I don't think he's stupid, just bizarrely stubborn about being unwilling to state clearly WHY he hates Simmons. He seems very intelligent. I was attempting to get him to actually type it out, since he has all the time in the world to talk shit about Simmons and when I ask him to tell me why, he tells me to "look it up, do the research, find it in a thread I commented in once". He is the biggest Simmons hater on the board and yet when I ascribed the common Simmons hate logic (bad attitude/bad shooting) he claimed that I was way off and refused to explain why, but implied that it's some iron-clad piece of reasoning. If he wasn't constantly bashing Simmons I wouldn't go after him, but he is, constantly. All I want to know is why. Not just some certainty he is correct without explanation. I'm sure he's a smart man, he seems so, just absolutely refuses to explain why and I find that confounding given his ability to write endless posts about how much Simmons sucks without, you know, the explanation as to why.
Sounds like a lack of imagination. You have Simmons push the break and then defer to Lillard in the half court using Simmons to slash to the hoop after he gets an off-ball pick and then have Simmons soak up all the non-Dame minutes at PG putting Ant where he belongs at SG. Then have Simmons and Dame run the pick and roll. Pretty straightforward really. Also, that sounds like a front office thing, not a coaching thing.
I thought dviss explained why, but maybe I am wrong. If I understand, and @dviss1 can correct me if I am wrong, he does not believe in Simmons offense because of his shooting, thinks he is a potential locker room problem (diva) and is worried that he is menially weak and crumbles in pressure situations. All of these points are easy to understand. I think that many of us just give these negatives a smaller weight than he does.
If this is a hang up... our front office is being stupid. No one in the league who acquires Simmons should have that 6'11", 250 pound big running the point exclusively. The best thing that could happen to Ben Simmons is Dame Lillard. Lillard will take those shots Ben doesn't want to take, Lillard will get him the ball in the paint where Ben likes to score and Ben will only have to run the starting offense in 4 on 3 situations. Ben should forget about being a guard and play PF or C like he did at LSU. He will dominate on offense in a Giannis/Dray type of role. He can get some minutes as the lead "guard" when Dame is sitting and he's not but I would have a backup PG on the roster and sit him and Dame mostly at the same time. This is why I wouldn't be angry if we traded CJ and RoCo for Simmons and Maxey. I prefer trading CJ and Nas for Simmons but the other trade makes sense.
Yeah I figured those were the reasons, those are everyone's reasons and I am not worried about any of them. Thanks for explaining that. Mystery solved. None of those concern me in the slightest. He had one bad series, one of the worst teammates in the league and a soft player's coach who still threw him under the bus. Having Billups plus Lillard will correct that and Simmons talent will get us where we need to go, not an aging Green who's already worse at every metric than Simmons. There are no other options and the clock is ticking. This is the swing for the fences move and one Neil must make.
Yeah, they're all good points. I just believe that Dame, coach Billups and playing Ben at the 4 or 5 on offense are the perfect remedy to these problems.
Just to be clear, I do not want to put words in @dviss1 mouth, it is just my understanding of his position from the multiple threads about the issue.
My man, you really need to dial it back. Disagreeing over a hypothetical trade really isn't that big a deal.
If the reports of him publicly saying he doesn't want to come to Portland are true, I wouldn't want him here. He doesn't want to be here and the last thing I want to see is a mopey, PG/C running our offense. Dame is our star and I don't think Simmons wants to share that spotlight even though he thinks he craves it, until it's time to produce in crunch time and he becomes a shrinking violet. I remember watching games that Embiid would dominate and Simmons would be quiet and withdrawn on the court. Keep that prima donna crap outa P-Town.
Toss a pick or two in to make it happen. Im starting to warm up to the idea of a picknrollin Ben with shooters like Seth and Dame around. Combined with Nurks better than average PNR game, it could really open us up.
Does anyone know how accurate these bookies are with odds like this? 2 to 1 the Blazers land Ben Simmons now? A coin flip, really? GTFO!
I think they’re favoring the Blazers because they figure Dame will eventually demand to be traded, not because they think Morey will settle for CJ. Or, more correctly, they think more betters will see it that way.
I'm thrilled to have a back and forth about a potential deal. It's when people won't explain their reasoning that I get frustrated. I've disagreed with many and everyone else has explained why. Nevertheless, I got my answer and am satisfied.
It just means the payouts. It also means that Portland is currently the front runner in the eyes of bookies, or better put, they think the most people will bet based on that spread as well as what they feel comfortable offering as a payout. This means they see a lot of action at 2:1 odds AND they are worried enough about it coming true that the odds give a much lower payout compared to other places. It doesn't mean we have a 50% chance of landing him, it just means the bookies don't want to pay more than 2 to 1 odds no matter how many bets they get.
I imagine they change the odds often. They see dame like a tweet, people get excited, they shift the odds to lock in lower bets, etc.
So what your saying is now our gambling fun might also be controlled by fake news? Greeeeaaaatttt....
To me, I see no reason why Dame and Simmons couldn't switch off being the primary ball handler. I would love to see Dame playing off the ball more. It would make him harder to stop.
Yep, sounds like weird Front Office logic "will he stay in Portland (actually fair, but we got 4 years to sell him on it)", "Can he and Dame co-exist since he said he wanted to be the next Magic Johnson?" I can practically see Olshey clutching his pearl necklace while dressed in his mother's clothes while an unsuspecting Draft Bust showers downstairs.
