Butts was not brought in to fill a roster spot for a year. Just speculation but I would suspect whatever issues led to his suspension last year contributed to him moving on and going to the JUCO level. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return to the D-1 level in the future if off court issues aren’t a factor.
In Gordon’s case I think it was simply an issue of his athleticism being hindered so much by the previous injuries and they had an opportunity to bring in someone else as an upgrade.