Trade Ben Simmons poll

He has really weird intonation. "a TEE and TEE"

 

I wouldn't trade Raef LaFrentz and all these picks for Simmons.

Way to much risk the Simmons Dame pairing doesnt work and the Blazers franchise is destroyed for the next decade.

 

I should bloody hope so.

 

This is huge. First, we are mentioned in an actual rumor. Second, Morey is out of his damn mind but is simply negotiating thru the media. Third, this shows them being potentially being interested in CJ.

We need CJ to ball out and the Sixers to tank while Rich Paul adds pressure andwe should see the asking price drop dramatically.

 

Morey doing Olshey a favor. Now Olshey can claim he was willing to do a deal, but that Morey guy was just too unreasonable!

I'm half kidding - but I wouldn't put that kind of shenanigan entirely past either one of them.

 

I am not so sure having CJ "ball out" is what you want. If the trade is going to happen it needs to before the season starts, because after that if CJ is playing well Neil/Chauncey will be less inclined to move him. I guess if CJ plays really well and we are still losing then it might be an incentive, but this window is not going to be open for very long IMO.

 

I don't see this at all. The teams aren't negotiating over some small assets, but SIX unprotected potential #1 picks, far more than Houston got for Harden or the Pelicans got for Anthony Davis. Over double what Boston got from the Nets when they fleeced them for Tatum and Brown.

Is CJ a key player going to Philly? Maybe, or maybe they value him as the Pelicans valued Josh Hart and want the biggest boatload of picks ever traded to later flip for one or more additional all stars in follow up trades.

Morey is all about getting the best player in a deal and winning every trade. Is this report all just Morey trying to drum up interest from other teams?

Philly and Portland being this far apart makes me think there is no chance of a CJ for Simmons trade.

 

More from The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/2876529/202...rade-scenarios-and-insight-from-our-insiders/

Amick: But as you both know, and has been said and written about plenty of times, the Lillard-for-Simmons swap with Portland that is widely seen as Morey’s dream scenario just isn’t realistic. Not yet, anyway.

“You’re waiting on a prayer,” the source said of the Lillard scenario.

There has been chatter around the league about a Trail Blazers possibility not involving Lillard — a CJ McCollum/Robert Covington/picks kind of thing — but that obviously hasn’t come to fruition either.

 

3 firsts and 3 pick swaps is not 6 picks. Depends on when the swaps are spaced out obviously, but I see us and Philly being at most 5 picks apart. Going from 20 to 25 in a draft is not losing the pick entirely. I don't consider that too high of a cost. Hell, we could even finish higher in the standings one of those years, negating that transfer altogether.

Now the three firsts is ridiculous. But we're starting somewhere. I dunno, maybe I'm feeling optimistic this morning, but I had somewhat figured Morey would completely dismiss the notion of CJ as the centerpiece given his miserable advanced stats.

Here's the take on this from the Philly guy:

 

Does anyone know if Simmons fines reduce Philly luxury tax?

I read they are $8 million into the tax, so if thats the case him sitting out ~20 games would get them out of the luxury tax. Seems like they might prefer that, although they could never admit this publicly as it might risk giving "permission" for Ben to sit out.

 

i was curious about this. Apparently it won't affect their cap or tax situation according to Jake Fischer on one of his Halftime chats when I asked him. But he said he's not entirely certain and would check back.

 

The only way I see both CJ and RoCo involved is if we take back Green's contract. When can Green be traded? apparently not yet.

 

No it doesn’t affect cap at all

it was in the espn article

they can have 3 swaps and a first

 

Id do it for Thybulle. CJ + Roco for Simmons + Thybulle. Also puts us under the tax.

Green can't be traded until December.

 

Yes if one pick only went from 25 to 20 its not a big deal, but that is only one of many possibilities. If that is what would happen then put lottery protections on the swaps. The thing is Morey would balk at such protections, as almost all of the value of those picks or swaps are them being in the lottery and very costly for Portland.

If the Blazers really suck those could be six very high quality lottery picks, maybe many of them in the top5 of the draft, and potentially multiple #1 overall picks. It could become a vicious cycle as the team sucks then loses their assets, and then sucks even more, losing an even more valuable assets. It would be the only bright spots of a losing franchise, all gone to one other team.

That is way to much risk... what if Dame had a major injury, or Ben never improves from his last historically awful playoff series, or a number of other possibilities happen.

Now if we are getting an allstar player as the Lakers got with Davis or the Nets got with Harden or the Clippers got with Paul George maybe you have to throw a few of these picks in. I'm fine with that. But Simmons is not a clear star as those players were, he has major historical flaws we've never seen. He is not worth what those players were, and Morey is demanding even more than those stars got in a trade.

 

cj+roco will never land you simmons+thybulle

 

Can a case be made that Morey is not negotiating in good faith? Probably no legal ramifications given the 4 yrs left on Simmons' contract, but I wonder if the league steps in

 

I'd really doubt the league would want to step into the middle of this. It might be a bad idea anyway. By that I mean if the league intervened by saying Morey was in the wrong in this impasse, it could be a green light for other players to hold out and refuse to report. As has been mentioned over and over, Simmons still has a contract with Philly and they should be able to set the value of that signed deal

as for this 'latest' report, my guess is this asking price was from months ago when Morey was asking for the godfather draft pick package from everybody. I'd be inclined to think that Morey had talked to Olshey about a Simmons for Dame trade, and either Olshey flat out reused or set a ridiculous price; Olshey may have then suggested CJ and that was Morey's counter-punch. Morey vs Olshey in a negotiation for players neither wants to trade away would be a loopy battle of malformed egos

I'd like a CJ for Simmons trade completed but I have said before the Blazers have to be very cautious about giving away draft picks past the next couple of drafts. Dame is 31, not 26 like Giannis; the potential of a Dame/Simmons pairing has a high ceiling, but it also could have a real shaky floor. And while everybody seems to expect great success for Billup, that hire can still go south. Philly owning all Portland picks in the 2024-2028 range could be disaster for Portland

just had a thought: when Morey made that proposal, he might have been thinking that if Philly owned a bunch of Portland's future picks and Dame did ask out, the Blazers would first talk to Philly about getting all those picks back

 

So it IS Morey. 3 1sts and 3 swaps?! Gtfoh!!!!

 

Yup, the only time I have seen the league step in was when the Hornets were without true ownership to stop the CP3 trade. That's it.