Would you trade John Wall & 3 - 4 1st rounders for Ben Simmons?

He's very good, as long as you consider very good to be MAYBE third best player on a championship team.

He's a reclamation project because with his current salary and skill level, he will never be a championship piece. Either he improves (drastically) or his salary is about half of what it is today.

Shedding a massive contract from your roster is by definition relevant, whether you acquire picks or not.

 

Morey is literally going to get pennies on the dollar now.

LMAO!

 

Wall isn’t 25yo with a clean injury record. Nor is Westbrook.

I feel like there is still untapped potential in Simmons. I’ve never even been real high on Simmons. I’m really advocating more for philosophy. But Simmons has actual accomplishments, unlike unnamed pick #1-5 (which there is no guarantee we will get anyway).

 

I like him as a 3rd or 4th best player on a team where very little would be needed from him offensively.

I think a

KPJ
Green
Simmons
Wood
Sengun

Starting lineup could be amazing in a few years.

 

Actually if you have a bottom 3 record you are 100% guaranteed to have a top 5 pick….

 

I don’t believe this team would be bottom three if everyone stays healthy.

 

The philosophical difference is this.

1. Camp No-No believes it's never a good thing to take on a maxed guy who is not really a max guy. They'd rather gamble on an unknown (high pick) which could be great or could be worthless.

2. Camp Maybe-Yes believes that a bird in hand is better than three birds in the tree. Simmons is not a crappy players. He is flawed but he is still very good. Plus Wall is the real maxed guy who is not really a maxed guy.

The assumption is that Simmons is "what you get is what you see" kind of thing. Don't even think about his "potential" to get better. He won't. (a) He has not improved for four years. (b) He has not said one thing that remotely suggests he will work on trying to prove everybody wrong.

 

I’ll accept what he is with the expectation that he gets better. Nobody seems to think the Sixers hold any accountability for lack of improvement.

 

My main motivation in wanting to tank is the asset. Maybe you take the high lotto pick or maybe it asset that lands us something better than Simmons.

 

It’s not just about getting someone better than Simmons. Bradley Beal may actually become available. But he’s older and only signed for two years. The appeal of Simmons is that he’s very good, has room for growth, and can grow with the team for 4 years. A better player may become available, but not a better situation.

 

What makes you think that a player who has been identical every season (and by some metrics gets worse every season) has room to grow? Depending on the metric you look at he either stagnanted or got worse every season

 

Having someone like Ja Morant become available 16 months down the line and maybe have Houston and the youth on a preferred destination list is preferable to me. I like Simmons ok and I completely understand the argument the pro Simmons camp makes. I just want the 1 more year of losing while we play our young pups.

 

The only way Simmons can work is if he plays center and power forward interchangeable with Christian Wood.

 

Ja Morant? Lol, c’mon man

 

I agree with both points, but never say never.

Giannis improved dramatically by his 6th season in NBA.

So did Christian Wood.

Porter needed a change of scenery to go from afterthought end of rotation player to a starter.

Change is not a guarantee but I would never say a player, especially one still 25, cannot improve.

 

Ben, please come back. We need you! We can’t do it without you! …

….

We need to get your trade value back up again so we can trade you later for better return! Stop being a Dick!!

 

I think that it’s possible the team bears some responsibility there. If someone his age has regressed. as you say he has, then that can be put squarely on coaching/usage.

 

Except that Giannis had led his team to multiple playoffs while Wood hasn’t….

They are two separate times players, it would be foolish to think they are the same.

 

Again, this is a "maybe" that's 16 months away. It's the same as hoping for a top five pick that ultimately turns into pick #9, that turns into Jonny Flynn.

I realize that I'm not going to change may minds, I just hope that I am illustrating the way some of us are looking at this opportunity.

It seems that people are blaming Simmons for the Sixers' mistakes. Did he deserve a max contract? Maybe not. But they valued his abilities enough to give him one rather than losing him. The problem now is that they have created a sour relationship. The contract they gave him makes him hard to move to most teams... or certainly to teams that can give them a return that benefits them right now while they are trying to win a championship. The great thing about the Rockets is that they can take on that contract without it affecting any of their future signings. They can ride that contract out and then decide if they want to trade it as an expiring, let him walk, or re-sign him. It still fits exactly within their rebuilding plan.