Your Best and Final Realistic Wolves Offer For Ben Simmons
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 12:03 pm
OK. Here's one last Ben Simmons thread devoted solely to what each of us would be willing to offer as our best and final proposal with a realistic chance of getting a yes from Morey. You should assume that Beal, Lillard and Fox will remain unavailable. You can constrain your offer in whatever way you want, while still proposing a realistic package that would stand a reasonable chance of being accepted.
I'm constraining my offer by keeping KAT, Edwards and McDaniels off the table. I'm assuming that Simmons will follow through on his threat to sit out training camp and that the market for Ben will remain relatively cool, but a bit warmer than now. I'm also assuming, based on the reports and commons sense that the Sixers need to get a win-now package in return. In other words, draft picks are icing but not enough without a player or two who can blend well with Embiid and Harris and help them remain a contender next season. With those things in mind, here's my best and final offer for Ben Simmons:
Sixers Get
1. D'Angelo Russell
2. Malik Beasley
3. Wolves 2022 1st-round pick (top 4 protected, then unprotected in 2023)
4. Wolves 2022 2nd-round pick (via Philly)
5. Wolves 2022 2nd-round pick (via Wizards)
6. Wolves 2024 1st-round pick (lottery protected through 2026 then converts to 2027 & 2028 2nd-round picks)
Wolves Get:
1. Simmons
2. Shake Milton
3. Paul Reed
The Sixers might get a better offer from another team, but I think this would be a strong offer from the Wolves. Russell and Beasley would provide offensive firepower to complement the Sixers' defensive stalwarts - Embiid, Harris and Thybulle. Russell and Beasley are also just entering their prime and have the potential to help keep the Sixers in contention. The picks provide very tasty frosting for the DLO/Beasley cake. I don't think that DLO or Beasley alone would offer enough win-now ammunition to get a yes from Morey, no matter now many picks are thrown in. And while I'm super high on Jaden, he's still more of a long-term value than a win-now piece, which means he has more value to a really young team like the Wolves trying to make the playoffs than an older team trying to win a championship next season. I don't buy the notion that Morey is going to deal Simmons based on the assumption that he can eventually get the star he wants with a bunch of picks sometime down the road. The Sixers' ownership and Embiid are not going to take a pass on this season and whether a bunch of picks can eventually be turned into Beal or Lillard is highly speculative and uncertain.
Shake Milton and Paul Reed would be necessary to match salaries. They'd be good additions to the Wolves with Milton providing some of the 3-point shooting lost with the departure of DLO and Beasley while Reed would provide another young big who can rebound and defend. Instead of those two, the Sixers could simply substitute Maxey to match salaries and since he has the same agent as Simmons I could see Philly preferring to move him. Their agent has already said he wants Maxey out of Philly. However, Maxey wouldn't be as good a deal as Milton and Reed for the Wolves in my view. Nevertheless, I'd take Maxey instead if absolutely necessary to make the deal happen. Another alternative would be Thybulle instead of Milton and Reed. That would make the incoming package almost entirely defensive-oriented. Note that the deal I'm suggesting, with our without any of the tweaks I've alluded to, would net the Wolves another $9.5M of space under the luxury tax threshold. Philly's already over the luxury tax threshold and they're in full championship contention mode, so the extra luxury tax burden shouldn't be a show-stopper for them.
So there you have it. My best and final offer to Morey. There's a part of me that would want the Sixers to turn it down. If the deal happened, it would instantly transform the Wolves from a potential high-octane offense team trying to be just good enough defensively into a defensive team hoping to have enough offense. We'd have a starting lineup of Simmons, Edwards, McDaniels, Vanderbilt and KAT with Beverley as our likely 6th man.
I'm constraining my offer by keeping KAT, Edwards and McDaniels off the table. I'm assuming that Simmons will follow through on his threat to sit out training camp and that the market for Ben will remain relatively cool, but a bit warmer than now. I'm also assuming, based on the reports and commons sense that the Sixers need to get a win-now package in return. In other words, draft picks are icing but not enough without a player or two who can blend well with Embiid and Harris and help them remain a contender next season. With those things in mind, here's my best and final offer for Ben Simmons:
Sixers Get
1. D'Angelo Russell
2. Malik Beasley
3. Wolves 2022 1st-round pick (top 4 protected, then unprotected in 2023)
4. Wolves 2022 2nd-round pick (via Philly)
5. Wolves 2022 2nd-round pick (via Wizards)
6. Wolves 2024 1st-round pick (lottery protected through 2026 then converts to 2027 & 2028 2nd-round picks)
Wolves Get:
1. Simmons
2. Shake Milton
3. Paul Reed
The Sixers might get a better offer from another team, but I think this would be a strong offer from the Wolves. Russell and Beasley would provide offensive firepower to complement the Sixers' defensive stalwarts - Embiid, Harris and Thybulle. Russell and Beasley are also just entering their prime and have the potential to help keep the Sixers in contention. The picks provide very tasty frosting for the DLO/Beasley cake. I don't think that DLO or Beasley alone would offer enough win-now ammunition to get a yes from Morey, no matter now many picks are thrown in. And while I'm super high on Jaden, he's still more of a long-term value than a win-now piece, which means he has more value to a really young team like the Wolves trying to make the playoffs than an older team trying to win a championship next season. I don't buy the notion that Morey is going to deal Simmons based on the assumption that he can eventually get the star he wants with a bunch of picks sometime down the road. The Sixers' ownership and Embiid are not going to take a pass on this season and whether a bunch of picks can eventually be turned into Beal or Lillard is highly speculative and uncertain.
Shake Milton and Paul Reed would be necessary to match salaries. They'd be good additions to the Wolves with Milton providing some of the 3-point shooting lost with the departure of DLO and Beasley while Reed would provide another young big who can rebound and defend. Instead of those two, the Sixers could simply substitute Maxey to match salaries and since he has the same agent as Simmons I could see Philly preferring to move him. Their agent has already said he wants Maxey out of Philly. However, Maxey wouldn't be as good a deal as Milton and Reed for the Wolves in my view. Nevertheless, I'd take Maxey instead if absolutely necessary to make the deal happen. Another alternative would be Thybulle instead of Milton and Reed. That would make the incoming package almost entirely defensive-oriented. Note that the deal I'm suggesting, with our without any of the tweaks I've alluded to, would net the Wolves another $9.5M of space under the luxury tax threshold. Philly's already over the luxury tax threshold and they're in full championship contention mode, so the extra luxury tax burden shouldn't be a show-stopper for them.
So there you have it. My best and final offer to Morey. There's a part of me that would want the Sixers to turn it down. If the deal happened, it would instantly transform the Wolves from a potential high-octane offense team trying to be just good enough defensively into a defensive team hoping to have enough offense. We'd have a starting lineup of Simmons, Edwards, McDaniels, Vanderbilt and KAT with Beverley as our likely 6th man.