GET BEN SIMMONS PRITCHARD !!!!

[Guest]

IMHO we have the best package for Ben(without Lillard or Beal) ....Our package Malcolm + anyone not Domas and a first is by far the best ....Philly needs starting PG the most and we can deliver that with Brogdon.

Domas and Ben P&R is going to be deadly ....Domas can pass to cutting Ben (Embiid can't do that) and vice versa ....they can be staggered with having 1 elite playmaker on the floor at all times....Ben and Domas will work with 3 40% shooters...with Domas and Ben we're contenders....to win R1!!!....let's get it done Pritchard!!!

[Guest]

https://theathletic.com/2850579/2021/10/04/as-ben-simmons-and-sixers-square-off-a-look-inside-what-its-like-when-a-star-and-team-divorce/

As Ben Simmons and Sixers square off, a look inside what it’s like when a star and team divorce

Jon Krawczynski and Kelly Iko Oct 4, 2021 146
While Ben Simmons tries to push himself out of Philadelphia, the 76ers aren’t the only ones bracing as the flame gets hotter.

It brings back harsh memories for executives and players around the league who have lived through the pain of a standoff between a star and a franchise, and the far-reaching ramifications that come when a breakup turns nasty.

From Jimmy Butler lighting a match in Minnesota to James Harden hitting the Vegas clubs while trying to force Houston’s hand and many more, Simmons sitting out training camp in Philly is in many ways nothing new. But as the Sixers attempt to whistle through the graveyard and insist that they want Simmons to return, those who have walked in their shoes before caution about the collateral damage and unforeseen pressures that come when a team attempts to ride it out.

It’s one thing to be in the seats at the circus watching the show play out. It is another thing entirely to be the act on center stage, with everyone’s eyes upon you.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets have lived that scenario in recent years, so The Athletic reached out to members of those organizations who were part of Butler’s detonation in Minnesota and Harden’s exit strategy in Houston.

Their simple words of advice for handling it: buckle up.

“I would just tell them, you know all the media, all the questions on media day and in every media availability that will happen moving forward will be about the situation,” said one former Timberwolves player who was on the team when Butler orchestrated his exit in 2018. “That’s just how it’s going to be until that situation is resolved with a trade or if something happens and he decides to come back. That’s literally going to be the focal point and that’s the only thing that’s going to matter.”

Because the Timberwolves are known to be interested in trading for Simmons, The Athletic spoke only to employees and players from 2018 who are no longer with the organization to avoid any conflicts of interest. Those with the Wolves and Rockets detailed how the best-laid plans for managing a situation as sensitive as a star wanting out can often be endangered by pressures from the media, fans, sponsors and other outside interests. And those inside the organization that pride themselves on remaining focused on the game say that maintaining that concentration in the middle of such a tense situation can be easier said than done.

The Timberwolves went into their standoff with Butler hoping to persuade him to come back and play. The Rockets said they were not going to be forced to do a deal they did not want to do just because Harden wanted out. In the end, both players got what they wanted by making their disenchantment impossible to ignore.

“I don’t get the sense they’re trying to change Ben’s mind,” a former Timberwolves front office member said of the Sixers. “But you can’t have the player show up if he’s not all in. Either stay away or come and play and do your job. It’s got to be one or the other. If he wants to stay away, stay far away.”

Most teams that get into this kind of predicament, including the Timberwolves and Rockets, present a united front in the beginning. They say they won’t bow to pressure from agents. They won’t bend to the vultures circling and dump their stars for pennies on the dollar. And sometimes they do not believe these are lost causes, thinking that the relationship can be salvaged and the team can come back together to win games.

Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey went down that path recently when he cited Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ reported unhappiness in Green Bay. That squabble was a dominant storyline all summer only to see Rodgers eventually suit up and play well this season. Morey’s stance makes some sense, especially with Simmons having four years left on his deal, and sources around the league maintain that if there is one NBA executive who has the stomach to endure the outside noise and circus that can come with a prolonged standoff, it is Morey.

“You can look back at how these things play out,” Morey said at the team’s media day. “Ben’s a great player. And you know, we expect him back. We expect him to be a 76er.”

(Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
Tom Thibodeau, the coach of the Knicks who was the coach and president of basketball operations with the Timberwolves when Butler demanded his trade, tried a similar approach. Butler initially requested a trade shortly after the Wolves were eliminated by the Rockets in the first round of the 2018 playoffs. Thibodeau brushed that request off as an emotional player in the heat of the moment after a tough loss. But as the summer dragged on, Butler did not change his stance. Then, just before training camp, Thibodeau flew to California to visit Butler, where he was told for the final time that Butler did not want to play for the Timberwolves. Even after all of that, Thibodeau spent weeks trying to convince Butler to stick it out with him after they helped the team snap a 14-year playoff drought.

Despite Wolves owner Glen Taylor’s urging to find a trade, Thibs resisted early trade offers, dug his heels in and tried to win a battle of wills with Butler and the rest of the league.

“The problem was Thibs desperately wanted to change Jimmy’s mind, which, of course, was not going to work,” the ex-Wolves front office member said.

The timing of Harden’s trade request was equally difficult for the Rockets, who were coming off an embarrassing playoff exit at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers in the bubble and an uncertain future after the departures of Morey and coach Mike D’Antoni. Owner Tillman Fertitta initially said they had no plans to trade Harden or Russell Westbrook, but the realization that both wanted to play elsewhere didn’t make for easy times within the organization. One source with knowledge of the team’s thinking recalls the 90 days of the Harden saga as a period of emotional distress before he was finally dealt to Brooklyn in January.

“It was a little uncomfortable for me, just because I don’t like a lot of tension, especially negative energy or draining energy,” Harden said during Nets training camp last week. “You know, I like to be in a good place. I like to smile and have people around me smiling, you know? Good vibes. So it was kind of a little uncomfortable for me, but I had to go through it.”

Pressure didn’t just come from the outside world — the constant barrage of sports talk shows, national debates and even local coverage — it came from the trade talks themselves. If the Rockets were to move Harden, they wanted to do so only in a deal that they believed gave themselves flexibility and freedom. Much ado was made over packages such as Brooklyn’s initial pitch involving Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen or even Simmons from the Sixers. But the Rockets discussed internally the importance of standing behind new GM Rafael Stone. In their eyes, he had to emerge as a leader through the process, one with the authority necessary to make a deal as important as this one without interference.

That is where the Timberwolves ran into problems. Thibodeau had few allies in the organization, a GM by his side in Scott Layden who proved to be incapable of influencing decision-making, and an owner who grew increasingly frustrated as Butler’s antics grew more and more public. As much as Thibodeau tried to make it business as usual, it simply got too big and too messy for anyone to ignore.

“It’s not even the elephant in the room. It’s going to be the focal point of everything,” the former Wolves player said. “On the team, you’re going to feel the tension in the locker room just because you don’t know what’s going on. But at the same time, that’s where the coach’s focus is, the front office’s focus is. There’s this big thing hanging over everyone’s head about when is something going to go down? Is something going to go down?

“Just the feeling of uncertainty is going to be weighing on you with not knowing what is going to happen and when it’s going to happen.”

And it is not just the uncertainty of where Simmons will end up. When a player with that kind of profile and making that kind of money is on the trade table, players start to brace for movement themselves. These deals often include several players and multiple teams, so even the teammates down the roster start to worry about their futures.

“Obviously there are certain guys who know they’re not going to be included in the deal. But there’s a higher percentage of guys in that locker room that could be on the move as well in some type of deal,” the ex-Wolves player said. “That adds another factor to the whole situation as well for why guys just would like a deal to be done so they don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

While it is all playing out, agents are counseling their clients and trying to keep their focus on the court as much as possible while also doing their own digging to try to prepare for major change.

“You wonder if your client could be thrown into the deal or it could result in your guy being moved or cut in order to make room for new players,” one agent who represented a player on the Rockets at the time of Harden’s departure said.

All the while, opposing GMs are salivating. They see the pressure ramping up and they try to exploit it, hoping to steal a talented player away for below market value. While the team that holds the star’s rights vows to dig in, others can often sit back and wait in anticipation of things getting so ugly that a deal has to be made under duress.

(Michael Hickey / Getty Images)
While the Sixers are talking about wanting Simmons to show up and play, the ex-Wolves executive cautions against that. After skipping media day, Butler did come to practice, where he acted out to try to force the issue, then navigated a start to the season where it became a regular question of whether he was going to be available or not on a particular night.

“You have to make the decision to let him come or not,” the ex-Wolves front office member said. “Where I think we made a mistake was allowing him to dictate when he showed up and when he didn’t. That was the first mistake. He’s going to show up when he wants, he’s going to play when he wants. If you’re not in, stay home.”

Harden drew headlines when he skipped individual workouts before training camp, then was seen partying in Las Vegas in violation of the league’s COVID-19 protocols. Those actions ramped up the media attention and circus-like environment in Houston, but he eventually did report to training camp, which didn’t make things any easier on the players who were trying to salvage a season.

Unlike with the Sixers and Simmons, who have not communicated directly in some time, Harden and the Rockets maintained communication throughout the process. Harden made it clear that he had no ill will toward the city or the franchise, just that he felt they had taken things as far as possible in his time there and it was time for a change. Players and coach Stephen Silas tried to make the best of it early on, but that didn’t stop the tension from eventually boiling to the surface.

Some players resented Harden showing up to camp out of shape and seemingly going through the motions, and it reached a head the night before he was traded, during a tense team meeting in which veterans John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins challenged Harden.

“Obviously it’s disrespectful,” Cousins said at the time. “But everybody has a right to their opinion. We feel a certain way about his actions. But this is the nasty part of the business that gets swept under the rug. When guys are franchise players, it’s usually a nasty breakup.”

Despite the nonstop domino effect of drama, sources say that Houston’s brass made it a point of emphasis to stick together behind Stone. They understood the gravity of what was going on and the potential lasting effects if it took a different path. Houston stayed committed to its plan of getting assets that would help it rebuild a stockpile of young talent, and its plan eventually led to the Rockets entering this season with No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. as part of their new young nucleus.

In Minnesota, the differences between Butler and the younger Wolves, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, were evident. But Butler also had players in the locker room who backed him the whole way. They did not take Butler’s demands or antics personally, saying they understood that he was making a personal decision that he felt was best for his career.

Butler had kept the lines of communication open with his teammates, telling them that his decision had nothing to do with them, and that resonated with some players in the locker room who remain close to Butler to this day.

“You understand that because in some way, some form or another, you are going to be in some type of situation like that in your career,” the ex-Wolves player said. “Whether it’s free agency, whether it’s deciding if it’s time to hang it up or keep going. There are different situations where you’re going to have to put yourself first and this was that situation for him. Players understood that.”

With communication non-existent in Philly, the 76ers players will be tested over and over again. A new report seems to come out on Simmons every day, with our Sam Amick writing last week that Simmons believes his time with Joel Embiid has “run its course.”

“I feel like our teams have always been built around his needs,” Embiid said in response. “So it was kind of surprising to see. Even going back to, I mean the reason we signed Al is (him). We got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake, just to make sure … he needed the ball in his hands, and that’s a decision they made.”

Embiid took pains to say that he still believed the Sixers were better with Simmons than without him, but it was hard to listen to him speak and not see a player who was starting to have it up to here with the situation. And that was only three days in.

“The situation is weird, disappointing, borderline kinda disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives,” Embiid said. “Some guys rely on the team to be successful to stay in the league and make money somehow. Because if you’re on a winning team, you’re always gonna have a spot in the league, just because you’re on a winning team and you contributed.”

Despite all of the outside pressures and the insistence that teams had to “act immediately,” the Wolves and the Rockets started their seasons with their upset stars in the starting lineups.

In some ways, the Rockets benefited from the pandemic, playing in an empty home arena, which prevented the kind of caustic environment the Timberwolves experienced at Target Center, where fans booed Butler mercilessly. And the Sixers, of course, will be confronted with that dynamic should Simmons show up and play.

“We’re supposed to be a homecourt advantage in our arena and our own fans are booing our best player,” the ex-Wolves player said. “The fact that we had to go down that road, it was this whole thing. He was very much prepared to have at it with the fans and go back and forth. We all know that’s Jimmy. When he did that, no one was surprised, but at the same time we were all saying to each other, ‘Is this actually happening?’”

Minnesota went 4-9 in 13 games, including five straight losses, before the franchise finally pulled the trigger and traded Butler and Justin Patton to Philadelphia for Robert Covington, Dario Saric and Jerryd Bayless. Butler was in the final season of his contract, which limited Minnesota’s leverage, but that the Wolves traded away such an important piece of their team and a top 12-15 player in the league and did not receive a single first-round draft pick in return shows how difficult the situation eventually turned out to be.

“Once we heard a deal was going down, it was kind of a shock to everybody,” the Wolves player said. “We had almost gotten used to the circumstances, dealing with the media and the whole league watching you. You’re under this microscope across the league. Is a deal going to happen, is it not going to happen. That whole thing. We almost got used to it. And once it happened, it was crazy.”

The Rockets played nine games with Harden before orchestrating an elaborate multi-team trade that landed them Victor Oladipo, four first-round draft picks and four pick swaps.

The Rockets remain bullish on the way they handled a very difficult situation and believe it has set them up well for the future. The Timberwolves? They spent years recovering from Butler’s explosive exit and, in some ways, are still feeling the aftershocks.

The New Orleans Pelican played it out even longer in a standoff with Anthony Davis, enduring the entire 2018-19 season to try to maximize their return. As painful as it might have been at the time, their patience did yield a great return with the Lakers sending Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and a bevy of picks to the Pelicans.

But what separates all three scenarios from Philadelphia’s staring contest with Simmons is that the Timberwolves, Pelicans and Rockets knew their chances to compete the season their stars pushed their ways out were gone. The 76ers are doing everything they can to maximize their championship window while Embiid is in his prime.

Now sources connected to those Rockets days and that short-lived Timberwolves era wonder how ugly it will get in Philadelphia. Sources say that Simmons has no intention of showing up. The Sixers, at least for now, aren’t giving in.

Will Simmons be willing to show up and make things as frontal and uncomfortable as Butler and Harden were willing to do?

“There’s a precious few who can do that and be comfortable doing that for an unknown period of time,” the Wolves player said. “I know Jimmy and it was not hard for him to do. … It’ll be interesting to see if (Ben) can go as far as Jimmy did if needed.”

---

—

[Guest]

Opinion On Ben Simmons: If This Team Trades For The 76ers Star They Could Make The NBA Finals And Beat The Brooklyn Nets And Milwaukee Bucks In The East

Opinion: if the Indiana Pacers made a move to trade with the Philadelphia 76ers for for Ben Simmons they could make a run at the NBA Finals and beat the Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference.
BEN STINAR
The Ben Simmons drama continues to be a hot topic around the NBA.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Philadelphia 76ers All-Star was due $8.25 million on Friday (Simmons is still holding out), and they did not pay him (see Tweet below from Charania).

There have been many teams that continue to be named as the potential winner in the sweepstakes to land the 25 year old.

Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer named six teams that are interested in Simmons, and his article can be read here and his Tweet can be seen embedded below.

Pompey named the Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN called the Pacers the "sleeper team" for Simmons, and the clip of him on ESPN's The Jump can be seen here.

In my opinion, the Pacers should trade for Simmons as soon as possible.

I believe that Simmons could lead the Pacers to the NBA Finals as soon as next season if all of the chips fell their way.

Why?

The Pacers have a roster that is interesting in the modern-day NBA. These days, many teams are either really young (and typically bad) or they're a team loaded with superstars and veterans.

The Pacers are neither.

They are relatively young (oldest player on the team is 32), but they also are not super young.

• Domantas Sabonis (team's best player) is entering his sixth season in the NBA
• Myles Turner is entering his seventh season
• T.J. Warren is 28
• Malcolm Brogdon is 28
• Caris LeVert is 27.

Another unique tidbit?

They have a good team.

Yes, a good team, but not a great one.

However, they are nowhere near bad, but they are also nowhere near a contender for the NBA Championship.

Therefore, this unique roster makeup not only gives them a good chance at landing Simmons (they can offer players ready to help the 76ers right now), but also gives them a grandfathered in good roster for Simmons to lead.

Based on all the public information out there about the 76ers and Simmons, its clear they do not have a lot of leverage right now.

There is no chance that the Pacers would have to totally gut the roster to acquire the number one overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Imagine this hypothetical scenario: two of Turner, Brogdon, LeVert, Warren or Sabonis gets traded.

Well, that would still leave three of those players (who are all borderline All-Stars) and Sabonis is a two-time All-Star.

So, Simmons one of the best passers in the NBA, would be given a team with veterans in their prime that are either an All-Star or a player that is definitely close to being an All-Star.

LeVert averaged over 20 points per game last season, Turner led the NBA in blocks per game, Sabonis has made the All-Star game each of the last two seasons etc.

Injuries have been an issue for the Brooklyn Nets the last two seasons, so they have yet to prove they can complete a full season and the Milwaukee Bucks are coming off an NBA title, who knows how they will respond this season.

If the Pacers could land Simmons, they easily become one of the best teams in the entire Eastern Conference.

Rick Carlisle (their new coach) is an NBA Champion and helped turn Luka Doncic into a top-ten player in the world at 22 years old.

Imagine what he could do with a better overall roster, that also has Simmons who has career averages of 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game and is not even in his prime yet.

[owl]

On the Domas and Simmons team who is going to be running the offense? Who is going to be the dominant ball handler? Simmons wants to run the show.
Domas wants to be the Joker of the east. Does anybody see a problem? About the only way that works is if Domas steps back from the Joker role most of the time

[PacerDude]

I believe that Simmons could lead the Pacers to the NBA Finals as soon as next season if all of the chips fell their way.

I've smoked some good stuff in my lifetime, but nothing as good as what this hack has got to be indulging in.

[Guest]

On the Domas and Simmons team who is going to be running the offense? Who is going to be the dominant ball handler? Simmons wants to run the show.
Domas wants to be the Joker of the east. Does anybody see a problem? About the only way that works is if Domas steps back from the Joker role most of the time

Domas runs half court and Ben goes off in transition + they both do P&R's

[Pacerized]

On the Domas and Simmons team who is going to be running the offense? Who is going to be the dominant ball handler? Simmons wants to run the show.
Domas wants to be the Joker of the east. Does anybody see a problem? About the only way that works is if Domas steps back from the Joker role most of the time

Jokic plays with a really good pg in Murray who still likes to have the ball in his hands. They share the ball pretty well in the half court but of course Simmons doesn't seem as interested in scoring as Murray. Having a big pg doesn't mean he can't operate with another big who likes to run the offense. I'd say we might see some great ball movement.

[owl]

Jokic plays with a really good pg in Murray who still likes to have the ball in his hands. They share the ball pretty well in the half court but of course Simmons doesn't seem as interested in scoring as Murray. Having a big pg doesn't mean he can't operate with another big who likes to run the offense. I'd say we might see some great ball movement.

Not saying it can't work, I am just concerned that Simmons and Domas are going to have a similar problem that Simmons and Embiid have.

[CJ Jones]

IMHO we have the best package for Ben(without Lillard or Beal) ....Our package Malcolm + anyone not Domas and a first is by far the best ....Philly needs starting PG the most and we can deliver that with Brogdon.

Domas and Ben P&R is going to be deadly ....Domas can pass to cutting Ben (Embiid can't do that) and vice versa ....they can be staggered with having 1 elite playmaker on the floor at all times....Ben and Domas will work with 3 40% shooters...with Domas and Ben we're contenders....to win R1!!!....let's get it done Pritchard!!!

[vnzla81]

Let's hope that Pritchard's love for LeVert is not holding this deal back.

NBA Central
@TheNBACentral
?
19m
The Pacers are among the teams who have talked to the 76ers about a potential Ben Simmons trade, per
@IanBegley
“Caris LeVert was among the players brought up in those communications.”

[vnzla81]

On the Domas and Simmons team who is going to be running the offense? Who is going to be the dominant ball handler? Simmons wants to run the show.
Domas wants to be the Joker of the east. Does anybody see a problem? About the only way that works is if Domas steps back from the Joker role most of the time

Nope, this is not different than Brooklyn having Durant/Kyrie/Harden or Lakers with Lebron/Westbrook/AD.


If Rick is as good as people around here think he is he should be able to make it work.

[CJ Jones]

Nope, this is not different than Brooklyn having Durant/Kyrie/Harden or Lakers with Lebron/Westbrook/AD.


If Rick is as good as people around here think he is he should be able to make it work.

Yea it's quite a bit different actually. I'd like to hear someone explain how they think these guys could coexist in the halfcourt. You can't run pick and rolls or DHOs with those 2 guys. The defenders would just stand 6 feet back. You'd have to get really creative to put a competent halfcourt offense together. It'll be even harder to do if we trade away our shooters.

[owl]

Nope, this is not different than Brooklyn having Durant/Kyrie/Harden or Lakers with Lebron/Westbrook/AD.


If Rick is as good as people around here think he is he should be able to make it work.

Your first example is very poor, all shooters from anywhere on the court. The second one has some merit, but barely. And given my concerns I would still take the chance if it meant getting Simmons. In any Simmons trade Duarte to me is untouchable, due to his contract and his shooting skills

[Guest]

Yea it's quite a bit different actually. I'd like to hear someone explain how they think these guys could coexist in the halfcourt. You can't run pick and rolls or DHOs with those 2 guys. The defenders would just stand 6 feet back. You'd have to get really creative to put a competent halfcourt offense together. It'll be even harder to do if we trade away our shooters.

Pretty much you trade for Ben you have to trade Domas. Now you have to acquire shooters and scorers like Hield or other players. Also if we are trading for Ben I’m not giving up Brogdon. I’ll send LeVert, Warren and Lamb for Ben and Curry

[Eleazar]

You do not have to trade Domas if you trade for Ben, that is a silly notion.