Ok so can put him in with the T-mac type of quitting for that one series. I can't believe I'm defending Kobe, but Bryant never sat out a season, because his feelings got hurt when his coach answered a reporter question with "I don't know". There's levels to quitters, Simmons is on top.
Oh I am not comparing them. There is definitely levels of quitting. Ben Simmons is on a whole new level by himself. Dude just refusing to even play.
It's actually worse than that--he quit trying to improve as a professional basketball player. Others have quitted after working their ass off to get to a certain level; Ben is the same exact player he is now as he was when he first got drafted. Waste of talent/potential.
I always thought he was overrated even in college though. People were just enamored with his size and athleticism, but what great overall number 1 pick can't even lead his college team to the tournament. They didnt' even make the best 64 teams in the country.
I think he has/had the potential to be an all-time great. He had the physical tools to make it happen as well as the basketball IQ from a PG perspective. Unfortunately he has shown no drive/desire to be better than what he already is. If you sift through the dozens of pages before this one I mentioned how he and Giannis started out pretty much at the same point in terms of rawness and potential, with only one actually fulfilling said potential because he worked his ass off.
Daryl (and Woj and Shams) wasting everybody’s time. Ain’t no deal happening til the summer (if that).
Jesus Christ Morey give it up. He’s ridiculously overrating Simmons. Amazing talent at everything besides shooting the basketball outside of 4 feet. Amazing locker room cancer too. Are there any reports of the guy working on his shot while he's taking a break? If it were possible from a cap perspective then Haliburton for Simmons straight up is probably fair. If they have to include Barnes then yeah I could see picks thrown in.
https://theathletic.com/3090034/202...y-it-makes-sense-and-how-it-gets-complicated/ Here are a few things to consider: More than just Morey in Philly Harden’s ties to the Sixers organization go beyond Morey. Former Rockets CEO Tad Brown is now the CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), which owns the Sixers and the New Jersey Devils. (He made the move from the Rockets shortly after Morey joined the Sixers.) Additionally, Harden has a relationship with Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics who holds a 10% stake in HBSE. In Houston, Morey empowered Harden with influence few players in the NBA could reach, as the 6-foot-5 guard had say in personnel and other decisions. In Brooklyn, Nets GM Sean Marks has said he consults his stars on some of the team’s bigger decisions, but Harden shares that status with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. In Philly, Harden would arguably have more influence alongside Joel Embiid. Philly vs. Brooklyn In the year Harden has spent in Brooklyn, the Nets have written their own rendition of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Harden and Durant have battled injuries, which cost both players a shot in last season’s MVP race, and the 6-foot-10 forward’s recent MCL sprain could impact his MVP chances again. Irving didn’t play until Jan. 5 and is only eligible for road games due to his refusal to get vaccinated in accordance with a New York City mandate. And that doesn’t touch on the 28 players Brooklyn signed last season, a franchise record, due to ridiculous attrition, and the nearly 40 starting lineups it deployed as a result. “It’s been a crazy year,” Harden said Jan. 12. “A lot of craziness, a lot of ups and downs, but hopefully going into this year we can kind of create something special and do what I came here and Kevin came here and Kai came here to do, what basically Sean and Joe and Clara (Tsai) put this team together for. So we got to get Kai to be able to play home games, and once we get that, then we can really assess it and figure out what needs to be done, what needs to be changed and how great we can be.” That’s not to say Philadelphia has been devoid of drama. The Simmons’ situation rivaled Irving’s early in the season and has hung over the Sixers all year, but Philly is younger and has a longer contention window with Embiid than Brooklyn currently does. Embiid would give Harden the most dynamic big man he’s ever played with, but given the rosters in Milwaukee, Phoenix, Miami and Golden State, the Sixers would likely need another star alongside them to be contenders. Money, money, money If Harden opts into his player option for next season, he becomes eligible for a four-year, $227.2 million extension, which in total would give him a five-year, $274.7 million contract. If Harden opts out and the Nets re-sign him with his Bird Rights, the max he could make is $270 million over five years. The Sixers would prefer Harden opt out, because it doesn’t require the Nets’ participation to bring The Beard farther down Interstate 95. But given that Harden’s next contract will likely be the final big deal of his career, doing so makes no sense for him. Should Harden opt out and sign with another team in free agency, the max he could get is a four-year, $200.1 million deal. In short, unless Harden wants to leave $74 million on the table, the logical way he would change teams, if he chooses to do so, is through a sign-and-trade. The Sixers’ problem is they’re already $20 million over the salary cap for next season, just with fully-guaranteed players and filling out the roster. To add Harden’s contract, the Sixers would need to send out $61 million to $65 million in salary without taking any back. Safe to say, acquiring Harden would require significant gymnastics on Morey’s end. Offloading Tobias Harris’ contract would be a start, but few teams will wield cap space this summer, which makes finding a partner to offload money a must. Even if the Nets’ aren’t interested in Simmons, a third or fourth team could join the mix to facilitate a deal. Nets’ leverage Should Harden want to max out his earnings and go to Philly, it’s hard to see Marks only asking for Simmons, when the Nets hold the cards to make the deal happen. Brooklyn isn’t done contending, with Durant locked up for five more years, and a trade like this would give the Nets a chance to reacquire assets they lost in the first Harden trade. Marks could ask for the likes of Tyrese Maxey, Matisse Thybulle, Seth Curry or multiple first-round picks to reshape the roster. The idea that this would be purely a Simmons-for-Harden swap doesn’t make sense from a negotiation standpoint. More dominoes to fall A reminder, it’s January. A lot can change between now and the start of free agency. If Philadelphia gets a Godfather offer at the deadline and moves Simmons, this all becomes moot. If New York City changes its vaccine mandates and allows Irving to play in home games, the Nets could run away with the conference and win a championship, prompting the big three to stay together in an attempt to run it back and win more. Does Irving’s own pending free agency impact Harden’s? The NBA season is only halfway over. More factors could reveal themselves in time.
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2022/01/sixers-rumors-harden-simmons-trade-talks.html Some of Pompey’s sources believe potential trade partners are wary of engaging in serious talks with the Sixers for fear of leaks. “Whenever teams inquire, it shows up in the media at some capacity within the next 24 hours,” a source told The Inquirer. “Everyone is wanting Daryl to come to them with hard proposals. No one wants to be the one to bring something in because they are afraid as soon as they do it, they’re going to be exposed.” One source told Pompey that trade discussions with the Sixers are also challenging because Morey has a tendency to move the goal posts — you might think you’re getting close to making a deal, then Morey will come back and ask for more.
Can't believe Morey/Sixers are still jonesing for Harden. From a timeline standpoint it does make sense to have him play the Robin role to Embiid's batman given Joel is in his prime right now and who knows how long that window would last. But I don't see the need for Morey to reportedly have this bad of a case of tunnel vision. They might be division rivals but a deal with Boston headlined with Simmons and Jaylen Brown would make the most sense--at this juncture-- for both teams.
I feel like it's unlikely that Celtics want to part with Brown. They also really want a play maker, and there aren't really many in this league, that's why they tried so hard to get Lowry last season.
Ben Simmons is the only bullet left in Morey's gun. He really has no choice but to take a hard stance until the owners/Embiid raise the flag. Hopefully the combination of Morey and Stone can take advantage of SAC's situation and causes them to go all in around Fox(or Haliburton ) /Simmons/ Wood.
If he is as elite of a GM/VP as he makes him out to be, Morey should trade Embiid instead and build around Simmons
How the hell would that even work fiscally? What does Philly have that could get both Kawhi and Lebron? How can they match the salaries?
