Trade targets

Sorry, read tour comment wrong. I think most of the issue is the fact that his coach and team railroaded him after his performance in the playoffs. The harsh criticisms from fans booing him multiple times thru the years and the overexposure in the media. Sacramento is a small franchise that gets minimal coverage and our fans are quite compassionate, especially towards Allstars. This team has revitalized a few players' careers and I think a big part of that is the minimal exposure and great atmosphere in the arena. Hypothetically if we did get him via trade, our seats would sell out immediately and there would be nonstop cheering. The atmosphere he'd be playing in would change from negative to positive in a blink of an eye.

Just my take.
No his team didn't "railroad" him they had his back a million times and only criticized him once. Hes been handled with kiddie gloves his whole life.
 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
I think most of the issue is the fact that his coach and team railroaded him after his performance in the playoffs. The harsh criticisms from fans booing him multiple times thru the years and the overexposure in the media.
This take is just so overblown. The "railroading", briefly summarized:

Ben Simmons' beef with 76ers explained: A complete timeline of ongoing drama between both sides - CBSSports.com

Unfortunately, Simmons' performance from the foul line didn't improve in the second round against Atlanta. In 12 total playoff games, Simmons made just 25 of his 73 attempts from the charity stripe, which equates to 34 percent -- the worst mark in a single postseason in NBA history. Simmons' struggles from the foul line clearly shook his confidence, and that leaked over into other areas of his game. In the full seven-game series against Atlanta, Simmons took three total shots in the fourth quarter. He didn't attempt a single shot in the fourth quarter of five of the seven games.

Down the stretch of Game 7 against Atlanta, Simmons passed out of an open opportunity at the rim in order to avoid potentially drawing a foul and being forced to the line.

The Sixers went on the lose the game, and the series, and afterward Joel Embiid, fair or not, pointed to that particular play as a turning point.

"I'll be honest. I thought the turning point was when we - I don't know how to say it. But I thought the turning point was just, we had an open shot and we made one free throw and we missed the other and then they came down and scored," Embiid said.

That didn't sit well with Simmons, who was also unhappy with comments that Doc Rivers made after the game. When asked if he thought Simmons could be a championship-level point guard, Rivers replied "I don't know the answer to that."

Rivers didn't wait too long to qualify the comments he made after Game 7. "I'm very bullish on Ben still," he said to media members during his end-of-season media availability. "But there's work. There is. And Ben will be willing to do it, and that's the key. Sometimes you have to go through stuff to see it, and to be honest with it." Rivers went on to say that the team had a plan in place to help Simmons improve as a shooter over the offseason.
That's it. That's the overblown and overhyped "railroading" that has (according to some) caused his mental health to become an issue to the point he "can't play" basketball (or, according to others, just caused him to give up on his team and sit out, blaming mental health issues instead of just being upfront about it). And that's the guy we want to trade our best player(s) and draft picks for to get here? What's going to happen when he's losing 2/3 of his games in Sacramento and still has several years and lots of millions left to be paid on his contract?
 
The Kings dont suck because of those players. My point stands about Simmons coming with a huge amount of risk hes a liability at this point. He can decide Sacramento isn't glamorous enough or continue with his mental health claim and we would be royally...
Bottom line they do suck though.
 
If we can’t get Simmons for Fox (or Simmons/Harris for Fox/Barnes), I don’t really see any other realistic players that we could get and would opt for keeping Fox (at least through the off-season). Brown would cost too much, Sabonis would cost too much and isn’t a defensive upgrade, Ingram would cost too much and isn’t a defensive upgrade, Turner is a defensive upgrade but we’d lose a lot of our offensive playmaking/scoring and think Fox is more valuable, etc.).

TRADE #1
PHI Gets: Fox, Barnes, Bagley, & Thompson
SAC Gets: Harris, Simmons, Milton, & Joe

TRADE #2
BOS Gets: Hield & Favors
OKC Gets: Hernangomez, Schroder, Harkless, 2022 SAC 2nd, & 2023 SAC 2nd
SAC Gets: Horford, Nesmith, & K. Williams

TRADE #3
CHA Gets: Hollmes
SAC Gets: I. Smith & PJ Washington


PG - Mitchell / Milton / Smith
SG - Haliburton / Davis / Nesmith / Ramsey
SF - Simmons / Williams / Joe / Woodard
PF - Harris / Washington / Metu
C - Horford / Jones / Len
 
PJ Washington remains my number 1 realistic target. Fits the age curve, is actually good and the Hornets have incentive to get value for him with the big Bridges extension. Slots perfectly at the 4 for a Fox/Hali lead team with his spacing/passing and quality defense. PJ would be on my top 5 list as a break-out candidate if given a proper starting role.

The Hornets can correct their mistake of not getting Holmes this off-season and keeping him for an insanely reasonable deal with their money going to essentially be capped out. He's a perfect fit for that offense and upgrades their non-existent defense
 
Several competing executives (assuming Turner’s injury isn’t severe) believe the Mavericks are the favorite for Turner with Dwight Powell and one of Dorian Finney-Smith or Jalen Brunson. Dallas’ willingness to part with Finney-Smith or Brunson may come down to each player’s free-agent expectations. – via Eric Pincus @ Bleacher Report

we can beat Dwight Powell + DFS or Brunson right? Especially since they’re both free agents next year
 
Several competing executives (assuming Turner’s injury isn’t severe) believe the Mavericks are the favorite for Turner with Dwight Powell and one of Dorian Finney-Smith or Jalen Brunson. Dallas’ willingness to part with Finney-Smith or Brunson may come down to each player’s free-agent expectations. – via Eric Pincus @ Bleacher Report

we can beat Dwight Powell + DFS or Brunson right? Especially since they’re both free agents next year
I mean, DFS and Brunson are actually really good players, but this would be such a strange trade from the Pacers perspective. Talk about a lateral move that does nothing to improve the future.
 
I mean, DFS and Brunson are actually really good players, but this would be such a strange trade from the Pacers perspective. Talk about a lateral move that does nothing to improve the future.
I dont think they want a good team in the near future. I think they are in the collecting money and assets mode right now. They wilo try to flip turner and or sabonis into as many FRP and as much cap space as possible. I have read lavert is also available. So their will be a sale of the near future for building a towards long term success. But we need to get real about our prospects. We have no ability to bring top tier free agents to the kings. The draft has been a mixed bag. So we have to get very aggressive on the trade market. Im willing to move big picks if it gets big results.
 
I dont think they want a good team in the near future. I think they are in the collecting money and assets mode right now. They wilo try to flip turner and or sabonis into as many FRP and as much cap space as possible. I have read lavert is also available. So their will be a sale of the near future for building a towards long term success. But we need to get real about our prospects. We have no ability to bring top tier free agents to the kings. The draft has been a mixed bag. So we have to get very aggressive on the trade market. Im willing to move big picks if it gets big results.
Haven't been following the Pacers' drama at all closely, but I seriously doubt Carlisle - who's very respected and only just got to Indy - is on board for any kind of rebuild.
 
Haven't been following the Pacers' drama at all closely, but I seriously doubt Carlisle - who's very respected and only just got to Indy - is on board for any kind of rebuild.
If I'm Carlisle, I would push hard for Fox. He'd be good for Fox as well, given how demanding he is. Fox really needs that to mature his game.
 
I dont think they want a good team in the near future. I think they are in the collecting money and assets mode right now. They wilo try to flip turner and or sabonis into as many FRP and as much cap space as possible. I have read lavert is also available. So their will be a sale of the near future for building a towards long term success. But we need to get real about our prospects. We have no ability to bring top tier free agents to the kings. The draft has been a mixed bag. So we have to get very aggressive on the trade market. Im willing to move big picks if it gets big results.
Right, that's my assumption too which is why that Dallas package accomplishes nothing for them. Brunson and DFS are "win now" pieces that are headed for FA.
 
Haven't been following the Pacers' drama at all closely, but I seriously doubt Carlisle - who's very respected and only just got to Indy - is on board for any kind of rebuild.
I think their owner also has stated emphatically that they will not Tank, reset maybe but not Tank.
 
That's a heck of a lot of optimistic...speculation...for such a big contract and his issues (one way or another) that are keeping his behind on the bench. His defense of the water bottles would be great, though!
I'd rather take a risk than continue subpar mediocrity. To each their own though
 
Kings linked to Jerami Grant according to Sac Bee. Probably way way more attainable without having to deal Fox or Hali
“According to Jake Fischer, the Pistons are looking for a return headlined by either two first-round picks or one first-round pick and a "high-upside young player."

2 years left on his contract and rumored to be looking for a contract extension north of $100 million.

I’m not really sure if I like or dislike going after him. just adding extra info I’ve read about his situation
 
“According to Jake Fischer, the Pistons are looking for a return headlined by either two first-round picks or one first-round pick and a "high-upside young player."

2 years left on his contract and rumored to be looking for a contract extension north of $100 million.

I’m not really sure if I like or dislike going after him. just adding extra info I’ve read about his situation
way too much to give up for Grant . He’s good, he ain’t that good
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
Well, this technically works

The Sixers taking basically the entire Vlade core and putting them around Embiid would at least be entertaining. If nothing else we would get a definitive answer about how good these guys could have been with a competent coach and an MVP level big man helping them. Most likely they would split them out in smaller deals for cap space though (to chase Harden) or flip two of them for an established All Star.
 
But salaries are 11 mil off

Harris, Simmons,Thybulle for Fox,Buddy,Barnes are same salary

Or Fox,Buddy,Marvin, TT also same salary better cap relief for Philly

with the cap relief on second deal only give them 1 heavily prot 2024 1st

with the first deal less cap relief 1 unprotected 2025 1st
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
You know if we get Harris and Simmons and Thybulle and we lose Fox and for that matter Hield, our offense is going to suck so bad. And if Barnes is also gone, then we are talking losing the 3 guys who are willing to take that last shot or have the ball in crunch time.

But we will have Halliburton and then we can all pass the ball around like the team in Hoosiers and run the picket fence and share the ball….yay.
 
Simmons and embied didnt work and Embeid is a much better outside shooter than sabonis. Simmons plus sabonis is a non-starter then. Plus you cannot have sabonis with holmes so if you are going to bring in sabonis, you need to move holmes for shooters and rim protection.

Im not sure what you have to give up for grant. Im good if its buddy and a FRP (but I think barnes and grant are not far apart enough to move barnes for grant and send a FRP). Certainly not hali and fox. But running grant next to hali and fox will help defensively and if you keep barnes, thats a good deal of shooting around fox and holmes.

Fox/Mitchell
Hali/TD
Grant/Harkless
Barnes/Bagley/Metu
Holmes/Len/Thompson

That still gives you Barnes, Bagley, Thompson to play with, and Bagley and Thompson are a total of 20M in cap relief.