Trade Ben Simmons poll

I think that was the bullshit being floated. If we trade for Simmons it needs to be CJ going out. If we send a bunch of good two way players then we still won't be a great defense even with the addition of Simmons.

If the rumor is true that Morey would take CJ, 3 firsts and 3 swaps for Simmons, Olshey should just negotiate that down to CJ 2 picks and 2 swaps and get the fucking thing done.

 

but why would Philly want Norm and not CJ?

 

Not unless those picks are lotto protected.

 

Yeah, the 2026 pick would need to have some protections on it but I wouldn't even try to negotiate any protections for 2024. We would have Dame, Simmons and Norm guaranteed to be under contract.

 

This. He would eliminate the duplication and help out in Portland's weakest areas. Size....defense...additional decision maker...sure he isn't Steph Curry with his outside shot or even close to it.

...but if he was, he wouldn't be available, even for Dame.

 

Prior to training camp I liked the idea of CJ for Simmons. I'd have included picks.

But every day that's has passed makes me less enthusiastic about acquiring Ben.

Not to mention Simmons bizarre behavior the last few weeks. Even months ago I had concerns about a player with such major shooting red flags. Now to also have major concerns if he even wants to play basketball?

Think I'm over the Simmons for CJ trade ideas.

I want to see a few months of CJ on a Billups coached team.

And if we were to trade CJ, I'd target a more complete two way player.

So fuck you Morey, go enjoy floating untrue rumors of Dame and settling for D'Angelo Russell in a trade.

 

I'd still do it. The athleticism, defensive abilities, passing and ability to finish at the hoop make Simmons an all star with superstar potential. CJ just doesn't have that potential. I'm not saying all is lost if we don't make the deal, I would just still do it. I'm also not surprised by CJ's performance in the first two games, he's legit but he legitimately is redundant with Dame.

 

History of my thinking (in a nutshell)

1. Trade Stotts-led CJ for a non-Offensive but defensively great and passing great big. Yes!
2. Add in a bunch of picks/swaps? Getting hesitant.
3. Reports of concerns about Ben’s mental will-to-win emerge. More hesitation.
4. Not in a mental state where I can play Ben vs looking better than I expected CJ. Not interested. Or, we get a bunch of picks from them to sweeten the deal.

 

yeah I remember how down I used to be for the trade. I said it was the most obvious swap ever. I’d maybe still do it, but only a one for one, which probably isn’t realistic anyway. I mainly just wanna see this team play for a couple months. Not sure what the needs even are, all that stuff is based off a different team/system right now.

 

Changing my vote in the poll again. I went from CJ straight up to CJ + Roco and now back to CJ straight up.

Before the season I would've thrown in Ant and (if I really had to) Nas to get the deal done. That's off the table.

I think Morey's big problem is viewing players as commodities who are worth only what they are in the moment. It's not just the trade value of Ben Simmons, but the value of other guys fluctuate too.

At one point he probably could have got CJ, Roco, Nas and Ant. And maybe even a first rounder. That ship has sailed. I think he could still get CJ, but there's no guarantee that deal is on the table forever. If CJ continues to play like he has, we'll get better offers (assuming we want to trade him still, which I think we will but Olshey may not).

Meanwhile, I caught the end of the last Sixers game and they were running plays for Seth Curry to create his own shot. Yuck. They desperately need a guy who can create for himself, and they could just bolt on CJ right now if they want it.

 

You're really losing your mind to think a trade of CJ, 2 swaps and 2 firsts right now is a good trade. I think if anything, a few who were on the trade CJ for Simmons is now starting to come to their senses LOL!It's not to late for you to come to your senses too!

 

At this point im not sure we wNt him?

defense looked stellar last night against a top five offensive team. A finals team a yeR ago.

Did moreonn screw the elephant on this one or what????

cj is ballin out!!!!

 

Yeah, after last night I can’t be the only one having second thoughts about this. I want to see if CJ can keep playing at that level. That was brilliant.

 

The thing about last night and the regular season is this. You can get away with and even thrive during the regular season with all kinds of gimmicks. Come the playoffs, you need defenders able to guard the biggest guys in the league. We still have a severe gap at Small Forward. That isn't Powell's fault, it's Olshey's.

I'd still do the CJ for Simmons trade and even include picks that are lottery protected after Dame's contract. I wouldn't do more than that, however, and I now want to keep both Little and Ant. I'm also not trying to trade Covington at this point so it's CJ and picks/swaps at this point for my ceiling. The days of CJ Nas and multiple picks are gone.

Of course, if you could pull off the fabled Powell and Roco for Simmons trade, I'd consider that as well if CJ can keep up this defense. We still will need the size and athleticism in the playoffs that Simmons can bring, but every day CJ's value seems to go up and Simmons seems to go down and it's looking more and more like it could even happen that a straight swap occurs with filler meaning end of the bench guys for any salary matching. Morey is fucktarded.

 

So what, Give it one more season? We’ve seen this kind of start so many times already.

 

If we get consistent play from Ant, plus we have Norm we could do a CJ for Ben straight across and I think its a fair deal. Salary match and they both have strengths where the other has weakness's. CJ will be an extremely popular player besides what his talent would bring to team, he's very marketable. If Dame signs off and Chauncey & Neil are convinced he would want to be here long term it would probably make since as Ben would would give us that 6'10" forward that can score down low we need.

 

I had arguments with people last season when I said CJ's hot start was simply not sustainable. Adding last season to this season, CJ going bonkers while Dame defers has resulted in an 8-6 record; which is the same number of home games vs road games; which is the same number of losing teams vs winning teams

Portland was 7-5 last season when CJ AND Nurkic both went down. Dame assumed the #1 option again and the Blazers went 11-5 over the next 16 games while missing two starters

it's been OK so far because Dame has been cold from 3. But Portland is simply at it's best when Dame is dealing, not when CJ is dribbling and shooting

remember the chatter about Dame getting more off the ball action? For sure Portland is taking the ball out of his hands. But they ain't creating any offense for him. His assisted FG rate so far is 14%. Last season it was 28%. Last season, Dame averaged 82 touches a game. So far this year, he's averaging 51 touches a game.

I don't care what anybody says, Portland will not be the best team they can be by taking Dame out of the offense. It's a stupid plan, if that's what it is

 

Next games starting and likely the future linup/rotation:

Dame/Ant/Smithjr
Cj/powell/mclamore
Nas/powel/roco
Roco/nance
Nurk/zeller

Solid.

 

It feels like everyone is forgetting all the non-basketball stuff. Simmons isn’t even playing basketball because he won’t join his team, says he’s mentally unable to play, and is pouting so much he can’t manage to join a team huddle. All this several months after being afraid of dunking over a 5’11 Trae Young and being inept from the FT line. Now if all of that has been fixed and he wants to play in Oregon, not California, and he is coachable and a great teammate now, I’m all for it.

 

Having the team we do now (Powell full year hopefully) and other players that can score the ball, couple with the way Chauncey says he wants move the ball around get other involved and play Dame off the ball more, Dame will get probably 5fewer shots per game Im guessing? He will play fewer minutes too. When players (even prolific scorers as Dame) are asked to play hard D and run more it can have an impact on them offensively. I noticed Dame not bringing the ball up as much last night because we pushed it more which is Chauncey's scheme and it did work well with dame getting a few hoops off the ball.