Pickled Prunes wrote:the_process wrote:Pickled Prunes wrote:
Why would PHI want Love, Garland or the picks? Garland and the picks are a few years in the future and Love is a few years in the past. CJ makes PHI better right now. He would be an All-Star on that team.
Portland also needs to win now to keep Dame happy, I don't think they're going to take a bunch of futures.
For the Sixers, I'd rather have Garland right now than CJ. The picks are the assets needed for the next player who comes available. Love is the necessary evil to get a deal done.
CJ and 2nds is not close to an acceptable deal for Simmons even if you think his value is in the toilet (and it's not).
Well, a CJ trade is a precursor to a Dame trade, so Dame's happiness isn't a concern. And the reality is that the two 2nds would just be helping PHI save face. Simmons is worth less than CJ and gets paid more. Or to keep it general, knock down shooters and shot creators are much more valuable than defensive specialists that can't/won't shoot. I'd be willing to bet that PHI doesn't get a player as good as CJ in a Simmons trade from anyone. CJ is essentially Bradley Beal if Beal had a real #1 on his team. Beal is overrated because he's been a one-man-show on a bad team for a while. CJ has been the second best player on a Blazers squad that hasn't missed the playoffs in the 8 years since CJ has been in the league... and he's done it in the West.
The issue isn't if CJ makes PHI better... he does, hands down. The issue is that Simmons makes POR worse. That would be the last move Olshey made as the Blazers GM. If you think PHI would rather have Love and Garland they can have at it, just as long as Simmons doesn't end up in POR I am fine.
It really shows you don't know Simmons value. Simmons is not just a defensive specialist. He's primary ball handler. And you mention "kncok down shooters and shot creators" are much valuable. Guess what? Simmons generats a lot of shot for his teammates. He leads the league in assited 3 pointers.
So let's just clarify this defensive specialist. Matisse Thybulle is a defensive specialist. Andre Roberson is/Was a defensive specialist. Simmons is much more. Primary ball handler, makes assists, runs the offense plus rebounds in addition to playing defense and just his sheer size 6 foot 10 allows him so many mismatches. He had a brain fart in playoffs refusing to shoot.