Getty Ben Simmons #25 formerly of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers bowed out of the 2020-21 playoffs in humiliating fashion two years ago. The road to the Eastern Conference Finals was paved, all they had to do was overcome a defensively challenged Atlanta Hawks team, led by sharpshooter Trae Young.
It should have been a simple task for a Sixers team that finished first in the East. Alas, the Hawks proved their resiliency, taking down Philadelphia in seven games.
But the creme-de-la-creme to the underwhelming performance was the complete no-show from Ben Simmons. And even worse, when he did show up, he was passing easy dunks off to Matisse Thybulle. The series against Atlanta completely altered the Sixers’ plans for the future and Simmons’ long-term viability on the roster.
But imagine this: the Brooklyn Nets star teaming up with the Hawks. It might sound far-fetched, but that’s exactly what would go down in a recent trade proposed by Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report. Here’s how it would work:
Nets Receive: John Collins, Eric Gordon and Maurice Harkless
Hawks Receive: Ben Simmons, David Nwaba and Edmond Sumner
Rockets Receive: Jalen Johnson, Day’Ron Sharpe and a 2023 first-round pick from Brooklyn
In a deal revolving around many moving pieces, Simmons is still the best player on the move. But Bailey did acknowledge the potential strangeness of having Young, Dejounte Murray, and Simmons all on the floor together.
“Things get weird pretty quickly when thinking about this from the Hawks perspective, but it makes some sense as a pure talent play,” Bailey wrote. “And defensively, Murray and Simmons might make up the best perimeter duo.”
Sure, it might make sense on paper. The Joel Embiid-Ben Simmons-Jimmy Butler partnership also made sense on paper. But Bailey laid out a surprisingly compelling case for the trade.
Simmons Could Lack Touches with the Brooklyn Nets
As it stands, Brooklyn’s roster is loaded with top-end talent in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Simmons. With Seth Curry and Joe Harris likely roaming as starting perimeter shooters, the team lacks much depth behind the front five.
Oh, and there’s the problem that Durant and Irving are especially effective with the ball in their hands. Ditto for Simmons, who provides absolutely zero spacing.
“Simmons has spent his entire career on the ball, and now he’s heading into a situation with two of the most prolific isolation scorers of all time. As the old saying goes, ‘there’s only one ball,'” Bailey opined.
Swapping John Collins for Simmons would be a definite downgrade talent-wise, but it might make more sense for the roster as presently constructed.
Simmons Brings Defense, if Not Much Else
Then there’s Atlanta. On paper — there’s that phrase again — the Hawks appear to have similar ball-handling roadblocks to Brooklyn in Murray and Young. But, as Bailey pointed out, Young and Murray are probably better teammates than their Brooklyn counterparts.
“Of course, the same concern about ball dominance exists here [as in Brooklyn], but Trae Young and Dejounte Murray are more willing passers than KD and Kyrie. And lineups with all three would feature more playmaking ability than any other group in the league can bring,” Bailey explained.
The irony of it all is seeing Simmons join up with a team that quite literally ended his tenure in Philadelphia. How would he fit in? How would he be treated by Hawks fans? By Sixers fans?
These are all factors that don’t appear when you examine a trade simply “on paper.”