Slim Tubby wrote:Tremendous effort, shrink...by far the best proposal I’ve seen on any board. HOU fans will cry it’s not enough but I think they are going to be very disappointed in the final return for Harden and Simmons simply will not work next to Wall.
Thanks for the kind words, Slim Tubby. I almost didn’t post it because it seems so unrealistic, but it is fun and does a few things I like.
For HOU, when I read between the lines, it seems like like they asked PHI for Simmons and picks, PHI finally relented on Simmons, but would go no farther, so HOU said, “OK, if you send Simmons to another team, maybe they can bring more value.” This deal sends Simmons to a team that would love him, and PHI is willing to give up picks to turn Harris into Russell. PHI is one of the few teams who could really use Russell - HOU with Wall wouldn’t value him. I think HOU would prefer retooling around Simmons, but if their cheap owner wants a full re-set, Anthony Edwards has value, and can be marketed to sell the Harden deal to HOU fans. We could add more value, but taking on Harris should count for a lot.
Harris goes to the team most desperate for a PF improvement (us), and he and Simmons would probably not object to coming here. This would be great for Simmons future value, with the ball in his hands, next to KAT, who is supposedly a buddy of his. However, the money is so tough. I contended last year that we wouldn’t see Russell traded for Covington, because MIN couldn’t get anywhere with three max deals locked into KAT, Wiggins, Russell. No flexibility. KAT, Simmons, Harris is more expensive, but they are a better combo with a higher ceiling. I don’t know how a new owner would look at the team, locked into millions of lux penalties for years. Still, that would be a very fun MIN team, and it could get much better.
