiid on Pascal Siakam, and Tobias Harris on Gasol starting in Game 2 against Toronto

Sending double teams against virtually every mismatch starting in Game 2 against Toronto

Benching Boban Marjanovic for Greg Monroe in Game 2 against Toronto

In general, shifting to an offense based more on the pick-and-roll throughout the playoffs

I may have missed some in there, but the bottom line is that Brown tended to push the right buttons throughout both rounds of the playoffs.

8. Point Butler lineups are more than viable

In the 88 minutes the Sixers played Jimmy Butler at point guard in the playoffs, Philadelphia had a net rating of 14.8 (109.8 ORTg, 95.0 DRTg). That is a substantial margin against quality competition. In 39 minutes of Point Butler lineups in the regular season, the Sixers were similarly excellent, with a net rating of 12.3.

With such resounding success, one wonders if the Sixers should plan on letting Butler operate as the backup point guard next season, should the free agent return. The common rebuttal throughout the regular season was the Sixers desperately need someone in that role who can defend opposing point guards, but that problem felt irrelevant in the postseason. Fully engaged versions of Butler and Simmons were able to handle opposing guards just fine.

Perhaps we were fooled by the matchups — if the Sixers had played Kyrie Irving and Boston, they may have felt this burden more — but I’m inclined to think that spending substantial money this offseason on a point-guard stopper is a misallocation of resources. They should prioritize a backup center and wings, have Butler play backup point and lean into their identity as a huge team. Which brings us to …

9. James Ennis and Mike Scott could be keepers

Both James Ennis and Mike Scott played admirably this postseason, and seem to have become favorites both in the locker room and amongst the fans. If the Sixers can get them back at the right price, they should.

For next year, Ennis has a player option for $1.8 million. I’d be surprised if he opts into that — he’s worth more. Scott signed with the Clippers for $4.3 million last summer. I’d expect he commands about the same this summer.

How the Sixers choose to fill out their bench depends on where the bigger fish land. But the idea of keeping Ennis and Scott seems like a good one.

10. If the Sixers can only keep one of Butler or Harris, it should be Butler

In their ideal world, the Sixers never have to have this argument. But if, for whatever reason, they can only keep one of Tobias Harris or Jimmy Butler, they should keep Butler.

Harris has a few legitimate factors on his side in this argument. He’s three years younger, has far fewer miles, is a better spot-up shooter and, based on reputation, is less likely to ever cause locker-room drama.

But this Toronto series revealed that Butler is more suited to operate as the centerpiece of an offense than Harris. Harris settled into a role as a spot-up shooter, and a third- or fourth-option creator, whereas Butler was the backbone of the half-court offense.

On both ends, Harris just feels less essential than Butler. There’s an argument to be made that a different player could fill 75 percent of Harris’ role for 35 percent of the price. The same is not true of Butler — at least, the playoff version of Butler.

The Sixers should pay both players, backup plans be damned. They are a true title contender next year if they bring both back and field a reasonable bench. And no matter what, there will be far worse contracts in the NBA than Butler and Harris on max deals. But if they’re forced to choose just one, make it Butler.

(Top photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)