Marc Stein: Toronto has expressed interest in Ben Simmons

[mtcan]

G Trent Jr
G Anunoby
F Siakam
F Barnes
C Simmons

I don't think we should be penciling him in as a center until we see a willingness on Ben's part to play and guard that position. If you acquire him on the potential that he might play center and shoot the ball...you will be setting yourself up for dissapointment.

He is a very good perimeter defender I.e. guys his size and smaller. I have yet to see him banging against bigger forwards and big men.

Even when Embiid has sat...Ben was always ever a perimeter player.

This idea of Ben as a small ball 5 has to die until he himself is willing to do it...just like improving his shooting...until you see it don't assume it will happen.

[TheBoi10]

G Trent Jr
G Anunoby
F Siakam
F Barnes
C Simmons

I don't think we should be penciling him in as a center until we see a willingness on Ben's part to play and guard that position. If you acquire him on the potential that he might play center and shoot the ball...you will be setting yourself up for dissapointment.

He is a very good perimeter defender I.e. guys his size and smaller. I have yet to see him banging against bigger forwards and big men.

Even when Embiid has sat...Ben was always ever a perimeter player.

This idea of Ben as a small ball 5 has to die until he himself is willing to do it...just like improving his shooting...until you see it don't assume it will happen.

When Embiid sat, Simmons played as the small ball 5

Watch on YouTube

[MikeM]

Simmons has to play up positions, not down. He has to play PG and exploit the size advantage. But you need a stretch 5 that can also kill small guards like a prime Lopez. That way the other team's C has to actually guard the C and can't sit on Simmons.

If he plays as the 5, then the 5 just sits in the paint.

[Tofubeque]

Watch on YouTube

I know (Bill) Simmons is a blowhard but I mostly agree with the takes here. The market for Simmons might be as weak as Haliburton/Hield or D'Angelo Russell right now.

If I'm Morey and I've already held out this long, I'd just keep holding out. Into the season if necessary.

[ash_k]

Simmons has to play up positions, not down. He has to play PG and exploit the size advantage. But you need a stretch 5 that can also kill small guards like a prime Lopez. That way the other team's C has to actually guard the C and can't sit on Simmons.

If he plays as the 5, then the 5 just sits in the paint.

And why would anyone even suggest to put the BEST PERIMETER DEFENDER in the league at the 5? Why? Most of the Ben Simmons critics on this thread were so focused on his jumpshot and Free-throws against the Hawks that they didn’t even notice how unusual it was to see a player of that stature defending&containing a Trae Young. The round prior defending&containing Westbrook.
In the last 20 years, looking at stature, only maybe Prime LeBron could have done that.

[WetLikeWater]

G Trent Jr
G Anunoby
F Siakam
F Barnes
C Simmons

I don't think we should be penciling him in as a center until we see a willingness on Ben's part to play and guard that position. If you acquire him on the potential that he might play center and shoot the ball...you will be setting yourself up for dissapointment.

He is a very good perimeter defender I.e. guys his size and smaller. I have yet to see him banging against bigger forwards and big men.

Even when Embiid has sat...Ben was always ever a perimeter player.

This idea of Ben as a small ball 5 has to die until he himself is willing to do it...just like improving his shooting...until you see it don't assume it will happen.

When Embiid sat, Simmons played as the small ball 5

Watch on YouTube

man, I would love that here in Toronto!

[Time for Change]

I would reluctantly do Fred + Boucher + Future 1st for Ben

It would feel wrong but you still have to do it. Still it would suck trading a raps legend

At least trading Dbo for Kawhi felt right

I don’t think this works under the cap, at least it doesn’t work in the RealGM trade checker. Fred + Dragic works though.

[Bruin]

Getting tired of this. Hope they just trade him soon, wherever that may be

[Indeed]

I don't think we should be penciling him in as a center until we see a willingness on Ben's part to play and guard that position. If you acquire him on the potential that he might play center and shoot the ball...you will be setting yourself up for dissapointment.

He is a very good perimeter defender I.e. guys his size and smaller. I have yet to see him banging against bigger forwards and big men.

Even when Embiid has sat...Ben was always ever a perimeter player.

This idea of Ben as a small ball 5 has to die until he himself is willing to do it...just like improving his shooting...until you see it don't assume it will happen.

When Embiid sat, Simmons played as the small ball 5

Watch on YouTube

man, I would love that here in Toronto!

He didn't play small ball 5 on defense, he wasn't guarding Gobert, the clip showed Harris / Scott / Howard?

[Danny1616]

Simmons is a flawed player but he's become so underrated it's unbelievable.

[mtcan]

When Embiid sat, Simmons played as the small ball 5

Watch on YouTube

man, I would love that here in Toronto!

He didn't play small ball 5 on defense, he wasn't guarding Gobert, the clip showed Harris / Scott / Howard?

They always started Dwight Howard or Tony Bradley at center when Embiid didn't play...so if they did go small it wasn't a focus of theirs...

[Bruin]

Lol

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[mdenny]

Getting tired of this. Hope they just trade him soon, wherever that may be

Bro...with this i can't relate lol.

I will never, ever get sick of watching the sixers franchise in crisis mood. For the first time in my life i am seeking out sixers podcasts....i am watching the jump....i am ALLLLL up on all of this.

This whole thing is GREAT.

[aligator]

Enjoy the chaos in Philly.....as long as no-one expects he will land in TO. That is not happening.

[WuTang_CMB]

I'm so happy the Raps went young and are going long at every position. If we get Simmons, great, and if we dont, thats great too.

Got a high upside team to look forward too.

[ATLTimekeeper]

[code][/code]

Getting tired of this. Hope they just trade him soon, wherever that may be

Bro...with this i can't relate lol.

I will never, ever get sick of watching the sixers franchise in crisis mood. For the first time in my life i am seeking out sixers podcasts....i am watching the jump....i am ALLLLL up on all of this.

This whole thing is GREAT.

It's a real life "It's Always Sunny..." all the time.

[TheBoi10]

man, I would love that here in Toronto!

He didn't play small ball 5 on defense, he wasn't guarding Gobert, the clip showed Harris / Scott / Howard?

They always started Dwight Howard or Tony Bradley at center when Embiid didn't play...so if they did go small it wasn't a focus of theirs...

Nope they started Curry, Green, Harris, Scott and Simmons

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202102150UTA.html

[planetmars]

6ers lost that game though, so the experiment failed.

[sidsid]

if a team trades for ben now and he still doesn't shoot, how far does his value drop then? you are only moving anything of note if you think he can get over his mental hurdle of shooting. if he can't? that's a huge deal.

I don't think anyone trading for Simmons will be expecting him to shoot. He is what he is at this point. You're trading for the current Simmons. If he shows any improvement, great, but you can't count on it.

If teams thought he'd eventually become a shooter, the offers would be a lot stronger.

I don't think teams are trading for him to stay the same. The packages offered are based on his current value but everyone would be expecting some offensive improvement.

The focus on shooting is wrong to me here. As shooting is not the reason Ben is passing up dunks and shying away from the ball and contact, rendering him unplayable in 4th quarters: it's FT shooting.

And every team trading for him knows he is shooting with his wrong hand, and if he can change that (which he is refusing) it might tick his numbers up into the 70s and maybe solve his mental hurdle on offense.

That doesn't make him top 5, but he becomes a very valuable all-star at that point that can play the whole game even without shooting. That's what a team would be banking on.

[T-d0t]

Lol

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Wow that's outta pocket