If We Strike Gold & Get Top-Two Pick...

[mahcussmaht]

Simmons looks ready in every possible way, and as an unselfish player with good court vision it's hard to imagine him being held back. He would play 15-20 minutes a night from day 1 for us. Any of the other guys in the mix who knows.

Simmons can't shoot yet, but he will be will be a starter for us right away.   They say he's a better prospect than Karl Anthony Towns and Karl Anthony Towns might already be a top 20 player in the league. 

[Quetzalcoatl]

What's great is that Brad is a good enough coach to do things like this:

I see Ingram more as a Shooting Guard. He would take Bradley's spot at the 2 if he plays well. Simmons and Crowder would play 3/4 together.

I think that if we get Ben Simmons, he's starting from day one.  I wouldn't even be surprised if we use him as a center of sorts, either.  He's a big dude.  PF is probably a better fit for him, but he could be a hybrid point/center thing if we needed.

[PhoSita]

I think Simmons would have a big role pretty much from day 1 playing at the 3/4 25-30 minutes a night.

If we draft Simmons, it'll be interesting to see if the team considers trading Isaiah sooner rather than later.  Isaiah will probably be on the verge of retirement before  Simmons turns 25, and between Simmons, Smart, and Rozier we will have more than enough young ballhandlers.


Ingram would be simpler to slot into the rotation.  Just give him the minutes Turner is getting right now and have Smart and Rozier cover all of the backup ballhandling duties.

My guess is that Ingram will take time to acclimate to the NBA while he bulks up.  But if he earns a starting spot sooner rather than later, it wouldn't be a problem to move Crowder to the 2.  Would make Bradley even more expendable.

[max215]

I think the roster has to change a lot if we draft Simmons. He's the sort of guy that you must construct a roster around to accentuate his strengths. I trust that Danny would do a solid job of that, and Simmons could almost immediately play around 30 minutes. Ingram is much easier. We can pretty much just get rid of Turner and give Ingram his minutes. I'd want to start Ingram at around 24-26 minutes to make sure his body can handle the rigors of the NBA/give him time to bulk up. Once Ingram is ready for more minutes, we can cut back on AB and Isaiah's minutes.

[walker834]

I'm still not sure what Simmons position is. He's a forward but he's like Lebron where he's really a pg. He can play all over the place but he's a big time distributor.

[__ramonezy__]

Our early success has skewed our expectations as fans for our rebuild process...  Which in my opinion is still 2-3 years out. I wouldn't move any of our  cornerstones even if we landed Simmons  or Ingram this year but see how they mesh together first. It's almost like we want to become contenders after a single rebuilding year.

Even with this year players have separated themselves from the pack and our future is becoming clearer.  Sully,  Lee,  TZ seem on their way out making way for mickey. I actually like Turner as a second unit player. Ironically the gaps on our team are still the same as the start of last year but the team itself has grown and gotten better and i would be wary how we pull that a part

[walker834]

I still don't understand the Sullinger hate.  Sully is a big dude.   I also don't understand why we need another ball hog on this team although this class is pretty good and not that.  I'm kind of glad this team doesn't get high picks very often. When we do we should probably cash in though.

Simmons should be the #1 pick though. He's the entire package as far as a basketball player but could be better on defense.  The guy is a 6'9  Tim Duncan with Magic Johnson skills lol.

[wiley]

I guess because of the dot dot dot I thought this thread was going to be about who we should take first if we have the top two picks.

I mean, why not take Ingram first to light a small fire under Simmons.  We'll forever benefit from his feeling cheated and dissed by being picked at #2....that is, if he forgives us at contract time.

On the other hand Simmons at one and Ingram at two is fine by me.  No complaints there if they don't want to play with fire.   

[chambers]

if we get Ingram or Simmons Brad will probably try a year of integrating them in with Crowder on the floor.
Although drafting either of those guys make Crowder a very valuable trade asset. I wonder what kind of draft pick Crowder could get on draft night if he plays like this for the rest of the year?

I bet Philly would love him in the locker room. Crowder+Future Brooklyn pick for #3 pick?
Come out with Ben Simmons and Dragan Bender in this draft? lol

[trickybilly]

How about a lineup of

Smart/Crowder/Ingram (or Simmons)/Kelly/Amir

IT, Hunter, Jerebko

in the offseason, if we are lucky to grab a top 2 pick, what can Bradley, Sully, Turner, Zeller and a few pick grab us?

see, in my opinion, Crowder is playing extremely well, and when Smart and Crowder are on the floor, they can almost stop anyone, and Crowder's offense HAS been improving. I don't want that kind of production to come off the bench. IT in my opinion is still a 6th man, I can be wrong since he is playing like an all-star this season.

obviously my idea is very flawed since we'd be trading a lot of people. But just interested in what you guys think

I don't understand the stubborn idea of putting half-man half-basketball-player Smart in the starting lineup (again) after Thomas has repeatedly proven that he's not only our best player and most dynamic scorer, but also a completely adequate starter despite his size.

Also, Crowder cannot play SG.

Agreed.  Smart is a better option for 6th man with his scrappy defense.  IT is the current star of this team and deserves to start.  And, Crowder is not a SG - agreed.

I know you are not neccesarily saying that you want Smart to check in for Isaiah, and I have no problems with either Smart coming off the bench or IT as a "foreseeable future" starter, but we should really discontinue this "point guard" or 1 spot thinking. It doesn't really matter who initiates the offence I don't think (although Isaiah in a high pick and roll is always a good place to start). Brad is obviously trying to build a team where at least 4 guys on floor at all times have decent dribbling skills, and the "5" can shoot a weakside or pick'n pop 3.

What is it about the "shooting guard" position that Jae can't do well enough? Shooting? If that's your point then, well I guess so, but he has had a pretty long stretch of good shooting now, and his stroke looks pretty nice..

It has been interesting watching people's comments about which lineups they like for what reasons, but at very least I agree that you need to at least have two guys on the floor who can really dribble and draw help to get the Defense reacting. That's why I quite like KO and Turner. They create good stuff (for Kelly and others). Yes, I just said that Turner is good at dribbling, call me crazy, but he does draw help, shows and, occasionally, traps (despite his dribble, his handle is unpredictable, I think teams know that).

[Celtics4ever]

I still don't understand the Sullinger hate.  Sully is a big dude.   I also don't understand why we need another ball hog on this team although this class is pretty good and not that.  I'm kind of glad this team doesn't get high picks very often. When we do we should probably cash in though.

Simmons should be the #1 pick though. He's the entire package as far as a basketball player but could be better on defense.  The guy is a 6'9  Tim Duncan with Magic Johnson skills lol.

I would present that we could do a lot better than Sully in every aspect but rebounding, he has elite skill there.   

If you can't see that we could do better than a guy who is  shooting .33% from the field in the last five games,  42% for the year, then I truly feel sorry for you.  Perhaps Lasik or Spectacles would be in order?

[chambers]

I still don't understand the Sullinger hate.  Sully is a big dude.   I also don't understand why we need another ball hog on this team although this class is pretty good and not that.  I'm kind of glad this team doesn't get high picks very often. When we do we should probably cash in though.

Simmons should be the #1 pick though. He's the entire package as far as a basketball player but could be better on defense.  The guy is a 6'9  Tim Duncan with Magic Johnson skills lol.

I would present that we could do a lot better than Sully in every aspect but rebounding, he has elite skill there.   

If you can't see that we could do better than a guy who is  shooting .33% from the field in the last five games,  42% for the year, then I truly feel sorry for you.  Perhaps Lasik or Spectacles would be in order?

You just don't give Sully credit for anything except rebounding.
He's not perfect, but he's got awesome hands, is a great passer, and just understands how to make space for our wings.
Even though he's a fat slob he's still got some incredible intangibles.
Obviously we are going to have to let him walk if the price is too high, but he's not a one dimensional player like you frame him as.

[Corey]

Assuming we get one of the two, they'd be coming off the bench to start the season. Simmons would eventually start at the 4, or play big 6th man minutes. Same with Ingram at the 3.

If our team was very similar to what it is now, Ingram would eventually push Crowder into a 6th man role, and it would make us a lot stronger.

I personally am in the 'Trade Smart' camp to upgrade another position, but if you're rolling out IT-Bradley-Ingram with your choice of Kelly/Sully/Amir/Zeller at the other two positions, you're moving in the right direction.

I think Sully and Smart paired together could get you a dynamic big man or a good draft pick.

[loco_91]

-Simmons is ready to go in the NBA. I'd expect him to see 20 mins/night, playing 3/4 (ideally he's more of a 4). He would come off the bench paired with Smart, which is ideal because it will let him have the ball in his hands more than if he started alongside IT.

-Ingram is going to have more of an adjustment period. I'd expect him to get 10mpg at first, but if SF wasn't a position where we lack depth, then he wouldn't even get that. At some point he'll transition to 20+mpg.

-Similarly, Bender probably won't be ready for significant minutes on a good team right away. For him, it will depend a lot on what our big man rotation looks like. If we keep all 3 of Amir, Sully, and JJ, then he'll be getting garbage time minutes. Most likely, if we draft him then JJ is gone to free minutes for him.

[aefgogreen]

I think both would get big minutes.  Simmons is obviously the first choice if we can get him.  If not, I like the idea of starting Ingram at the 2.  Give Crowder the tougher defensive assignment between the 2 or the 3.