A) No, I'm above ground, thank you.
B) Players request trades sometimes. They don't claim mental health issues along the way (at least, this is the first time I can recall this happening). So, either there is something to this or it's a particularly insensitive and gross way of going about throwing a hissy fit.
C) Oh, so his coaches criticized his play? The horror! That never happens on other teams....
What happens if a coach here criticizes his play? Are we going to go through "mental health issues" again (either real or imagined)?
D) I never said I don't want a player like Simmons. If you actually read my posts I've been critical of his specific behavior regarding this and concerned about his lack of shooting ability, but have stated he's probably more talented/skilled than Fox, etc. He's a multi-time all-star. Nobody is refuting that. He has some skills that would be very welcome here. He has some lack of skills that would be hard to build around (specifically, shooting, as well as willingness to shoot, apparently, coupled with a poor free throw %). For a league that has moved to 3-point shooting being a high priority, trading a player who is somewhat decent (not great) at it for someone who literally can't hit the broad side of a barn unless he's inside the paint is a legitimate concern. If we were trading a big for him that likewise lived in the paint offensively, that's one thing. But swapping out Fox for Simmons sure isn't going to help solve our outside shooting issues, and we aren't that great to begin with. And if he does get to the line, it's almost a coin flip whether he's going to make it.
E) You throw around "hate" when it is just a legitimate concern about stated (
by him/his "team") mental health issues and "inability to play basketball". If he just said he wanted out and sat out, that's one thing (and I could respect that, to a certain extent). But this appears to be something much more serious (
as stated by him/his "team"). He's not saying he
won't play to force a trade, he's saying he
can't play. And when you are sitting on 3+ years of a VERY expensive contract, availability is the best ability to have.
In summary, I am not saying "don't do it", I'm saying you better be very darn sure that this:
A) isn't indicative of a serious ongoing mental health issue.
B) isn't something he'd pull again the moment he gets criticized if it isn't A).
C) won't cost us too much in the way of assets if we do trade for him. While our defense will likely improve, his lack of shooting ability can limit certain player combinations, etc., without clogging up the paint on the offensive side of things. We need to improve our 3-point shooting, and this move wouldn't help that. His poor FT shooting percentage doesn't help much either if he's living in the paint.