Four Years Ago....(SI Cover)

[celticsclay]

If that team had traded Simmons for a well-rounded player who could shoot, they would have been unstoppable

And butler would have stayed for sure. Simmons was the absolute disaster to everything.

[Phantom255x]

Looking at this pic again, I have to say Tobias Harris has to be feeling fortunate there's so much other drama around the league with guys like Simmons, Westbrook, Irving, etc. Otherwise he'd get clowned for his 180M contract

[gouki88]

If that team had traded Simmons for a well-rounded player who could shoot, they would have been unstoppable

And butler would have stayed for sure. Simmons was the absolute disaster to everything.

Absolutely. Even at the time I thought it was stupid to prioritise Simmons over Butler. Now it looks 10x as bad with how well Butler has played at Miami (despite injuries)

[celticsclay]

If that team had traded Simmons for a well-rounded player who could shoot, they would have been unstoppable

And butler would have stayed for sure. Simmons was the absolute disaster to everything.

Absolutely. Even at the time I thought it was stupid to prioritise Simmons over Butler. Now it looks 10x as bad with how well Butler has played at Miami (despite injuries)

I was probably in the minority with you on that. I really thought there were all sorts of red flags with simmons about his attitude and lack of improvement. Even when he was a lower end all star. I’ll admit I didn’t think it was ever going to get this bad. However just how even handled butler handling the ball late was a very big warning sign. Also if Jimmy butler doesn’t like your effort that is usually a bad sign. I mean his take on towns also has certainly aged well.

[Phantom255x]

Looking at this pic again, I have to say Tobias Harris has to be feeling fortunate there's so much other drama around the league with guys like Simmons, Westbrook, Irving, etc. Otherwise he'd get clowned for his 180M contract

And OF COURSE after I say this, Harris is playing like a superstar against us tonight 

[Billz401]

I feel the need to also address the "imagine if they picked Tatum instead of Fultz" narrative. They mentioned it in the broadcast as well. Do people not remember that the Celts had the #1 that year and according to Ainge were picking JT no matter what. They just made the pick swap to get the extra pick and also give philly the opportunity to screw over the Lakers with Fultz looking like a far better player than Lonzo (at the time). Its not like the Doncic for Young scenario where ATL is probably kicking themselves right now.

[tazzmaniac]

Also, they may have been a bounce of a basketball away from a title that season.  That was the year they lost in 7 to Toronto when Kawhi got the double bounce as time expired to win game 7 (it was tied so it would have been overtime had it missed and who knows what OT looks like).  The Raptors of course beat the Bucks in 6 and the very injured Warriors in 6 to win the title.

What is weird about that series is Embiid had a poor offensive performance overall but his on/off differential was ridiculous.  That included the last game where the Sixers were +10 in the 45 minutes Embiid was on court and -12 in the 3 minutes he was off court. 

[tazzmaniac]

If that team had traded Simmons for a well-rounded player who could shoot, they would have been unstoppable

And butler would have stayed for sure. Simmons was the absolute disaster to everything.

Absolutely. Even at the time I thought it was stupid to prioritise Simmons over Butler. Now it looks 10x as bad with how well Butler has played at Miami (despite injuries)

I was probably in the minority with you on that. I really thought there were all sorts of red flags with simmons about his attitude and lack of improvement. Even when he was a lower end all star. I’ll admit I didn’t think it was ever going to get this bad. However just how even handled butler handling the ball late was a very big warning sign. Also if Jimmy butler doesn’t like your effort that is usually a bad sign. I mean his take on towns also has certainly aged well.

The question is would Butler have stayed.  He really wanted to go to Miami even when he was with the TWolves.  The Sixers would have had to give him the 5-year Max contract for him to consider it.  They really should have gone that route if they could considering that Embiid and Butler really got along.  However being the Sixers they would have probably figured out a way to screw up a Embiid/Butler core.  Probably would have done something like trade Simmons and picks for Kyrie. 

[tazzmaniac]

The Sixers have so many “what if” scenarios.  What if they had sold high on Simmons, and built around an Embiid / Butler core?

Yeah, and I may have suggested on a thread they would be better off trading Embiid for KAt and building around Simmons.  Egg on my face.back

As the Embiid fan on here, I'll say you were far from alone.  Even not too long ago, some folks on here were still wanting to trade for Simmons and play him at the 5.  Heck even on the Libertyballers site, there were some Sixers fans wanting to build around Simmons.  Of course, the last of those folks shut up after Simmons playoff performance against the Hawks a few years ago.   

[Moranis]

I feel the need to also address the "imagine if they picked Tatum instead of Fultz" narrative. They mentioned it in the broadcast as well. Do people not remember that the Celts had the #1 that year and according to Ainge were picking JT no matter what. They just made the pick swap to get the extra pick and also give philly the opportunity to screw over the Lakers with Fultz looking like a far better player than Lonzo (at the time). Its not like the Doncic for Young scenario where ATL is probably kicking themselves right now.

Sure, but the Sixers could have made that trade and then drafted Tatum.  There was no guarantee that Tatum was still going to be available at 3.  Sure that was the most likely outcome, but it was far from a guarantee, which is why I'm not sure I believe Ainge.  If Ainge was convinced Tatum was the guy, he shouldn't have made the trade and just should have taken Tatum.

[PAOBoston]

Looking at this pic again, I have to say Tobias Harris has to be feeling fortunate there's so much other drama around the league with guys like Simmons, Westbrook, Irving, etc. Otherwise he'd get clowned for his 180M contract

No one would clown him. Everyone knew that was a massive overpay for a player who wasn’t worth it. Not the player’s fault a dumb team offered that contract.

[hwangjini_1]

I feel the need to also address the "imagine if they picked Tatum instead of Fultz" narrative. They mentioned it in the broadcast as well. Do people not remember that the Celts had the #1 that year and according to Ainge were picking JT no matter what. They just made the pick swap to get the extra pick and also give philly the opportunity to screw over the Lakers with Fultz looking like a far better player than Lonzo (at the time). Its not like the Doncic for Young scenario where ATL is probably kicking themselves right now.

Sure, but the Sixers could have made that trade and then drafted Tatum.  There was no guarantee that Tatum was still going to be available at 3.  Sure that was the most likely outcome, but it was far from a guarantee, which is why I'm not sure I believe Ainge.  If Ainge was convinced Tatum was the guy, he shouldn't have made the trade and just should have taken Tatum.

whew. thank you so much for not accepting the celtics GM job and letting ainge stay. 

[SparzWizard]

Still can't believe Simmons got away with stealing Tatum's ROTY award, simply because of a technicality.

That could've been either Tatum or Mitchell's award, but nah, Simmons gotta win it cuz he's a "rookie" in his sophomore year 

He even went on dissing Mitchell and his former team, claiming it wasn't even a bleepin' race. SMH get outta here you washed-up slob

[celticsclay]

If that team had traded Simmons for a well-rounded player who could shoot, they would have been unstoppable

And butler would have stayed for sure. Simmons was the absolute disaster to everything.

Absolutely. Even at the time I thought it was stupid to prioritise Simmons over Butler. Now it looks 10x as bad with how well Butler has played at Miami (despite injuries)

I was probably in the minority with you on that. I really thought there were all sorts of red flags with simmons about his attitude and lack of improvement. Even when he was a lower end all star. I’ll admit I didn’t think it was ever going to get this bad. However just how even handled butler handling the ball late was a very big warning sign. Also if Jimmy butler doesn’t like your effort that is usually a bad sign. I mean his take on towns also has certainly aged well.

The question is would Butler have stayed.  He really wanted to go to Miami even when he was with the TWolves.  The Sixers would have had to give him the 5-year Max contract for him to consider it.  They really should have gone that route if they could considering that Embiid and Butler really got along.  However being the Sixers they would have probably figured out a way to screw up a Embiid/Butler core.  Probably would have done something like trade Simmons and picks for Kyrie.

I thought he had basically said he would have stayed with the max and said they chose Tobias over him. They didn’t want to offer the max 5 year cause simmons didn’t like him and they want to keep coddling simmons.

[Phantom255x]

If that team had traded Simmons for a well-rounded player who could shoot, they would have been unstoppable

And butler would have stayed for sure. Simmons was the absolute disaster to everything.

Absolutely. Even at the time I thought it was stupid to prioritise Simmons over Butler. Now it looks 10x as bad with how well Butler has played at Miami (despite injuries)

I was probably in the minority with you on that. I really thought there were all sorts of red flags with simmons about his attitude and lack of improvement. Even when he was a lower end all star. I’ll admit I didn’t think it was ever going to get this bad. However just how even handled butler handling the ball late was a very big warning sign. Also if Jimmy butler doesn’t like your effort that is usually a bad sign. I mean his take on towns also has certainly aged well.

The question is would Butler have stayed.  He really wanted to go to Miami even when he was with the TWolves.  The Sixers would have had to give him the 5-year Max contract for him to consider it.  They really should have gone that route if they could considering that Embiid and Butler really got along.  However being the Sixers they would have probably figured out a way to screw up a Embiid/Butler core.  Probably would have done something like trade Simmons and picks for Kyrie.

I thought he had basically said he would have stayed with the max and said they chose Tobias over him. They didn’t want to offer the max 5 year cause simmons didn’t like him and they want to keep coddling simmons.

Yeah this is what I remember. They basically chose Harris and Simmons over Butler. Embiid really wanted Butler to stay here as well. I do think Embiid resents them for that decision as well, especially with how Simmons turned out too. Embiid by all accounts is a nice guy and great teammate and even he openly told reporters he "doesn't care" anymore about the Simmons situation and he also got sick of talking about him during the time Simmons held out for what they called mental health reasons