It is pretty strange that people seem to basing Simmons' entire career on his last playoff series. Sure, he has some maturity issues to address, but it probably does suck being called out by your coach and best player. Most players would have been traded at that point and been excelling on their new team, but PHI continues to hold on to Simmons because he isn't as valued as they thought...I think this is fair, btw; a player doesn't automatically deserve to be traded when he is under contract just because he requested it.
As for Brown for Simmons, straight up - no way. But what if PHI was willing to add in two of Thybulle/Maxey/Curry and a future 1st or two? Not only do we improve our depth, but we improve the assets we have in order to trade for another star. Simmons as the 3rd best player with two clear stars ahead of him would probably be pretty lethal.
Brown would still be the best player in that trade. Depth might improve a bit but so what? You win in the NBA with star/elite players.
Hey, I'm a huge Brown fan, so I am not looking to trade him, but I am not going to pretend Simmons doesn't have more accolades to his name than Brown. Does that make Simmons better than Brown? Nope. But it isn't like we would be trading Brown for somebody definitely worse. In fact, it's entirely possible Simmons blossoms in a new environment and surpasses Brown once again. And getting all of those other pieces would just be icing on the cake.
All I am saying is people's last (and seemingly, only) impression of Simmons is that he is a weak, cowardly, overpaid player who can't shoot. When if Philly had just dealt him to another team this summer, he very likely would be playing at an All-Star level and everybody would have gotten over it. PHI is doing a great job at tanking their asset and Simmons is doing a great job at tanking himself.
As many know on here, I don't actually think Brown is nearly as valuable as most of this board. I fully expect Boston to once again have a better record over the week or two that he is out then when he was actually playing, because I don't actually think Tatum and Brown fit all that well together and Brown just isn't as good as Tatum. Tatum just plays better without Brown and the secondary players all have more action and play better as well. I also think Simmons play making would be a huge bonus for not just Tatum but the rest of the team. My hesitation on trading Brown for Simmons though would be there isn't anyone else that can consistently score on the roster. So I'd really like to see a second trade that brings a better scorer to the team. If Boston could some how swing that, then I'd be fine trading Brown for Simmons straight up. I would be very hesitant to do it without a 2nd scorer though.
So like if Boston could do something like this
Smart, Nesmith, Langford, Hernangomez, 22 1st, 24 1st, swap 23 1st for McCollum
then I'd probably be ok trading just Brown for Simmons straight up
Starters - Schroder, McCollum, Tatum, Simmons, Horford
Main Bench - Pritchard, Richardson, G. Williams, R. Williams
Deep Bench - Parker, Kanter, Fernando, Thomas (TW), Hauser (TW)
3 open roster spots for buy out/free agent market