holy hell, i just realized the reason for your dumbass responses. You must clearly be new to basketball, but it's an actual thing: Let me educate you. https://hoopgrind.com/better-coaches/draymond-green-short-roll-playmaking/ An example: Brett Brown even commented on how he's shifting Simmons OUT of that spot: https://nba.nbcsports.com/2019/09/2...in-dunkers-spot-more-in-corner-when-off-ball/ Maybe before making snarky comments, don't talk down to people who have been here quite a bit longer than you?
Swapping Simmons for CJ would significantly improve the team (primarily on the defensive side & generating more transition opportunities). Also the difference between Simmons' contract and CJ's is negligible (< $500k) for the next 4 years. It's the 5th year where Ben is still under contract and CJ becomes a FA that there is a difference. The skill level gap between Ben & CJ is large. I'd make that trade every day of the week without thinking twice.
I'd honestly rotate Ben & Nurk as the roll man with Dame in the P&R. Dame's shooting ability & Ben's ball handling/decision making/ mid-range shot could be a think of beauty.
Exactly, and Philly figured that out a bit this year, but they don't have a guard as dynamic as Dame to just make that a 4 on 3 situation everytime. We would be replacing Zach with Simmons. Just a ridiculous upgrade in skill and versatility. With proper spacing on the weakside, that action is absolutely unstoppable. But this guy is comparing Simmons to the likes of Aminu/turner and Harkless, so no point in explaining when he's coming from that mindset.
I'd be interested to see a Lillard/Simmons pairing (though I agree with Rasta that it's unlikely Philadelphia considers any trade for Simmons that doesn't involve Lillard), but I think if you bring in Simmons, you have to commit to a Simmons-oriented offense. Simmons can certainly contribute to some extent in the dunker's spot and as the screen-setter in some pick-and-pop/pick-and-roll action, but by and large the ball would need to be in his hands with at least three shooters spacing the floor around him and Nurkic or another big in the dunker's spot or setting a screen. Acquiring Simmons and making him mostly an off-ball player would be a complete waste of his talent, especially when Lillard can function as an off-ball player. So how would Lillard accept the offense revolving more around Simmons than Lillard?
I don't think this as binary as you say. Both players have sufficient skill and BBIQ to make it so they're both maximized. Whether Terry is the guy to make that happen is another question, but I can unequivocally predict that a Dame/Simmons duo is a better pairing than Simmons/Embiid or even Dame/CJ. If Lebron and Kyrie duo could be the key cogs of a historically great offense in 2016, I don't see why this duo wouldn't be able to. Likewise, I'd say a CJ/Embiid combo is better than Simmons/Embiid as well, even with the downgrade in overall talent.
I'm not a fan of the hypothetical idea of trading CJ for Simmons. His playmaking and other obvious skills come with the expense of crappy shooting. I just don't like that weakness in today's NBA. If CJ were going to be traded, I'd much rather it be for a stud SF who can shoot. Sign me up for a starting lineup like Lillard, Trent, Michael Porter Jr., Collins and Nurk.
Sure, but if you're using that as the model, it goes to what I was saying--Simmons would be playing the LeBron role in the offense (as James was/is a big, gifted passer who has been a questionable shooter--better and much, much more willing than Simmons, but still not exactly an ideal floor spacer) with Lillard more similar to Irving as someone who can play the ball-dominant role but had to transition into more of an off-ball role for LeBron/Simmons. The difference there was that James is a living legend and in the argument for greatest ever, while Irving was just some punk kid. Irving really had no clout to challenge the set-up (but it obviously bothered him and he ultimately broke up the relationship). I'm not saying the same thing would happen with Lillard, but no matter how smart Simmons, Lillard and whomever the coach was, Lillard couldn't be the constant central hub. Sometimes, sure...but mostly Simmons would have to be, because that's where the majority of his talents lie. So I'm not saying it's binary, that Lillard never gets to touch the ball except to shoot--I'm saying Lillard would have to give up a lot of ball-handling he currently does and he probably would have to give up being the central hub of the offense. And unlike the James/Irving pairing, Lillard wouldn't be clearly the inferior player--so how happy would he be with that? Maybe it doesn't matter--as long as Lillard isn't mutinous about it (and I wouldn't expect him to be), they could probably survive him not being thrilled.
No star that we would want (i.e. a star wing who plays good defense) is going to be available for CJ, because the same flaws that make him not ideal here make him not ideal elsewhere too, whereas star wings are the coin of the realm in this era. To trade CJ in a way that could be fulfilling for us would involve taking on risk. We'd have to trade him for a pre-hype wing that meets his potential after the trade, like Brandon Ingram before his jump. The Warriors are making almost that exact kind of gamble in trading D'Angelo Russell (a pretty CJ-like player) for Andrew Wiggins (a wing who's currently not a star but they hope makes a jump with them). If it works, we win. If it doesn't work, we're worse.
He may be a poor outside shooter, but he's significantly more efficient from the floor overall than CJ. All in all though, the biggest improvement would be on defense, and I think the improvement on that end would be much bigger than whatever dropoff we might have offensively. But as all have said, it's moot because there's no way Philly is dealing a healthy Simmons for CJ, and there's no way Olshey deals CJ for an injured Simmons.
Ben Simmons currently has a usage rate of 21%. CJ is at 27%, Dame at 30%. If we were to replace to two, even with an increased on-ball role for Simmons, I think Dame would be perfectly fine. FWIW, both Kyrie and Lebron were at 31% that season in CLE. Just had a look at the Rockets, and good Lord, Harden and Westbrook are at 36% and 34% respectively. Needless to say, in today's NBA, there are enough possessions to make everyone happy. And with Simmons instead of CJ, I'd say our pace would only increase
when did all these other teams start thinking their MPJs n Simmons were worth Dame? not even with homer glasses on, they aren't even close.
