Ben Simmons Allegedly Prefers Trade to Warriors
The Ben Simmons saga does not appear to have any end in sight. After the season opened the past few weeks, rumors were abound that the Sixers and Simmons were still trying to work some things out after Simmons was losing contract money for missing games and training. Not too long ago, Doc Rivers threw him out of a practice according to ESPN senior inside Adrian Wojnarowski. Simmons had described back tightness as an injury that was keeping him from fully participating, and later told the Sixers that he was “not mentally ready” to fully return to the team.
Surrounding this story constantly are the trade rumors connecting Simmons to any number of teams: The biggest players appeared to have been the Cavaliers and the Trailblazers, but recently it was reported by NBA Analysis’s Evan Massey that Simmons’ preferred destination is Golden State. The Warriors had been linked to Simmons before the season began, although front office disputes about his fit next to Draymond Green and the valuable assets they’d have to give up ultimately stymied those talks ages ago.
We have to stop doing this. At this point, it’s become clear that the league doesn’t value Simmons nearly as much as Daryl Morey and his organization do. They’re asking for a full war chest in return for Simmons, with the alleged asking price having been Wiseman, Wiggins, and both of the first-round picks the Dubs took this year. That is far too steep for a point guard with an attitude problem. It doesn’t matter if he’s 6’10, a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, and only 25 years old. Selling the future of the team, especially when many of them can still contribute in the here and now, is irresponsible and should not be done.
The Warriors are most obviously linked to Simmons because he gives them a jump from contenders to potential title favorites should he join their loaded roster. Pundits and fans surrounding Golden State say the move is the “win-now” mentality that the front office needs to adapt to capitalize on their final years of Steph Curry’s prime.
What nobody seems to be considering, however, is that the regular season hardly matters outside of gaining homecourt advantage: When it comes to the playoffs, Ben Simmons is a liability, as he showed last year against the Atlanta Hawks. He would be unplayable in close games with a career average of 52%(!!!) from the charity stripe in the postseason. Based on improvements from players like Lonzo Ball (who’s jumpshot was terrible when he came into the league and has now been converted to a 38% shooter from 3 and 75% shooter from the line), it’s obvious that the only thing holding Simmons back is his attitude. He told the Sixers that it’s not his job to improve his trade value, in spite of the fact that he’s requested the trade and is the only person who can fix his trade value by showing his strengths on the court.
Ben Simmons would be a detriment to the Warriors culture, and would harm their spacing more than he would help anything. His self-assessment and ability to hold himself accountable is little-to-none, and he’s shown on multiple occasions both with his on-court play and his off-court mentality that he is not a winning player. Until there is tangible evidence of a Simmons to the Warriors trade, we have to dead this rumors.
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