ATL - 2021-22 Regular Season Begins

[FrieAaron]

Can't Philly continuously fine him if he refuses to play? Feels like eventually a team is going to have to go that route if this becomes more common.

[Plossum]

Can't Philly continuously fine him if he refuses to play? Feels like eventually a team is going to have to go that route if this becomes more common.

The definitely can but it's going to make the current **** even **** if it gets to that point.

[FrieAaron]

Can't Philly continuously fine him if he refuses to play? Feels like eventually a team is going to have to go that route if this becomes more common.

The definitely can but it's going to make the current **** even **** if it gets to that point.

For sure, but at a certain point what else can you do if you're not happy with the return offers you're getting? I guess calling his bluff and letting him sit for months might be enough, but it seems like something that's going to come up at some point with some team.

[raferfenix]

Yeah sure it's unlikely to happen because life isn't fair...

But how entertaining would it be for Morey to stare down Rich Paul and fine Simmons to the max?

If anyone were to do it you'd think it'd be a big market team with championship aspirations (which might slip away if they blow this deal) and a respected front office exec known to be unafraid of discomfort at the helm.

[giannis and 1]

I went to a bucks game in 2016/17 against the sixers, I’m pretty sure it was the game Embiid basically called Milwaukee a shithole but not sure. Anyway I was blown away by how good Embiid was on both ends. This was when he was way slimmer and a decent amount faster.

He didn’t have a great shooting game but he dominated on defense and they couldn’t do anything but foul him on the other end, he even hit a dagger three to cap it off. Jabari and Giannis had good games but they struggled to score in the paint whenever embiid was in. The sixers were trash and he carried them to a win while playing like 20 minutes.

In my mind I thought he was the next Hakeem and they also had the number one pick sitting at home relaxing and they had lots of picks and the number one pick the next year. I thought Philly’s future **** on the bucks future even with Giannis and a 20 ppg Jabari. But it just never happened, they literally made every possible mistake along the way. Seeing it all accumulate into the situation it is now is mind blowing when I think back to how I envisioned them 3 or 4 years ago.

I remember in the 2017 offseason my friend (sixers fan) was pissed that Brogdon won roty over Embiid and Saric, so he said Bucks will never win a championship and the sixers future is better because Embiid and Simmons will both be better than Giannis.

[giannis and 1]

Also regarding Simmons, Kane made a good point on the pod last week. The Kings absolutely needed to match that offer sheet for Bogdan. That would allow the Kings to easily send Bogdan and Halliburton for Simmons, and the Sixers might have gone for that package.

Haliburton for Simmons is the worst move the Kings could possibly make.

[drew881]

Yeah sure it's unlikely to happen because life isn't fair...

But how entertaining would it be for Morey to stare down Rich Paul and fine Simmons to the max?

If anyone were to do it you'd think it'd be a big market team with championship aspirations (which might slip away if they blow this deal) and a respected front office exec known to be unafraid of discomfort at the helm.

Simmons is the perfect guy to do this to. Rest of the league will have no sympathy for his bitch ass.

[raferfenix]

Deep dive into what’s going on with Simmons’ game, including this revealing nugget:

After exit meetings, the players and coaches went their separate ways to recharge. Some time passed, and according to multiple league sources, when Townsend returned to the team’s facility, Brown pulled him aside. Change of plans, he said.

Simmons’ agent, Rich Paul, and family had decided that he’d be better off working with one of his brothers, Liam, a former low-level Division I guard and assistant coach, who now coaches at Division II Colorado Christian University.

Brown, who'd been promoted to interim GM in the wake of former team president Bryan Colangelo's Twitter scandal, wasn’t sure the reason for the change. It also didn’t matter.

Simmons was a former No. 1 pick, one of the team’s two foundational pieces, a genuine superstar, in talent and branding, in a league in which superstars dictate the terms. In other words: Simmons wasn’t required to explain himself to management.

That season, Simmons’ free-throw shooting regressed once again, plunging back down to 60%, not quite as bad as his rookie-season marks but still a significant drop from his playoff rate. He also took just 25 shots outside of 16 feet after attempting 40 as a rookie. At one point during the year, Jim O’Brien, a longtime NBA coach and former Sixers assistant who was serving as a special adviser to Brown, posed a question during a coaches meeting.

"Name me one area where Ben Simmons has improved," he asked his colleagues.

The room fell silent.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.foxsports.com/stories/nba/ben-simmons-postseason-struggles-philadelphia-76ers-joel-embiid

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

If I'm a treadmill team, I take a gamble on Simmons. Guy is all NBA talent and at worst 1st team all D who is a great passer. A change of scenery and expectations could do wonders.

[Pachinko_]

Simmons attitude and lack of work ethic are ultimately the reason for why he's such a flawed player, but at this point I'm pretty much on his side here. He got thrown under the bus by his own coach and his star teammate, the fanbase hates him, and he's been resolute in his stance that it just can't work in Philly anymore.

Morey continues to be delusional and digs the franchise in a deeper hole with each passing day. There's no "fixing" this. Just trade him for whatever positive value you can get and move the **** on.

Of all the bazillion things his teams and coaches have told him and about him over the years, he only listened and actioned the only one negative thing they said once.

- "Please shoot the ball" (times one bazillion)
- *Crickets*
- "I don't know how to answer the question if Ben is the starting point guard on a championship team"
- YOU THREW ME UNDER THE BUS I'M OUTTA HERE DONT EVER SPEAK TO ME EVER AGAIN

[DrWood]

If I'm a treadmill team, I take a gamble on Simmons. Guy is all NBA talent and at worst 1st team all D who is a great passer. A change of scenery and expectations could do wonders.

I'd want him if I had a top team and I had bad contracts I could dump for him. And a couple of FRP. See how minimal a package Philly would take. He'd be an elite 3rd or 4th best guy on your team.

[DrWood]

So, can our GM call up Redick and tell him to stay in shape, because we might be calling in a few months?

[DrWood]

Simmons is so bizarre. It flat out just never gets to this point if he demonstrates interest in even trying to improve the weaknesses in his game.

It doesn't even require that. If he wasn't such a diva and was focused on the team more than himself he would be even better than Draymond Green has been for GSW, regardless of skill improvement. Of course, the on-court fit in GSW has helped Green tremendously.

That would be the perfect fit for him--taking Dramond's role. He'd be a rich-man's Draymond.

[Pachinko_]

If I'm a treadmill team, I take a gamble on Simmons. Guy is all NBA talent and at worst 1st team all D who is a great passer. A change of scenery and expectations could do wonders.

I'm sure it will do wonders
- Hey Ben, change of expectations: we're not like the Sixers, we don't actually need you to shoot or score at all or even make your free throws
Ben: Ok

[Baddy Chuck]

Redick's a turd and Duncan Robinson's podcast is better.

[MVP2110]

No thank you to Redick. He's washed at this point

[raferfenix]

Ouch.

The issue is that the Warriors aren’t especially keen on doing this. While it had been reported in the past, owner Joe Lacob confirmed the team has major reservations about a Simmons deal in an interview with Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. While he did not specifically name Simmons — he said a “Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Philadelphia” — it’s not hard to read between the lines.

“In some ways, it doesn’t really fit what we’re doing. He makes a lot of money. And, can he finish games? I don’t know,” Lacob said, per ClutchPoints. “He’s very talented. The problem is: We have Draymond. Draymond and him are very similar in the sense that neither one really shoots and they do a lot of the playmaking. That’s one issue. The salary structure is another.”

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/joe-lacob-ben-simmons-warriors-trade-rumors-can-he-finish-games/

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

If I'm a treadmill team, I take a gamble on Simmons. Guy is all NBA talent and at worst 1st team all D who is a great passer. A change of scenery and expectations could do wonders.

I'm sure it will do wonders
- Hey Ben, change of expectations: we're not like the Sixers, we don't actually need you to shoot or score at all or even make your free throws
Ben: Ok

See what I mean! If Simmons wasn't the number 1 pick and had early success, I think teams would have a different view of him. The NBA is littered with guys making ~$30m that are extremely flawed. I think he is fairly paid. I think you could do worse than bet on a guy with his talent and give him a fresh start.

http://www.espn.com/nba/salaries/_/seasontype/4
IMO, I take him over guys like Tobes, Kyrie, Zinger, Butler (starting this year), Wiggins, Love, McCullum, etc and those guys dont get half the crap Simmons does despite being on the same pay band.
Hell, Jrue is making the same as him and yeah he had a lot of clutch plays but he was also shaky as hell in the Nets series. Game 7 he was 5-23 in a close game. Would make for interesting discussions on his contract if we lose that game. Simmons just turned 25. Despite what Doc thinks, I think he can become a Robin (Read: Rodman) on championship team.

[RogerMurdock]

So, can our GM call up Redick and tell him to stay in shape, because we might be calling in a few months?

There's no point. Redick doesn't want to play anymore. Injuries have caught up with him and he is on to other things in life. He was a good player for many years, but there are other guys in the league who can shoot.

[Pachinko_]

If I'm a treadmill team, I take a gamble on Simmons. Guy is all NBA talent and at worst 1st team all D who is a great passer. A change of scenery and expectations could do wonders.

I'm sure it will do wonders
- Hey Ben, change of expectations: we're not like the Sixers, we don't actually need you to shoot or score at all or even make your free throws
Ben: Ok

See what I mean! If Simmons wasn't the number 1 pick and had early success, I think teams would have a different view of him. The NBA is littered with guys making ~$30m that are extremely flawed. I think he is fairly paid. I think you could do worse than bet on a guy with his talent and give him a fresh start.

http://www.espn.com/nba/salaries/_/seasontype/4
IMO, I take him over guys like Tobes, Kyrie, Zinger, Butler (starting this year), Wiggins, Love, McCullum, etc and those guys dont get half the crap Simmons does despite being on the same pay band.
Hell, Jrue is making the same as him and yeah he had a lot of clutch plays but he was also shaky as hell in the Nets series. Game 7 he was 5-23 in a close game. Would make for interesting discussions on his contract if we lose that game. Simmons just turned 25. Despite what Doc thinks, I think he can become a Robin (Read: Rodman) on championship team.

Wiggins does get a bunch of crap. And the reason Wiggins and Simmons get shat on by everybody is because they're not trying and the other ones do, it's really that simple. I mean what are you gonna tell McCullum, the guy was 5'4" in highschool and had to claw his way through everything, Butler has absolutely maximised all his talent through consistent hard work, Kyrie is a strange person but at least everybody can see he's passionate about the game, Zinger looks like a WWII nazi officer LOL never mind

Anyway what I'm trying to say is that among basketball maniacs like us, Simmons and Wiggins are the foreign objects because it just feels they don't love and respect the game.