Uptown wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Uptown wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

Uptown wrote:As far as Simmons is concerned, I mentioned the 2 concerns that I would have with acquiring him are his contract and his inability to hit freethrows. Of course there's warts, otherwise he wouldn't be available. Is it worth the risk? Honestly, I can't say I'm a 100% sure. But what I am sure of is Simmons is a better all around player and I think if we swapped out Randle for Simmons, we would be a better team. Title contender? Of course not. Better? Yes, IMO....

Won't argue Ben's talent, but I'm not so sure the team is better. The halfcourt problems becomde3x worse. Unless Obi make dramatic improvements on his three, the spacing suffers tremendously. Same issue if you play Ben at four and start Mitch/Noel. If you think Randle is a tough fit, then Ben is gonna be a nightmare.

I think having Ben on this team makes the vision/plan clearer in terms of direction for building the team; adding a stretch 5,etc. Could be wrong, but I think building a team with Ben is a little easier than finding the right pieces to work with Randle and at same time producing a winning basketball team.

Ummm Sixers seem to have a decent stretch 5, how'd that work out for them having Ben the Magnificent? Thinking indeed.

When I said stretch 5, I was referring to a 5 that spends the majority of the time on the perimeter as a floor spacer...."Around 35% of Embiid’s possessions this season (20-21) has been on post-ups; no one else has had more post-up possessions in the league than him, per NBA.com." Embiid is a post player that can hit the 3; but spends a ton of time either in the the post (62% on the left block), or facing up about 12-15 feet out....

So Simmons would be great if you managed to get one of the approximately 3 or 4 centers (at least 2 of which are probably untouchable in Jokic and Towns) in the NBA who have more 3 attempts than Embiid who shoot at as good or better a clip. That's a great plan.

And building around a guy who refuses to play or improve is easier than working with Randle. Check please.

Uptown wrote:I would offer Randle for Simmons. May need to include a couple of draft picks as well. No way in hell would I package our youth for him with the intention of paring Randle with Simmons. Randle's presence kind of nullifies some of Simmons best attributes.

Personally, I do not want ANYONE that cant shoot. In terms of trading Simmons for Randle, I am sure that we would end up including draft picks and PG's (maybe IQ, Rose, Kemba?)
I would ask the question "where would that leave us"? We have Simmons, who cannot shoot and who else?

Keep saying that I feel we have very good role players, We need a floor general(that can shoot) and make those role players accept their roles and also take their games to the next level. Let's say the Knicks are committed to Randle and feel Simmons is the PG to pair him up with. They will need to give a boatload of picks and young assets to get that done. Leaving us with a worst scenario than the one mentioned above. Considering Simmons and Randle would not complement each other at all. Hopefully, Thibs does not keep stomping his defensive foot down prompting Rose to ignore the fact that in the playoffs Simmons's lack of shooting will hurt any team.