Ben Simmons at 76ers training last month. Photo: AP
After simmering along for a period, the Ben Simmons trade drama momentarily heated up after reports from The Athletic’s Shams Charania of discussions between Simmons, the Philadelphia 76ers and their hated rivals the Boston Celtics.
This writer has previously looked at some potential trade options for the Sixers, should they finally deal the enigmatic Aussie, but the Celtics were not at all on the radar.
It was widely assumed that these latest talks centred around a Simmons-for-Jaylen-Brown deal. Let’s be real, here. The recently-turned 25-year-old Brown, taken two picks after Simmons in the 2016 NBA draft, had started the season in career-best form prior to going down with a leg injury.
Simmons, on the other hand, just hasn’t played – unless you count the way he appears to be attempting to play the 76ers front office. A straight up trade of Simmons for Brown is surely, from a Boston perspective at least, off the table.
Before we delve into what pieces the Sixers would have to throw in to make the Celtics even consider this type of trade, let’s examine what the centrepieces of the rumoured swap would give to their new employers.
Brown would make all caps PERFECT sense for the Sixers. Defensively, he’s not quite the all-round disruptor that Simmons is – he certainly doesn’t possess Simmons’ versatility – but he’s not too far off. He might even be the equal of the Australian as an on-ball wing defender. Off the ball he can become inattentive, but with Joel Embiid behind him that wouldn’t be a major concern.
Offensively, he provides Philly with a legitimate go-to perimeter scoring option to compliment Embiid. A career 37.9 per cent shooter from deep, Brown has upped his success rate to 39.7 per cent this season on – and this is most important – 7.3 three-point attempts.
He’s not nearly the playmaker that Simmons is, especially in the open court, where Simmons remains one of the best on the planet. But in the heat of the playoffs, when the game becomes a halfcourt slog, having a player that is willing to take, let alone make, shots at the end of the shot clock becomes incredibly important. Much more than Simmons ever will be, Jaylen Brown is that man.
From a Boston perspective, Simmons doesn’t make quite as much sense, though the former No.1 pick would provide some very real benefits that Brown does not.
Can you imagine Simmons and Marcus Smart flying around the court on defence? It would be a Tom Thibodeau dream come true. Both players are extremely switchable which, combined with Robert Williams’ emerging defensive versatility, would make the Cs’ defence far more mismatch proof.
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Simmons would also inject the Celtics with some much-needed playmaking. With the exception of 35-year-old big man Al Horford, the Celtics don’t possess a natural creator on the roster. Neither Brown nor Jayson Tatum are inclined to create shots for others. Neither of their point guards in Marcus Smart or Dennis Schroeder are noted distributors.
That lack of ball movement is a cause for consternation both from analysts and internally. After a terrible collapse against the Bulls recently, Smart said about his team’s late-game offence: “They (Brown and Tatum) don’t want to pass the ball and that’s something that they’re going to have to learn.”
Acquiring Simmons would surely lead to spacing issues in Boston, especially when paired with Smart. But the Sixers big men hold skillsets that should be complimentary to Simmons. Williams is a pure rim runner. That is something that Embiid, for all of his otherworldly talents, does not do. He could form a delightful partnership with Simmons.
In his dotage, Horford has become a floor spacer on offence, hitting between 35 per cent and 43 per cent of his threes (though he’s noticeably cold to start this campaign) over the previous five seasons. It’s also worth noting that some of Simmons’ best basketball came when Horford played alongside him in Philadelphia, with Embiid sidelined.
The two of them made magic pinging the ball around without Embiid slowing things down. Horford-at-centre line-ups could give Simmons the spacing that he craves.
Let’s backtrack a little – earlier it was mentioned that a straight Brown-for-Simmons trade would be a non-starter for the Celtics. What else would Philly have to throw in to get this trade off the ground?
It’s unlikely that Boston would want draft capital, given that their prodigious haul of picks in the back half of the last decade proved a mixed bag. Surely they would want a shooter to help offset the lack of range that their current point guards hold. Boston would have to ask for Seth Curry, but would probably have to settle for either Shake Milton or perhaps Furkan Korkmaz.
Perhaps they would also have an interest in underrated second-year big man Paul Reed, who could learn at the feet of Horford for a season or two. The De Paul product shares some similarities to a young Horford in both size and style and could perhaps be a successor to the veteran.
For the second consecutive year, the Celtics are struggling mightily in relation to expectations, whilst the Sixers need to … well, let’s leave it to a man that knows how to run a business:
Ultimately, given the scuttlebutt surrounding Simmons’ status and the standing that Brown has within the Celtics organisation, a lot of ground would need to be covered for a trade like this to happen.
But given Boston’s struggles and the unpredictability of a new front office (let alone the unpredictability of Sixers decision maker Daryl Morey), it’s not entirely off the cards.
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