shrink wrote:shangrila wrote:shrink wrote:One of the team’s biggest flaws is that when the opposing big isn’t a threat from 3, teams guard Towns heavy and leave a big underneath to double team him, or reduce space for KAT drives.
Hasn't hurt the Vando/KAT pairing. Hell, the DLo-Bev-Ant-Vando-KAT lineup is apparently the best in the entire league by a country mile.
Simmons obviously can’t shoot the three. People say he is still a big threat with the ball in his hands, and I would ask .. what does DLo do then?
Shoot the ball?
I'm not sure what you're aiming for here.
And secondly, are we 100% convinced he will return to being an offensive threat? Remember, this is the guy who almost never shot in the fourth quarter in the playoffs, and flat out refused to dunk in the final game, because he was so scared of shooting FT’s in a pressure situation. Right now, he’s saying that he’s not mentally healthy enough to even play basketball. I do not think anyone can just assume he is going to return to his previous self when he got worse and worse all last year, and he’s never been a shooter.
It's not his offence that's important. It's the All NBA defence, the elite passing and rebounding, and his overall versatility.
Also, what happens if we trade a ton of assets to get Simmons, he starts poorly, and then decides he just isn’t going to play for us, either?
This is disingenuous and you know this is disingenuous.
You're better than this.
This feels like you are ignoring past events.
Yes, it’s great MIN has won its last four games, but we’ve seen LAC three times and even ORL showed the team’s weakness - a non-shooter that allows Towns to be double covered.
So you have your 4 game sample size and I have mine. I guess time will tell which is correct long term.
I would argue it's far easier to camp in the lane when you have a non-shooter acting like a shooter (early season McDaniels/Prince) than a non-shooter who actually acts like one (i.e. not camping at the 3pt line, making cuts and the like).
Yes, DLO can shoot spot ups, but we’ve seen that he was unhappy and destructive when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Plus, the guy is paid $30 mil! You don’t pay $30 mil to a guy who is just a shooter. Successful teams maximize their talent/payroll.
I'll need a citation on that one. When have we ever seen him be unhappy and destructive without the ball in his hands? Hell, the end of last season seemed like some of his best/happiest and he was running a ton of off ball stuff then.
The idea also isn't to just sit him in a corner, obviously. The point is that he's not useless without the ball, which is what you seemed to be implying. Nor does anyone on this team, even with Simmons, need to have the ball 100% of the time to be effective. We can maximise talent through more ways than straight usage.
And no, I don’t think the question of “what if Simmons refuses to play?” is disingenuous at all. We’ve also seen that he is a player that refuses to play, and has been spectacularly unashamed to refuse to live up to his contract. Not because he’s injured - because playing makes him feel nervous. We have seen who he is, and to claim it’s not a risk he does this exact same behavior again is just more of ignoring past (current) events.
You've accused me twice now of ignoring past events which, given this comment, seems like you're projecting.
No matter if a person has believed Simmons' mental health claims or not, everyone has at least been able to agree that the issue is with Philly. With being openly belittled by his own coach and seemingly by his star running mate being the proverbial straw. But prior to this? He spent 5 years playing without complaint. He even took the criticisms on the chin.
Furthermore, you ignore the very real drama he's been going through off the court that's only recently been "settled" in court, but will probably require longer to truly, if ever, overcome it. So there's more context (or past events, if you will) at play here than just deciding "I don't want to play anymore", hence why that suggestion is disingenuous.
We all know you don't like Simmons and don't want the team to trade for him, and that's fine. I've never had a problem with people arguing against his offensive struggles because it's a legitimate point that we simply disagree on. But stick to that, don't try to use the mental health stuff (especially without context) to try and "win" this debate. That kind of crap debases us all.