Poll: Simmons/Thybulle/? vs Oladipo, pick swaps and four 1sts

[emunney]

Cleveland did alright here to get Allen for our '22 pick.

Cavs also got Taurean Prince along with Allen for our 1st round pick, Prince could replace Osman as their starting SF.

Prince isn't even a rotation player in this league. He looks the part but he is a train wreck on D and doesn't give you much on O either.

And he is getting 29m this year and next.

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Just in case somebody reads this as Prince getting 29m/ year: he's getting 25m total.

[chonestown]

Oladipo isn't better than Simmons. Come on.

Having said that, I'd probably take the Nets package. Those later picks could be huge

Durant looks great at the moment, but he's on the wrong side of 30 and coming off a catastrophic injury.

Kyrie is well-acquainted with the IR list.

Harden could drop 40 until he's 40 or fall prey to ye Olde Country Buffet.

Betting on this becoming a KG-Pierce situation is a reasonable hedge.

Simmons seems destined to be the deluxe version of Derrick McKey, Kirilenko, etc. You want him on your team, but you don't want to build around him.

[tydett]

Gimme LeVert, Allen, Prince and 3 picks over either Oladipo and 4 or Simmons/pick

[Mtsportsfan]

I voted Philly , atleast for the first couple of years the draft picks from the nets are going to be in the high twenty's , kind of a crap shoot there. Not a big fan of Simmons but it would have been interesting to see him in the lead type roll.

[WeekapaugGroove]

The Nets are like some sales departments I've worked with.

Harden is the classic party all the time, won't do the little **** like log into the CRM, will skip company wide meetings he doesn't feel are important. But blows his quota away every quarter so you don't care and you've given up on trying to manage years ago.

Durant is the high achiever who's mostly good to deal with but has thin skin and needs lots of constant praise.

Kyrie is the guy who lands huge deals so you keep him around but some quarters he doesn't sell ****. He questions everything, thinks he's mentoring the junior guys but they roll their eyes about him behind his back. Tons of personal drama that spills into work. You've had meetings about firing him but then he lands a big deal so you keep him around.

Jordan is the old sales guy who doesn't quite hit his numbers anymore but everyone likes him so you keep him around.

Dinwiddie is the dude who won't stop talking about crypto.
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[MikeIsGood]

I don't think Simmons is anything to build around, but I do think he could be a ++ complimentary piece. I don't think Oladipo being "healthy again" is or ever will be a thing, so I think it comes down to how you feel about the Nets. Will Houston get good picks out of it or not?

I think I'd take the picks, because I feel like the Nets are going to blow up in plenty of time for them to become terrible and Houston to get a high pick or two. But it's not an easy choice IMO. I think ultimately they took the picks because they want to save money and Simmons doesn't exactly fit into that. No reason to spent $30-40M a year on a guy when you have a treadmill team at best.

[paulpressey25]

The Nets are like some sales departments I've worked with.

Harden is the classic party all the time, won't do the little **** like log into the CRM, will skip company wide meetings he doesn't feel are important. But blows his quota away every quarter so you don't care and you've given up on trying to manage years ago.

Durant is the high achiever who's mostly good to deal with but has thin skin and needs lots of constant praise.

Kyrie is the guy who lands huge deals so you keep him around but some quarters he doesn't sell ****. He questions everything, thinks he's mentoring the junior guys but they roll their eyes about him behind his back. Tons of personal drama that spills into work. You've had meetings about firing him but then he lands a big deal so you keep him around.

Jordan is the old sales guy who doesn't quite hit his numbers anymore but everyone likes him so you keep him around.

Dinwiddie is the dude who won't stop talking about crypto.
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Gold Jerry. Pure gold. Spot on.

[Ron Swanson]

As usual it seems like, IMO, people overrate the low-yield expected value that is NBA draft picks. I'm not even that big of a Ben Simmons guy, but if the rumors are true that Philly offered Simmons, plus Thybulle, plus at least one 1st round pick, then that offer is loads better than what they accepted, and Fertitta indeed was stubbornly against sending him to Morey.

You're never going to win a championship with Ben Simmons as your best player, but he's still a 24-year old All-Defensive Team guy locked up on a 5-year extension. Even if you don't view him as a long term investment, he's more valuable as a trade asset to turn around and flip immediately then any collection of draft picks with as-of-yet completely undetermined value.

[Bucksfan28]

In the right situation I view Simmons as Giannis lite. But still a really really good player you could build a team around. I'd have loved for the trade to go down to see how Simmons as the alpha would work. But in a vacuum I think Houston did really well.

I'm with ya. Houston would've been a bad spot for that experiment though.

[raferfenix]

Harden got rewarded for bad behavior during a deadly pandemic that successfully tanked his trade value to get him to his most desired destination.

It’s a loss for the league that this happened. Though I don’t know if Adam Silver much less the big market fluffers see it that way.

I also believe the report that Doc Rivers was wary about Harden. And I suspect Morey had misgivings after dealing with so much drama over the years too.

Ben Simmons could potentially be traded as part of a package for the next superstar who comes available as well. That one most likely won’t be as talented but also probably won’t have such serious issues with general decency — not to mention a $100 million 2 year extension as he enters his mid-30’s on the horizon.

[BucksFanSD]

It is possible the Rockets wanted Simmons included just to make up for the lost leverage given the situation, which yielded more draft compensation from Brooklyn.

[Siefer]

The secondary teams won this deal, imo. The Pacers probably made a lateral move on the court, but got younger, and a better salary situation. The Cavs got Allen for very cheap, and he's still only 22.

Brooklyn definitely has a high ceiling, but the implosion potential is terrifying. Houston was backed into trading a superstar which always sucks, but they took the $0.70 instead of the $0.80 deal. I would have taken the Simmons package, I think, and gone all in on the baby Giannis build-around. Simmons is a big with good playmaking and a good handle, not a PG.

[Dick Tate]

If I were Houston, no way would I want a long term $30M+ salary slot going to a guard/wing who doesn't fit the offensive philosophy of the team. Much better to take the picks from a team that could blow apart well inside 3 years and a big expiring salary and see what can be added in the summer that better fits the team going forward.

[ReasonablySober]

If I were Houston, no way would I want a long term $30M+ salary slot going to a guard/wing who doesn't fit the offensive philosophy of the team. Much better to take the picks from a team that could blow apart well inside 3 years and a big expiring salary and see what can be added in the summer that better fits the team going forward.

With Harden gone, what even is the offensive philosophy of the team anymore?

[emunney]

If I were Houston, no way would I want a long term $30M+ salary slot going to a guard/wing who doesn't fit the offensive philosophy of the team. Much better to take the picks from a team that could blow apart well inside 3 years and a big expiring salary and see what can be added in the summer that better fits the team going forward.

With Harden gone, what even is the offensive philosophy of the team anymore?

Wall/Wood pick and rolls.

[paulpressey25]

Went back and forth on this. Voted now for Simmons.

Think it plausible that over the next 5-7 years Simmons is a more impactful player than Harden (due to the age difference).

And of the assets available in these trades, Simmons is/was the best one. That said, I can see Fertitta not trading with Morey. Can also see Fertitta wanting to bottom out for lotto picks.

[tedbrogen]

If I were Houston, no way would I want a long term $30M+ salary slot going to a guard/wing who doesn't fit the offensive philosophy of the team. Much better to take the picks from a team that could blow apart well inside 3 years and a big expiring salary and see what can be added in the summer that better fits the team going forward.

With Harden gone, what even is the offensive philosophy of the team anymore?

Wood chucking up shots to fill his empty stats quota while they finish near the bottom of the west?

[AussieBuck]

Would usually take the Simmons kinda side here but I'm fairly certain the Nets thing is going to blow up badly and some of those picks could be very valuable whenever the last remaining star bails on them to take one last supermax deal at the Knicks.

[tedbrogen]

Went back and forth on this. Voted now for Simmons.

Think it plausible that over the next 5-7 years Simmons is a more impactful player than Harden (due to the age difference).

And of the assets available in these trades, Simmons is/was the best one. That said, I can see Fertitta not trading with Morey. Can also see Fertitta wanting to bottom out for lotto picks.

Rockets just wanted to shed salary while looking like they got a player in return. When your owner is losing all his money because restraints are going under, you convince yourself to take the deal for the draft picks but it was really to shed the salary.

[Ron Swanson]

You could still easily bottom out for lottery picks after taking that Philly package though. You're not gonna plop Ben Simmons onto that roster and magically turn into a playoff team. You let Wall and Wood put up their empty stats and sell them off after you're done swapping picks with OKC. Probably just gonna have to eat Gordon's contract, but there's really no point in having cap room anyways now that you're not a contender.