winforlose wrote:shangrila wrote:winforlose wrote:
Dude costs max money, cannot jump shoot from mid range or 3, cannot get 10 boards per game, and is averaging less than 15 points. He isn’t even close to KAT’s level much less the whole team. He had a more talented roster and couldn’t make it work there. Our entire offense is geared for distance shooting, a fact made obvious by the trading away of almost everyone who couldn’t distance shoot. Simmons is not worth multiple draft picks and multiple rotation players.
But humoring you for a minute, let’s assume we make a deal and send away multiple bench guys plus Beasley. Please explain how the collapse of the second unit is fixed by saving perhaps 10-15 points on defense. (Best case scenario?)
Couldn’t make it work? What, did I miss their play in game?
Oh, right, they were the 1 seed. Total failures.
Yeah Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid and the rest of the 76ers roster had nothing to do with it. It was all Simmons and the 58 games he played.
Look, I am not saying he is a bad player or that he did not contribute to his team. I am saying he is a bad fit and overpaid by about 20 million dollars given his severe limitations. Best case scenario he is a taller JO with a better handle. Worst case, he is a taller JO who gets in the way.
Overpaid by 20 million dollars
He makes 33 this season. You're telling me a guy who basically averages 16-8-8 and is one of the premier defenders in the league is worth 13 million dollars?
We all know Ben Simmons has warts, and we all know what they are. Is he overpaid? I think so, by around 5-6 million perhaps. the last year of his contract is a doozy but by then he's expiring. Regardless he's still elite in a number of different areas and has consistently been part of successful teams at Philly despite many moving parts, basically him and Embiid (who misses about 25% of every season) are the only constants that team has had over the entire period. To basically write off Ben's contributions to those teams the way some people do is crazy to me.
In terms of my personal comfort in having his contract in this team, I think people are viewing it simply in isolation without taking into account the current state of our franchise and what possible changes can be made to increase the competitiveness of this team. Let's say for the sake of this argument that Ben Simmons is a bad contract and paying him somewhere between 33 and 40 million a year for the next 4 years is too much for what he brings. What alternative way are we going to be able to spend that money and make the Minnesota Timberwolves a more legitimate threat in the West in that period of time?
We're not going to bring in anyone on the FA market on that kind of contract. Partially because we're capped and partially because if we somehow got under the cap, no elite player that's available as a FA is signing a max in Minnesota, it's not happening. Is there another max player out there with 4 years of team control we could sign? Not at the moment, and it's highly unlikely we'd have the capital to bring one in if we were met with a serious bidding war in the next few years for a player of the level of say Lillard or Beal.
The alternative option to that I guess is that you add middling, value contracts for lesser assets and look to add other players via the draft. Well, if we're going to improve our record at all in the short term(which we really need to quickly otherwise we're approaching blow-up territory) then we're going to be picking outside the lottery, and in that case it's an absolute crap shoot. We're not going to find a McDaniels every year.
I get the hesitancy over Simmons but I feel like spending 33 million on him improves us more than spending 33 million on 2 rotation guys or the glut of rotation guys we've got on the team at the moment. Now, I don't want to overpay for him via trade either; Beasley, One of Prince/Beverley, 2 firsts is basically the maximum I'm willing to offer. Perhaps the 2 firsts and Beasley go to a third team to return an asset that the 6ers really want. I could be talked into McDaniels but that should come at the cost of substantial protection on one of the picks IMO
A team which contains a core rotation of: DLo, Simmons, KAT, Edwards, McDaniels, Reid, Prince/Beverley is a very competitive team and one that's capable of making the playoffs and at least winning a series IMO. At that point, perhaps you become a viable prospect to vets on the FA market who are happy to take a minimum to join a team in contention.
