Couple other small things about the offense - his ftr went down from y3 to y4. His efg did improve slightly, but the main reason was the bump from 29% 3s to 32% 3s.
Those 3 describe Sacramento to a T and is why I put them as my odds on favorite to land the Coward of Oz
I mean he's 4 years in and he's not a very good FT shooter. Projecting "if he becomes a decent 3pt shooter" isn't any more likely in some ways than Simmons.
Draymond's offense is basically the same, he hasn't taken a 4th quarter shot in like 6 years
People seem to remember this shot as taking place in The Finals. It was in the second round. It's an enormous leap of faith to assume that if Kawhi missed that shot, the Sixers would have just rolled Milwaukee and Golden State in the Finals and have a title right now. What makes people think that if they advanced further, the same issues that have caused Philly to crash out of the playoffs in other years wouldn't have persisted? Why do people think they would just breeze past the Bucks; when Giannis owns Philly? In three games against Philly during that very season, Giannis averaged a 43-16-8.
The Draymond comparisons come across as really lazy. Simmons is actually a more skilled player, but they are very, very different. Draymond is a competitive, alpha MF'r, almost to his own detriment. Simmons is passive and hasn't shown nearly the amount of fight and doggedness that Green has shown throughout his career. Green is also probably one of the top 2-3 screeners in the NBA, a huge asset for a player that has limited scoring ability. Simmons is not much a screener at all, although part of that is that Philly has rarely used him as a screener.
No kidding, this always bugs me. Forget getting past GS and Milwaukee, if that shot misses they still have to get by Toronto in OT. The Celtics have been far closer to a title multiple times over the last 5 years than Philly was in 2019.
I'm not projecting or assuming he becomes a decent/30%/Giannis 3pt shooter
If this is directed at me, I'm talking about type of player if he didn't improve at all, and literally just gave you what PHI got out of him. Player type he is similar to Draymond in that he's a versatile defender with no outside shot. Stylistically they are somewhat different on offense (Simmons is better, he can score off the dribble) but from a lineup construction point of view they do play a lot of the same roles in terms of being versatile defense first players whose offensive contributions are not going to be shooting or the go to crunch time scorer.
Comparing Ben to Dray isn't really going out on a limb. The GSW owner just was fined $50,000 for exactly doing that
OK, I'll admit to forgetting about MIL (and assuming PHI would win in OT that's given) but there's a reason that people forget MIL between PHI and and GSW.
Also Draymond has 700 career 3 pointers made (including postseason), Simmons has 5. 5!!
Yeah they're the same in that they're both not really scorers, but are excellent defenders, good passers, and the size of a 4.
I like Fox……and I disagree with this. Simmons perceived ability is being skewed by a couple bad weeks in the playoffs. It’s difficult to compare since they are such polar opposites but at any point pre-playoffs last year I’d believe most knowledgeable fans would feel this way too.
Yep you're right, I was looking at salaries and he's listed for some reason (maybe bonus from last year?)
Bingo.
See, the thing is... Simmons' terrible playoffs and demand to be traded are the only reason you COULD possibly trade Fox for him, Simmons is universally considered the better player, arguably has the more attractive contract, and has more ceiling to grow. If SAC went to PHI at say last year's all-star break with a Fox/Simmons deal, the question would be..."how many 1sts are SAC adding, and will they eat a bad deal?"
Does he even need to grow though? People have spent the last 3 years criticizing Simmons for what he cannot do……as he’s been an auto-All Star selection each of the last three years. Yes, he was awful in the playoffs which is a concern moving forward but he’s been (unfairly, imo) heavily scrutinized while being among the most productive two-way players in the league since he’s entered it.
He definitely has grown defensively anyway. His offensive game needs to grow for him to be a superstar, but he's already a max player no matter what, just one you have to gameplan for in a playoff series to make sure you don't have to lean to heavily on his offense, but there are plenty of those.
I'm responding there to a post about his room for growth. There's just no reason to think that he will at this point, not materially. That doesn't mean that it's required, just unexpected.
First, Morey isn't losing sleep over what Tyrese Fucking Maxey thinks. Second, Morey doesn't have to settle for anything he doesn't want. Now, he may be fine with that specific return, but he has more leverage than Rich Paul would want you to believe. If the illustrious Kings franchise is offering less than that, Simmons is going to have to settle with watching the NBA on TV.
Your question makes your point.
Forget contracts for purpose of this silly exercise……for talent matches who would you trade?
Tough to ignore the contracts. I mean, sure ignore for Trade Machine purposes. But Bagley and Hield are jokes in this deal because of what they make. If Hield was making Bagley money, and Bagley was making MLE money, this wouldn't be as funny.
This really isn't a fair take.
He had exactly 1 FG attempt total in the 4th quarter of the last 6 playoff games. Maybe instead of "shit the bed" we should be using terms like "disappeared into thin air." Passing up the dunk was emblematic of his complete and total vanishing act late in games when it mattered most. The reason it gets all the headlines is because it's just about the only time he had the ball for more than a second or two late in these games without immediately getting rid of it. It wasn't a bad read, he was afraid he'd get fouled and have to shoot free throws. Sometimes things are exactly as they seem.
This is where I am at as well. If Simmons had just a poor series or playoffs shooting the ball, I would not be so down on him.
