If CJ were to be traded, who are we most likely to get?

This is why you shouldn't listen to Bill Simmons. Bill Simmons' sole purpose in life was to write amusing draft musings once a year that you could look back on and see that they revealed he knew absolutely fuck all about predicting NBA talent. Sadly somehow he became a media mogul and we have to be bombarded by his opinions. (But at least he showed once he could be funny, whereas Steven A. Smith never even had that.)

 

Only if Simmons learns to shoot a fucking FT. He is a huge liability with that shitty FT stuff. Boggles the mind that he won't just do the work and practice. How can he be THAT bad, and he is THAT bad from the line. FTs are fundamentals.

 

OH MY GOD GIVE IT UP WITH TOWNS!!!

 

That is a lot of offense and some defense for one defensive minded, passing player who can't shoot to save his life.

 

That is such a stupid comment. Does the phrase "it's psychological" mean nothing to you? You think he actually did something to make himself worse? He literally UN-practiced?

 

he's got the yips. needs a change of scenery and a kick in the ass. every one of his coaches have enabled his lack of shooting.

 

this has nothing to do with bill simmons.

if you have been paying attention, i have been dreaming of a Dame-Ben pairing in Portland since 2017.

The fact that on a highly popular national media source, they're talking about how it might be even possible to put the two together, i'll get happy about that.

 

If the filler were Shake Milton & Paul Reed... that would be an unbelievable deal.

 

look at how much they're killing him

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2093015

i really hope morey is similarly reactionary

 

Is the resulting team really better?

Dame/Simons
Powell/Simons
Little?/DJJ?
Simmons/Collins?
Nurk/Collins?

I like Simmons a lot, but these playoffs really put into question whether he's a guy you can play in the 4th quarter of playoff games. I think as of now, the answer to that is no. He hasn't improved in 4 years, and on this team, he's definitely not playable with Nurk. Either him or Nurk has to be the roll man. So 2 of your 4 best players cannot even play together in close games. That's a recipe for disaster.

Also, that's basically CJ + 2 firsts for Simmons. I think I'd rather just try to do that instead of adding RoCo into the deal. Our team needs to actually be better after.

 

If Philly loses, trades involving Simmons will be available. I've got to believe Morey already tried to send Simmons away to acquire Harden, but those Tom Turkeys in Blown Clutch Town wanted less actual talent instead. Maybe a change of scenery would help Ben. Got to believe Dame would work with him on Free throw shooting. I do not include RoCo in any way in a deal to get him though. Time to stop the 1 step forward, 2 steps back way of doing things.

 

i think nurk is gone in a year or so, tbh.

But the potential with Ben is too tantalizing for me-- this idea of pairing him with Dame is not about what Ben is like now. I still think he can be unlocked similar to how Westbrook was by D'Antoni right before the pandemic hit.

That said, we keep on talking about offense incessantly. The main impact is what he could allow us to do defensively.

 

check this crazy response out:

 

Especially if you keep RoCo. I think Little will see a bigger role in the rotation though. But got to keep Cov.

 

perfect buy low opportunity. Just a few months ago, philly balked at trading Ben + pieces for Harden.

 

They need to be good next year. And if Nurk is gone the year after, they need to be able to replace him. Where's the money to get that guy coming from? 100 million will be tied to three players in Dame/Simmons/Powell. Salary cap will be ~110 million. Plus, each year that passes is one year older for Dame.

Also, I can't believe you can watch what's happening in the playoffs these last two years and not be concerned about offense. The teams that are struggling are the ones that can't push the right buttons on offense. No successful lineup has more than one non-shooter, and Simmons makes it that much harder to field competitive offensive lineups because having him out there means you can't play your big men who are usually non-shooters. Philly should not be down 3-2 right now to Atlanta, but they are because Simmons is a net negative on offense.

Also, call me crazy, but I don't think Dame/Powell/????/Simmons/Nurk is a top 5 defense? Better for sure, but it's not like we're going to be a defensive juggernaut.

 

If the Blazers & Sixers were to agree on a trade, the Blazers would have to already have secured Powell's services . Plus i feel Neil needs to add some quality shot makers off the bench. Seth Curry rings a bell.

 

Everyone thinks they're smarter than everyone else in this league. What if he was overrated before and this is just Simmons true value?

To be fair, I would still trade CJ + some small assets for him. The path to success here is Simmons as a small ball center. Draymond lite. Try to move Nurk after. Change the identity of your team.

 

No it's not a stupid comment at all. How do you know his problems are mental, shooting coach? I think it's stupid to assume you know what his mental state is. I said he needs to work on this FTs. Period. Whatever it takes, including practice. Look at what Lonzo ball did by chang his form.