Gimme Hawks vs Sun finals. It would be an entertaining series IMO.
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Not being willing to give up Ben Simmons for James Harden was a big time mistake by Philly. I can’t imagine there’s not much of a trade market out there for Simmons right now.
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From my understanding, Philly had the better offer but Tillman Fertilla does not want to trade with Morey. Also, Morey didn’t want to give up Tyrese Maxey but was 100% willing to give away Simmons.
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Wow. The fact that Miami and Brooklyn, conference rivals, were the other two teams mentioned for interest in Harden you’d think wouldn’t have them draw a hard line on Maxey.
Simmons collapse has been pretty amazing. It’s the rare instance where all of the pile-on criticism is justified.
It’s actually kind of remarkable to me that the Sixers went through the Process and got all those players and it turns out that, of all people, the big man with bad feet and knees turned out to be the only one that realized his potential with the franchise.
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To be fair, Fultz got hurt and was never the same shooting wise.
Simmons is an elite talent but he never worked to get better offensively. He’s the same exact player he has been since coming in except he got better on defense. The NBA executives were under the assumption that he can get better there but that has been proven wrong.
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It’s weird. Has he worked on it and failed, or just not put in the effort? I remember reading that Shaq worked hard at free throws and just never got the hang of them. Is Ben trying and failing, or is he getting frustrated with the grinding reps and doing other stuff with his time?
He’s incredibly gifted and athletic. And guys who struggle to shoot can still build excellent careers. So the raw material is there. What does it take to unlock it?
The answer is pretty significant.
Lot of Twitter talk about what his trade value is. Obviously doesn’t look like a Harden type value anymore (man does passing on that look bad, like, maybe the Sixers need a new GM bad). Does a team that’s a piece away try to get him? Or some franchise in the doldrums gambling that he’ll turn the corner and become the franchise superstar?
The Sixers offered Simmons. The rockets said no cause the owner doesn’t like Morey
As for Simmons, he clearly was having a mental block this series. A smart team buys low on him. He would help a ton of teams
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Need the right fit in particular with this player. Is not going to be plug and play.
I don’t know exactly what it would look like but Portland is another team that may have run its course with the line-up they have. CJ for Simmons being the principals in a deal, and then put him at SF or PF instead of PG?
I still think there is room for growth with Simmons. He’s owning it which is the most important thing even in the face of Embiid blaming him, Rivers questioning if he’s part of the future. Simmons is a very willing passer and good at that, he’s a terrific defender, he can also rebound. He’s not a good jump shooter, he’s capable of scoring and hits 55% of his shots which is quite good.
Philly still has some issues if they want to move Simmons they can do that but can we discuss how Harris was awful the past few games?? Can you win a title with Seth Curry or Tobias Harris as your 3rd best player?? They really missed Danny Green imo he’s not high volume shooter but he was getting big minutes and in a game like this all you need is Green to can a couple shots.
I think an interesting team could be Indiana. They have some nice pieces in Sabonis/Levert/Turner, Brogdon is fine but they have some salaries that could make a Simmons deal work. They already have some willing passers in Levert/Sabonis if they could bring back McConnell it could be a terrific situation for Simmons.
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Simmons had the past 3 years to fix his shooting or improve offensively. He was a big reason why Philly lost the series in the past 3 playoffs. Words from NBA peeps that his instagram workouts aren’t authentic and he doesn’t really put in work to get better at shooting.
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Words from NBA peeps that Simmons doesn’t put in the effort to improve his offensive game FWIW
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I still don’t believe it’s wise to give up on a guy after 4 years in the NBA who is just about to turn 25 and still has a lot of potential. People in the NBA was so transfixed on looking at the young players in the league and believing they should be leading a team into the NBA finals at such a young age. Giannis has a chance to do that this year and he’s only 26. After Milwaukee 2 years ago against Toronto and last year against Miami it was Giannis can’t be the guy. Things take time in pro sports I have even seen people say Luka Doncic still hasn’t been able to get his team to the 2nd round so we have that narrative now on Luka.
I dk if I want the Bulls mortgaging the rest of their future on Simmons but he’s an interesting fit w their roster. They’d for sure have to get another team involved since I can’t imagine Morey wanting PatWill or Coby.
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I’m sympathetic to this view…but I also think it’s really just a matter of handling the spotlight mentally. Giannis has had to deal w Bud and pretty meh roster management and showed a lot of toughness in tough series, no? With Simmons, I dk. Maybe he doesn’t want to get better. Maybe he’s got some form of the yips and he’s only ever going to be a 2nd banana on a conference semis loser?
Coincidentally, that seems to be the extent of Michael Reinsdorf’s ambition. I knew I could bring this back to the Bulls.
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At some point, that player is who he is. Simmons is rapidly approaching this non-scoring threat defensive player. He had years to fix his issues and he doesn’t want to work on it. There will be suitors for Simmons but his contract is an albatross for a defensive guy who can rebound and pass. He is a huge liability in the playoff situation and has been for the past 3 playoffs.
There’s no narrative on Luka. He’s considered to be one of the best player in the league. It’s just that he just had the wrong type of team to build around him unlike what the Hawks have done for Trae Young. People are saying it as a joke because Trae and Ayton got so much hate due to their team passing on Luka in the draft.
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I think Simmons needs to be paired with a Stretch Five. Embild is very versatile but still slow and plodding and the offense doesn’t seem to work with the two of them.
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If I’m Portland that’s not what I’m looking for, but oh my a team with Embiid and Dame would be so much fun. I really want to see Lillard deep in the playoffs.
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