When he is healthy and actually plays, he is a good player.... excellent defender and passer and rebounder. The problem is that he hasn't played in over a year now, doesn't have a great work ethic and the back concern is a huge red flag. At this point he has negative value unless he comes back and is healthy and plays like he did before.... only a desperate team would gamble on him at this point. Back injuries in basketball at an early age, that recur like this one has are serious - especially for a player that isn't considered tough or a hard worker...
Yup and that is after they traded the farm to try to replicate the Celtics Big 3 (Garnett/Pierce/+) and failed miserably. I guess they didn't learn haha
serious (if unimportant) question: where would be the place and/or the coach and/or teammate one could expect maximization of Simmons aka BS?
When the actual Harden trade went down I was torn on Simmons v Nets picks. I leaned towards Simmons because I thought he was a jump shot away from being the best player in the world. Even though I never had great confidence in him to develop that, it was still tantalizing. But since then the full scope of what kind of competitor Simmons is has come to the forefront, combined with recurring back injuries. We dodged a major f**king bullet.
I would think Tom Tibs in NY might be the best situation for Simmons. Defensive minded, need a pg, and have some flexibility with draft picks. Don’t know about matching salaries though. This works although I in no way want to see it happen. Kemba, Reddish, Rose 2022 Knicks frp, 2023 Knicks via Dallas frp for Simmons
To be fair, more than half the board didn’t want Simmons, and potentially we may have moved him to a 3rd team who really wanted him; there were plenty. But yes indeed, it’s great that Simmons isn’t a rocket. It will be interesting to see what the Nets look like next year with a full offseason practicing with Simmons. They still have a great team when everyone plays. I expect them to be better next year.
I was a yes on getting back Simmons if Morey included Maxey and confused why he wouldn't throw in Maxey for Harden or the heat throw in Herro.
Golden State, Milwaukee, PHX…a place with a strong team, strong culture, and strong leadership Phoenix and Milwaukee might not be the type of city that appeals to the young socialite, but they have everything else
Like @Reeko said GS would be the perfect/best landing spot for him. You got more than enough offensive firepower between Curry, Klay, Poole, etc that whatever Simmons can chip in is just icing on the cake. On offense you're maximizing his strengths as a passer with those guys getting open for 3s. On defense he would allow Curry to switch to the other team's worst offensive player, allowing GS to form a massive backcourt defense of Klay and Simmons. Essentially he would be interning for Draymond Green's role. I don't think he has the mental make up and competitive fire to be the next Draymond but GS would be the place that can use Simmons' strengths while also masking his weaknesses.
It's never Kyrie's fault though; he's a champion and knows what it takes to win it all...provided he has a Top 2 GOAT player with him.
I think Simmons is fine, I think his back issues are made up to allow him to recoup the fines from Philly. DD
That is a really hard question for me to answer without knowing Simmons. Pure speculation on my part would be a coach like Nick Nurse would be a good fit because he would maximize what Simmons does well and not harp on what he struggles at. If Simmons was just entering the league Spolstra would have been a good fit because Simmons would not be required to expand offensively.
