now....granted that I didnt see a ton of games with Simmons....but the few I did I didnt see him get outclassed on defense...I think he could handle *most* of the SGs...excpet for the few really quick ones...and on those the team defense could help makeup for that... As much as I think Simmons would be nice to have...when it comes down to it...Mobes would be my fanboi choice because I love his heart and love for the game...and I know for a fact that he is fast enough to guard any SG in the league. So...for me at least...I would gladly take either one...
The reason I am in favor of Simmons over Mobley are these points • I like Simmons 6'6" size over Mobley's 6'4" size • I like the fact Simmons is only 25 whereas Mobley is older...29? • I like the fact that Simmons will defer to the star players as evidenced by what he did in LA with Maggettee and Brand. I think Simmons is the type of player that wont take shots away from Yao and Tmac but when is asked, will pick up the scoring slack. I know Mobley will defer at times, but I am not convinced over the long haul he sees himself as a "3rd option".
size....true...all other things being equal, you would want to take the taller player..but the speed question tips it slightly to Cat age...again...all things being equal, younger is normally more desirable..edge Simmons 3rd option....this is the point that brings out varied opinions...I see the change that Cat made in his last year, and to me it shows that he isnt afraid of change for the betterment of the team...I think at this point he will do what is best for the team in most instances...if he were to be offered the opportunity to come back and he agreed to, it would be knowing that he isnt the first or second option like he was the first time around... Yao has developed to the point that he deserves the 1b or 2 option..Tmac is of course 1a...Mobley has to know this... but in the end...none of us knows just how it would turn out..I could be right or I could be wrong...Im just saying I wouldnt mind giving him the chance if the opportunity came up.
With Ray Allen staying in Seattle, Redd staying in Milwalkee or going to Cleveland, it is very unlikely the Clips would not offer an above the MLE level contract for Simmons. Unless the Clips target Joe Johnson and get him (very doubtfull), I don't see Simmons--probably the 4th in line SF/SG, going to a team for only an MLE. And if Redd stays in Milwalkee, Cleveland and their ton of cap room will get in the way. Sorry, I see Simmons as the biggest longshot of those we have seriously considered for joining the Rockets for an MLE with how FA in unfolding. Might have been different if Allen went to the Clips (plus Redd to the Cavs)--but didn't shake down like that.
If this is between Mobley and Simmons it really is a non decision. Simmons is younger, bigger, and shoots just as well. Mobley gives great effort on D, but he doesn't do well against bigger players. Michael Finley routinely lit him up. Ray Allen averaged 32 against Sacramento in this year's playoffs. He had his way with Mobley.
I don't think it's fair to judge Mobley's defense by last years playoffs. Sacramento's defense was a disaster. Rather, I think one should look back at what he did for us in his only year under JVG. IIRC, Kobe had some horrendous shooting percentages in our first round series against the Lakers. And Cat really gave Iverson fits the last two years he was here. T-Mac, the tallest SG in the league with Orlando, didn't do particularely well against him either. Cat has shown an ability to guard big and small players equally well. Now in all honesty, I think Simmons could possibly do the same thing under JVG (though despite being younger, he really can't match Cat on quickness), but I also think we have a much better shot at bringing back Mobley than we do signing Simmons for the MLE.
Yeah, the Clippers not getting Allen was a blow. But the Clippers still might pursue Hughes, Mobley, Johnson. Who can say? But in general, I agree that getting Simmons will be very tough. He would REALLY want to come to Houston for us to get him. I think if the Clippers offer him something around 6M starting he will stay in Clipperdom. I am still holding out hope though. Still would love to see Simmons in Houston.
Bobby simmons playing on the rockets? I would take that in a heart beat! He has shown the work ethic required and if he doesn't will get the boot from JVG like Mo TAY. JVG has no fear of booting any players that do not listen. I saw him play a few times and I must say the man is not slow and would do great as our starting 3/2 which are about the same position. I will take him over Mobes any day. Especially at 6'6. He isn't as slow as some are making him out to be.
Didn't know where to stick this. Denver looking to S&T Mobley. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_3906499,00.html
And from that article it looks like the Kings want Nene for Mobley. I kinda doubt the Nuggets would give up Nene for Mobley but you never know.
More on Bobby Simmons. Looks like even though the Clippers lost out on Ray Allen they STILL are looking for shooters for their team, Mobley even being one target. And considering the Clippers have money available above MLE level I would think that Mobley would be interested. It is interesting that even though Simmons is the Clippers starting SG they STILL are looking outside the organization for another shooter. Where does that leave Simmons? The Rockets need to take advantage and do whatever they can to get Simmons with the MLE! http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...ul06,1,2549430.story?coll=la-headlines-sports Focus Returns to Simmons and Jaric By Jerry Crowe Times Staff Writer July 6, 2005 It's on to Plan B. With Ray Allen having reached an agreement Tuesday to remain with the Seattle SuperSonics and Michael Redd seemingly wavering between staying with the Milwaukee Bucks or bolting to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Clippers apparently have again struck out in their bid to add a marquee shooting guard. Last week, the Boston Herald reported that the Clippers had offered a package including Corey Maggette to the Boston Celtics for All-Star guard Paul Pierce, who played at Inglewood High, but that the Celtics expressed no interest. A year ago, the Clippers lost out in a bid to land Kobe Bryant. They are now expected to renew efforts to re-sign their free agents, among them Bobby Simmons and Marko Jaric, while also pursuing a less expensive shooting guard among a group including Cuttino Mobley and Larry Hughes. No deals can be signed before a moratorium ends July 22. On Tuesday, however, Allen's agent said that the All-Star guard had agreed to terms of a five-year, $85-million contract to stay with the SuperSonics. The deal includes $80 million in salary and $5 million in bonuses. "When Ray became a free agent and had a chance to explore opportunities, we were able to report back to the Sonics on what the market was dictating and they essentially responded accordingly," agent Lon Babby said during a conference call with reporters, according to Associated Press. "We tried to get it done over these many months, but both sides needed verification from the marketplace." Mobley's agent, meanwhile, called the Clippers "one of the few teams" his client was considering, adding that the two sides continue to talk. "We have a high-level interest," Andy Miller said on behalf of Mobley, an unrestricted free agent after finishing last season with the Sacramento Kings and then opting out of a contract that would have paid him $6.4 million next season. "They seem to as well, and we're having ongoing conversations." The Clippers also continue to closely monitor Simmons. "They're trying to do everything they can to improve their team, so I think they're looking at a lot of different things," Simmons' agent, Mark Bartelstein, said of the Clippers. "But they've certainly made it clear that they want Bobby back." He and the Clippers, Bartelstein said, "talked all weekend and will keep talking." The Houston Rockets are among the teams said to be interested in Simmons, an unrestricted free agent who received the NBA's award for most improved player last season. The Denver Nuggets reportedly are among the teams wooing Jaric. Jaric is a restricted free agent, meaning the Clippers could match any offer from another team.
From today's Denver Post. It sounds like Simmons is expecting a lot more than the MLE. A sign and trade is probably the Rockets' (or Nuggets') only hope. Las Vegas - Plenty of swingmen could fit the Nuggets' needs for a 3-point shooter this summer. But based on the talk of his agent, it doesn't look like Bobby Simmons has a good chance of being the one. Mark Bartelstein made it sound as though his client, a free-agent small forward named the NBA's most improved player this spring with the Los Angeles Clippers, may be asking for more than Denver can give. "He's going to get offered a lot more than the midlevel," Bartelstein said Wednesday, referring to the midlevel exception of about $5 million. "The Nuggets are a great situation. I just don't know with their salary cap limitations if it's a likely situation." Bartelstein added that while a sign-and-trade deal could land Simmons in Denver, nothing is brewing on that front. Another possible candidate whose odds of landing in Denver seem small at the moment is Charlotte's Kareem Rush. His agent, Calvin Andrews, said Wednesday of the Nuggets: "They haven't reached out to me. I haven't reached out to them. ... He's probably way down on their list or not on their list."
Show Simmons the Money By Bill Simmons Page 2 Editor's note: This article appears in the July 18 issue of ESPN The Magazine. You've heard of the Players Club, Club Med, the Mile-High Club. I just became a charter member of the Cut-the-Check Club: dine with a soon-to-be-rich NBA star hours before free agency begins, and you're in. Extra points if he's about to 15-tuple his salary. If he deserves every cent that's coming, even better. Why Cut-the-Check? Because that's what Bobby Simmons jokingly kept saying to me. Simmons is the likable Clipper who spent four seasons waiting for a door to open, then stormed through like a SWAT leader when it finally did. One Most Improved Player award later, we were sitting at the Cheesecake Factory in West Hollywood. In a few hours, lots of NBA teams would start to court him, many of them the same ones that had shunned him three years earlier. What was the worst part of playing in the NBDL? "Everything," Simmons said. "Goin' from the NBA to there -- it was like going from a Benz to a pickup. I didn't belong there." He shook his head in disgust, but Bobby never stays unhappy for more than two seconds. "You know who else was tearing it up?" he asked, brightening. "Mikki Moore! We were the two best guys in the league. At the time, I was like, 'Who the hell is Mikki Moore?'" Moore was a teammate of Simmons last year in Los Angeles. He was laughing again. Simmons' trademark shot is a 20-footer in front of the opposing bench, followed by his turning and smiling at the players on his way back up the court. ("Guys always yell stuff when you shoot.") I attended 30 Clippers games, and not once did I see him scream at a ref. He's the guy everyone loves to play with, the guy who doesn't care about stats, the guy who does "All the Little Things." You win with guys like this. That's why -- well, other than his fantastic last name -- he was my favorite player on the team. "I learned at a young age," Simmons says, "if somebody has something you don't have, you just have to work twice as hard to get it." After a rough childhood on the South Side of Chicago, a Jesus Shuttlesworth-like run at Simeon High and a productive career at DePaul, Simmons received the dreaded "tweener" tag before the 2001 draft: too small to play down low, too slow for small forward. "Meanwhile, I'm killing everybody in the workouts," he recalled. "I killed Shane Battier. I killed Brian Scalabrine. Didn't matter. I went 42." Landing with the Wiz, Simmons impressed Michael Jordan in MJ's supersecret Chicago summer games. But Doug Collins never gave him a consistent chance, and even kept the immortal Ratko Varda instead of Simmons before the 2002-03 season (hence, the NBDL trip). When MJ was pushed out of Washington, so was everyone associated with him, including his favorite protégé -- and Bobby was back to square one. But as he will point out, "I've seen my family struggle my entire life. It can't get worse than that." The Clips signed Simmons as a defensive stopper in 2003, and then he caught a break when they traded for Kerry Kittles and his bum knee last summer. When Kittles did his annual DL stint, Simmons had a starting job and a coach, Mike Dunleavy, who believed in him. He started making jumpers and Clips fans started bringing "WE LOVE BOBBY" signs to games. Just like that, he was worth $45-50 million. Now he might be leaving Cali. He loved the guys on last year's team, thinks they're headed somewhere, thinks Shaun Livingston can be special. And he loves the fans. He absolutely doesn't want to move on. But he's not taking a discount to stay, either. Not after making $2.1 million total over the past four years. If the notoriously cheap Clippers lowball him -- which seems inevitable -- he'll look for a winner with deep pockets. "Cut the check!" he giggled again. I paid ours and we walked outside. The sun was shining -- another beautiful day in California. Bobby was heading home to wait by the phone. His whole life was about to change. Every drop of sweat was about to pay off. "You sure you want to leave this?" I asked, waving a hand at the blue sky and the gorgeous women. "You could be freezing your butt off in Cleveland or Milwaukee next year." "That's fine," he replied. "As long as somebody wants me, I don't really care where I go." We shook hands. I thought about wishing him luck, but Bobby didn't need any more luck. He was cashing in. So instead, I said, "Congratulations." "Thank you," Simmons said. "I appreciate it." And with that, the Cut-the-Check Club adjourned for the summer. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/050707
I think he is worth every penny. The guy needed the chance to show what he could do and when he received it stepped up. I think he is exactly the type of small forward the rockets need.
Bill Simmons on Bobby Simmons http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/050707 You've heard of the Players Club, Club Med, the Mile-High Club. I just became a charter member of the Cut-the-Check Club: dine with a soon-to-be-rich NBA star hours before free agency begins, and you're in. Extra points if he's about to 15-tuple his salary. If he deserves every cent that's coming, even better. Why Cut-the-Check? Because that's what Bobby Simmons jokingly kept saying to me. Simmons is the likable Clipper who spent four seasons waiting for a door to open, then stormed through like a SWAT leader when it finally did. One Most Improved Player award later, we were sitting at the Cheesecake Factory in West Hollywood. In a few hours, lots of NBA teams would start to court him, many of them the same ones that had shunned him three years earlier. Bobby Simmons is all smiles, now that he's about to get paid. What was the worst part of playing in the NBDL? "Everything," Simmons said. "Goin' from the NBA to there -- it was like going from a Benz to a pickup. I didn't belong there." He shook his head in disgust, but Bobby never stays unhappy for more than two seconds. "You know who else was tearing it up?" he asked, brightening. "Mikki Moore! We were the two best guys in the league. At the time, I was like, 'Who the hell is Mikki Moore?'" Moore was a teammate of Simmons last year in Los Angeles. He was laughing again. Simmons' trademark shot is a 20-footer in front of the opposing bench, followed by his turning and smiling at the players on his way back up the court. ("Guys always yell stuff when you shoot.") I attended 30 Clippers games, and not once did I see him scream at a ref. He's the guy everyone loves to play with, the guy who doesn't care about stats, the guy who does "All the Little Things." You win with guys like this. That's why -- well, other than his fantastic last name -- he was my favorite player on the team. "I learned at a young age," Simmons says, "if somebody has something you don't have, you just have to work twice as hard to get it." After a rough childhood on the South Side of Chicago, a Jesus Shuttlesworth-like run at Simeon High and a productive career at DePaul, Simmons received the dreaded "tweener" tag before the 2001 draft: too small to play down low, too slow for small forward. "Meanwhile, I'm killing everybody in the workouts," he recalled. "I killed Shane Battier. I killed Brian Scalabrine. Didn't matter. I went 42." Landing with the Wiz, Simmons impressed Michael Jordan in MJ's supersecret Chicago summer games. But Doug Collins never gave him a consistent chance, and even kept the immortal Ratko Varda instead of Simmons before the 2002-03 season (hence, the NBDL trip). When MJ was pushed out of Washington, so was everyone associated with him, including his favorite protégé -- and Bobby was back to square one. But as he will point out, "I've seen my family struggle my entire life. It can't get worse than that." The Clips signed Simmons as a defensive stopper in 2003, and then he caught a break when they traded for Kerry Kittles and his bum knee last summer. When Kittles did his annual DL stint, Simmons had a starting job and a coach, Mike Dunleavy, who believed in him. He started making jumpers and Clips fans started bringing "WE LOVE BOBBY" signs to games. Just like that, he was worth $45-50 million. Now he might be leaving Cali. He loved the guys on last year's team, thinks they're headed somewhere, thinks Shaun Livingston can be special. And he loves the fans. He absolutely doesn't want to move on. But he's not taking a discount to stay, either. Not after making $2.1 million total over the past four years. If the notoriously cheap Clippers lowball him -- which seems inevitable -- he'll look for a winner with deep pockets. "Cut the check!" he giggled again. I paid ours and we walked outside. The sun was shining -- another beautiful day in California. Bobby was heading home to wait by the phone. His whole life was about to change. Every drop of sweat was about to pay off. "You sure you want to leave this?" I asked, waving a hand at the blue sky and the gorgeous women. "You could be freezing your butt off in Cleveland or Milwaukee next year." "That's fine," he replied. "As long as somebody wants me, I don't really care where I go." We shook hands. I thought about wishing him luck, but Bobby didn't need any more luck. He was cashing in. So instead, I said, "Congratulations." "Thank you," Simmons said. "I appreciate it." And with that, the Cut-the-Check Club adjourned for the summer.
