It's interesting that people think Simmons should be traded to get LBJ. Maybe there's a dispassionate analytical argument for this but my take is that if LBJ is going to PHI, no superstar like LBJ or Simmons is going to admit that he can't play with another superstar. And maybe there's a contrarian GM or two that would explore trading Simmons but if LBJ is coming to PHI, he's coming to play with Simmons and Embiid. LBJ has said too many nice tings to or about Simmons to force him off the team.I’m not buying that this debacle increases the Sixers’ odds of getting LeBron — not because the story itself will make him less inclined to come to Philly (assuming Colangelo is gone in the next week or two), but because the club will be rudderless during the critical period where it needs to make its push to acquire him.
Of course, I’m in the camp that thinks an LBJ signing needs to be accompanied by a Simmons trade, which is a bit of a complicated maneuver. If you think it’s simply a matter of offering LBJ a max contract and renouncing whomever you need to renounce to create the necessary cap space, an interim GM can manage that, and the opportunity for LBJ to have a say in who fills the vacant GM spot can be used as a selling point.
And put me in the camp that those guys are too good for it to matter much.