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It has to be for Smart, fillers and picks. Smart opened his mouth recently and ruffled some feathers. Ben would be a great fit with Tatum and Brown, who love to score. Keeps Ben from having to shoot.Comment
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How would 76ers’ Ben Simmons fit with Celtics? Is Jaylen Brown too high a price to pay?
By Jay King and Rich Hofmann Nov 8, 2021
125 
The Celtics and 76ers have held trade discussions over three-time All-Star Ben Simmons, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Within his Inside Pass column Monday, Charania reported the Celtics have expressed interest in the 25-year-old Simmons, who has not played yet this season after informing the 76ers he would prefer to be traded. According to Charania, talks between the Celtics and 76ers have had “no traction” so far. Considering the high asking price Philadelphia continues to demand, Charania believes the Celtics would potentially need to include All-Star wing Jaylen Brown in a trade offer.
To further analyze the situation, we brought together 76ers beat writer Rich Hofmann and Celtics beat writer Jay King.
King: With Danny Ainge retired, I thought maybe the Celtics would no longer be linked to every halfway available star. Yet here we are. Before we get into the possible trade fit between Boston and Philadelphia, where does the Simmons situation currently stand?
Hofmann: Jay, good to be chatting with you.
Over the weekend, the Sixers and Simmons were still very much in a standoff that seems to be never-ending. Simmons told the team a few weeks ago that he was not mentally ready to play and the Sixers organization believes they have been supportive of that request. Now that we’re over two weeks after Simmons’ initial request, the Sixers would like to be more clued in on, if not the nitty-gritty details of Simmons’ mental health work, the progress he’s making and where this process is generally heading.
There is no getting around it: This has been an ugly situation throughout and it has the chance to get even more contentious because the team and player interests are in direct conflict. Daryl Morey is on the record saying that the potential returns that the Sixers are getting in Simmons trade talks don’t increase the team’s championship odds (which is how he views team-building) and that the team’s best chance to win at a high level is to reintegrate him to the roster, as far-fetched at that may seem. On the other end of the standoff, nothing Simmons has done so far indicates he wants to play another game for this franchise. The mental health aspect makes things tricky, especially after it comes on the heels of a trade request and holdout. But the bottom line here is the Sixers still expect Simmons to play for them at some point and they’re playing well enough without him that they’re not exactly feeling much pressure to move him quickly to improve the team. Simmons still wants to play anywhere but Philadelphia.
Hey, Boston isn’t in Philadelphia! It seems like it has been an interesting start to the season up there.
King: Oh, it has been an interesting start. Ime Udoka has criticized the Celtics publicly several times. Marcus Smart took a shot at Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown during a news conference. Boston held its first players-only meeting less than two weeks into the season, just another sign things have been weird.
After that bit of drama, the Celtics have played well over their last three games, all on the road. Their defense has come back to life. Tatum, after a slow start, finally looked like himself during a last-second loss to the Mavericks. At just 4-6, though, the Celtics have a lot to figure out.
Would Simmons help? Sure. I mean, he’s a three-time All-Star. He finished second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting last season. He’s a huge wing with top speed and awesome court vision. Though much of the conversation lately has focused on what he can’t do, he can still do a whole lot. If you could plop him onto the current Celtics roster, he would make a big difference for them, just like he would for a lot of teams across the NBA.
But what could the Celtics give up for him that would make sense? I don’t think they should include Brown in a package because he’s the same age, less expensive and more of a scoring threat.
Hofmann: The first thing to know about this situation has been that Morey’s asking price has been quite high from the start. There are plenty of people out there who would opine it has been too high, for a player of Simmons’ caliber who is also coming off a postseason that was quite damaging to his reputation as a player. The main piece of leverage that Morey has in this situation is Simmons’ contract, which has four years remaining on it. If Simmons is feeling any sort of disrespect — and in fairness to him, the team did attempt to trade him for James Harden last season, the type of trade scenario that could arise again — Morey is holding onto him because he believes keeping Simmons is better than sub-superstar returns.
With the Sixers’ high asking price in mind, I look at Boston’s roster and think that any Simmons talks would have to involve either one of Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. Tatum is not even worth talking about, so Brown is where the line would have to be drawn. At his best, it’s unclear if Brown could lift the Sixers’ entire offense the way Damian Lillard (who was the Sixers’ hopeful star target-under-contract over the summer) might.
But a 25-year-old two-way wing with legitimate shot creation, a 3-point shot that hovers around 40 percent on decent volume and the ability to get to the free-throw line would be an excellent addition even if the Sixers had to add additional assets. And from Boston’s standpoint, I think Simmons would help them win a bunch of regular-season games. He defends like a beast every night and would greatly improve the team’s playmaking, warts and all. One perhaps undersold aspect of the Simmons saga is that trading him for an offense-first guard like Lillard or Bradley Beal might put a ton of pressure on Joel Embiid defensively. That isn’t to say the Sixers wouldn’t make those trades, but Brown would present fewer issues in that regard.
It feels to me like the two sides are probably going to be stuck, right? Although I do believe Tatum and Brown have to demonstrate they can get back to carrying an elite team, Boston would probably view moving one of them as more of a future issue if things don’t improve. But I also think any other package, something like Marcus Smart (who could certainly help the Sixers defensively and would become a very popular player in Philadelphia but can’t be traded until after Jan. 25) and picks is likely not going to get it done from the Sixers’ standpoint. Outside a few no-brainer players who likely aren’t available, would the idea of trading Brown seem like more of a future move to you?
King: Morey has been open about his asking price. He has also shared that other teams have been unwilling to meet it. I think it’s obvious by now that teams aren’t eager to send the 76ers a star player in exchange for Simmons.
The Celtics have two good young ones in Tatum and Brown. As you said, those guys still need to prove they can carry a great team, but Simmons would come with that same concern. He’s coming off a rough playoff run and he’s a difficult roster fit. If Boston could somehow pair him with Tatum and Brown, the trio would make a lot of basketball sense. But giving up Tatum or Brown for Simmons, given all the questions surrounding him now, would be a bold move that would crush the Celtics’ outside shooting. I doubt the Celtics have enough to acquire Simmons in a straight-up trade without one of those guys unless Morey either lowers his asking price significantly or is extremely interested in an Al Horford-Joel Embiid reunion (lol).
Could a three-team trade be possible? The Celtics don’t have as many assets as they once did, but they could build a package around, say, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, one of their younger wings and multiple first-round picks. I don’t think that would be enough to rope in the type of difference-maker Philadelphia wants for Simmons, but that type of structure seems most likely among all the highly unlikely ideas spinning around my brain. It’s too bad because I would be extremely intrigued by a Tatum-Brown-Simmons trio, but I doubt the Celtics have the right assets to make it happen.
Maybe the Celtics would grow more interested in making a big change to their core if they continue to struggle. Still, I just can’t see Mr. Steady, Brad Stevens, overreacting to a slow start while Ime Udoka is learning his way as a head coach and the Celtics players are adjusting to his new system and philosophies.
Hofmann: Williams is certainly an intriguing piece. An athletic big man like him who can also make plays with the ball in his hands likely holds some decent trade value around the league, probably just not as much in this discussion. The Sixers learned the hard way that you don’t need to pay another center to play behind Embiid. “The hard way,” in this case, currently wears No. 42 for the Celtics.
Due to the positional overlap, it’s hard to imagine Williams in Philly. Perhaps it would have to be a three-team trade, which always increases the degree of difficulty in getting a deal over the finish line. Purely from a value standpoint, I believe the idea of Smart, Williams and a couple of picks is a good offer for Simmons. That won’t move Morey at this point but hovering over all this is the question of what happens if no star-level player becomes available for Simmons. If the Sixers ever get past that point, an offer like the one you proposed doesn’t seem unheard of to me. The problem for Boston is that plenty of teams can cobble together a “solid starters and picks” package for Simmons, so perhaps Morey would receive a similar offer that perhaps provides more perimeter shot creation than those two would provide.
In general, I think the Sixers are just trying to push this eventual trade out as far as they can. If they can get to the middle of this season, perhaps conditions change around the league as teams start to see the reality of their rosters. It seems that the front office would prefer to use Simmons and their young players/draft capital in return for a star than multiple pieces in return for Simmons. For now, the Sixers are in a weird holding pattern. The rest of the team is playing inspired basketball and selling the image of a tight-knit group that is willing to sacrifice for the greater good. The absence of Simmons throughout all these good vibes and made 3-point shots is, um, notable. Despite all the potential awkwardness, the Sixers still want Simmons to play for them. Stevens being in the front office adds a fun wrinkle to this, but as long as he stays patient, I’m not sure I presently see a trade at this point between these two old rivals.
(Photo of Brown and Simmons: Bill Streicher / USA Today)
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This highlight reel is weak!!! The strategy was to let Simmons eat, stay at home on the shooters - it worked. Is this supposed to be impressive?
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