« Reply #225 on: September 15, 2021, 01:15:07 PM »
The main problem is his salary is so high. He's making superstar money, just as his perceived value declines. Making him a difficult fit for most teams. The "poor" 76ers are going to get .50 cents on the dollar.
I've watched interviews, heard everyones opinion and come to the conclusion if there was ever a player that needs a sports psychologist, it's him. He looks incredibly uncomfortable shooting the ball. On the negative side, we never hear that he's working hard in the off-season to improve, as Lonzo Ball did with his shooting mechanics.
Simmons has a very strong upside, if he could ever simply hit 75-80% on his free throws.
As the price declines, I wonder if the Celtics get involved?
Just throwing it out there...Smart for Simmons, plus a questionable contract, a future pick, and few salary fillers?
I think this is true. Superstar money but he can't be trusted when it matters. If he was making $20 mil a year, everyone would want him as their #3. But it's tough to pay your #3 guy #1 money.
Simmons also wants to be a number 1 player but won't improve his game like number 1s do.
He does? He took a whopping 10 FGA's last season and a usage rate of 20% - nearly half of Embiid's usage rate. Ben has flaws but I he's not having any Marcus Smart moments and hijacking the offense.
You say that, but even Simmons' lowest usage rate (20.2% last year) is higher than Smart's highest ever (19.4% in 2017-18). For career averages, Ben is almost 25% higher than Smart (21.5% vs 17.5%). He doesn't act as the main offensive focal point (and no one on the 6ers other than Embiid should), but let's not pretend that he handles the ball or shoots less than Smart.
His usage rate isn't the real issue, though, it's that he provides absolutely no spacing at PG, but wants to play there. Put him at PF and he would be much more effective in the half-court, but will his pride let that happen? I'm not so sure. He needs to suck it up and do what the team needs, not just what he wants.
Also, Smart and Simmons FGA last season were 10.6 and 10.1 in 32.9 and 32.4 mpg, respectively.
But so many of Smart's attempts are 3 pointers, which he is really bad at, while Simmons takes almost all of his shots from 2 point range where he has a near elite percentage. It isn't just attempts, but how those attempts are taken. If you could some how cross the mentality of Smart and Simmons you'd have the near perfect player (basically Giannis)
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