Was thinking the same.

The way Philly is talking about forcing Simmo to play for them and fine him if he doesn't suit up to training camp seems like a stupid idea and won't help either party.

But do the Rockets want to bottom out completely? It seems these days if you aren't in the running for the Playoffs and/or haven't recently drafted some good players and are actively rebuilding then you want to be in the lottery.

Maybe they could do a three-way trade with a team with draft picks.

Looks like Wall is on about $45 million a year for the next two years so philly might have to give someone else up with simmons to match Walls salary. Simmons on $30 odd million from memory.

Wall, Green, curry, Harris, Embiid, Milton that's a solid 6 that should contend

Maxey or Matisse to go with Simmons? not sure what Rockets big needs are

Would bet on this not happening.

I'm thinking Simmons to Sacto seems most likely rn. The Kings have a surplus at the guard spots and could offer any combo including Hield, Fox, Mitchell or Haliburton that would be more palatable to the Sixers needs (skills / timeline / salary).

I was interested to read a report yesterday that an unyet reported small market team has entered the Simmons sweepstakes. Guessing it would be either Memphis or NOLA.

John Wall has played 113 games over the past four seasons and he just turned 31.

He's due to earn $92mil USD over the next 2 years.

Surely there would be riots in Philly if they did this trade?

I only follow NBA at a distance, glancing over box scores and watching the odd playoff game.

But, I can't believe how badly things have gone for Philly over the past 5 years.

Bad draft picks, injuries, bad signings etc. It's just all gone pear shaped.

If you look at the situation they were in, 4 ,5 6 years ago, to end up here is pretty dismal. Only one elite franchise player in Embiid. Tobias Harris on a massive contract. Simmons lacking confidence and disgruntled. A roster that lacks depth. Still havent even made the Conference Finals.

Things could've been different if Kawhi's game winner had dropped out. Basketball is cruel like that.

But still, if you went back to 2016 or 2017 and said "fast forward 5 years, and Philly will not have made the conference finals, and they'll have a dysfunctional relationship with Simmons and looking to trade him" no one would've expected things would turned out this badly. Given where they were. Disappointing for them.

Why would the Kings give up Fox? 25/4/7 per game. Contract goes 28-37m over five years. Simmons' goes 33-40 over four. I can't see them trading him for Simmons.

Why would the Sixers want Wall for Simmons.

Wall was a great player, but is now an all-star by reputation only, and only due to his injuries.

Simmons is still an all-star calibre all be it will some issues to iron out.

Simmons' defence alone outweighs anything Wall has to offer.

Morey will hold out is my guess unless there is a sweetener to come with.

I don't think the Fox for Simmons trade is that crazy. I think Simmons is actually a better fit for the Kings than Fox is for Philly so I think that would complicate things from Philly's end, though they might not have much choice.

Haliburton and Hield are good fits next to Simmons given they can both shoot and can both play off the ball. Mitchell can come in and play with or next to all of them. A defensive line up with Mitchell, Haliburton and Simmons on the perimeter could be special.

Sacramento aren't really doing anything special with Fox right now so they could be tempted to pull the trigger on Simmons, give him the keys and see if he can get somewhere near his ceiling.

I reckon he ends up in Sacramento. Not sure which pieces end up being part of the deal but to me there's enough there for both teams.

No way the move happens for Wall. Simmons value is low right now but Wall would be one of the worst contracts in the league. If not the absolute worst.

Simmons either has done the homework or not.

If he drops 5 threes in his first game, his trade will be done that afternoon.


If he turns up like that chump that just played in the playoffs, then he is done.

There is still a market for an elite defender and a very good ball carrier / play maker that can play for 3 of the 4 quarters per game.

Even if he never improves Simmons is a very good NBA player. Done? Please.

As a rockets fan I would love this trade. Zero chance of happening though. Heaps of bad blood between Morey and the Rockets. Morey already told Simmons he was leaving for the Rockets once. It won't happen again.

"I can't believe how badly things have gone for Philly over the past 5 years."

I've followed the Sixers closely since Bogut was traded from GSW & really liked what Philly were doing to build a winner. I am/was a Process Truster & Rights to Ricky Sanchez listener.

It mostly comes back to leadership. The ownership group bowed to NBA pressure to force GM Sam Hinkie out. Hinkie built up an amazing Cache of draft assets, cleared cap space & gave opportunity to outlier players. All of that was subsequently squandered by Bryan Colangelo. Elton Brand did what he could, but should not have been put in that position so soon, and put together a poorly constructed roster.

Great players like Covington, McConnel & Saric were traded for players that didn't stick around. Cap space was squandered on an aging Al Horford (for a position that was already covered by Embiid).

Then you've got the just plain weird stuff:
- Zhaire Smith nearly dying of food poisoning (though Mikal Bridges should have been kept in the first place)
- Burnergate & Bryan Colangelo
- Markelle Fultz lost the ability to shoot under conditions yet to be explained.

It's in this context that you've got Ben Simmons now doing absolutely bizarrely not engaging in half-court offense in a 2nd round finals series.

Daryl Morey has done some great things since arriving to clean all this up. But I bet he's really thrown by this Ben stuff. I think that Shaq & Barkly have rightly called Ben out.

While the Kawhi shot was a heartbreaker, Hinkie had set that team up with so many draft and free agency options that they should have bounced back to dominate for the next decade.

The ownership group ultimately are all about the $$$... they're high end investment guys. They plan to build a new arena and make significant dollars. I half think that their thinking is that if Ben wants to screw them, they'll screw him harder by calling his bluff & fining him. The Process was a long-term plan towards a championship. Ben sitting & being fined or being traded for little return are both massive road blocks to the ownership group's investment strategy, so I think they'd be okay to let him sit. I'm happy to be wrong about this too.

#trusttheprocess #rtrs