Noel on Sixers having three centers: "It doesn't make any sense."

[LarBrd33]

They don't need to do anything.  Plenty of minutes to go around.  It's not ideal, but who cares.  That team isn't threatening for a championship this year.

Imagine a scenario where Thomas and Bradley keep playing excellent basketball.  Pretend Marcus Smart actually makes his leap and looks like a starter.  Now let's also pretend that Terry Rozier's Summer League was legit and he's everything we hope he can be.  Let's say Terry Rozier looks like a legit starting PG in the handful of minutes he gets.  How's he getting starting guard minutes on a team with Thomas, Bradley and Smart all playing excellent ball? 

Now, because Rozier's minutes are limited and teams know Boston is desperate to move one of their PGs, should Boston trade him for a early 2nd rounder just for the sake of trading him?  No, of course not.  That doesn't help the team.  Better off just having Rozier play his 5-10 minutes per night at PG than give him away for pennies on the dollar.   In that scenario, Boston just hangs onto him until someone makes a legit offer or they figure out a way to get equal value for Thomas or Smart. 

Once you understand that, you'll understand why 99% of this board his no idea what they are talking about in regards to Philly's big man situation.   They'll probably trade one of those guys eventually, but it makes the most sense to play out the season and see if someone's trade value increases to the point that someone makes them an acceptable offer.

Perhaps that's because Smart, Rozier, and Bradley can all effectively play two (or even three in Smart's case) positions, and Okafor, Noel, and Embiid are all pure 5's that can neither play the 4 nor play together.

Combine that with the fact that both Saric and Simmons are clearly 4's that simply can't play the 3 (though Simmons could play small-ball 5), let alone Covington that will also have time at the small-ball 4, and, no, there simply isn't enough minutes to go around, and keeping all of them is going to do nothing but start locker room issues (as we're seeing play out before our eyes) and lower their trade value even more by them either not getting sufficient minutes or having to play out of position with a poor fitting frontcourt mate.

Ah, that Sam Hinkie team-building logic, though!

Hinkie collected assets.  It remains to be seen how it fits together.  They have time to figure it out.  Embiid might be able to play PF.  Simmons might be able to play PG or SF.  They'll figure it out eventually.

This is a good lesson for us all.  This whole thing started because LarBrd had to take a contrarian viewpoint to prove how smart he is.  It's now wound up with him saying stuff that makes it seem like he doesn't understand basketball in the slightest.

Mike

Sounds like you don't trust the process

If it makes people say things like "Simmons might play PG" when he didn't even play it in college and could barely defend against college bigs, no one should trust it.

Could Philly wind up running a lot of their offense through Simmons?  Sure, much like the Kings did through Chris Webber back in the day.  If anyone at the Kings had suggested playing Webber at point, however, they would have been shot out of a cannon into the Pacific Ocean.

Mike

Nobody panics when a team has too many bad players at a position ... for instance, our many irrelevant shooting guards.  It only becomes a "problem" when you have too many good players at a position.  Philly is on record with saying they will not make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  They are obviously open to a move, but it needs to be what they consider a fair offer.  They see their log jam as a luxury and in a way, they are right.  The reason why we see so many articles about this is because it's acknowledged throughout the league that if Philly decides to move one of their prize bigs, that player automatically becomes one of the best available trade chips in the league.  Hence why we see so many articles about Noel.  Fans are fawning over the dream of snagging him from Philly.  We're guilty of that almost daily.  I'd love to have Noel in Boston.  Unfortunately, Philly is the gate keeper.

As for the Simmons thing... pretty much every article I read on him suggests the plan is for him to play Point Guard.

You and I have evidently been reading very different articles.

everything I've read suggests he specifically won't run the point and he will probably play the 4.

If Simmons isn't playing point, perhaps Joel Embiid will.  At media day, he said he's comfortable learning the PG position:

"If someone teaches me the point guard position, I think I can do that."

He also said he's going to have a 20-year career, so Philly should have that PG position locked up for the foreseeable future.    NOt to mention, if they struggle this season to reach their contender potential, they're once again looking at possibly two Top 5 picks this Summer in which 5 of the top 6 prospects are PGs and SFs... so who cares if they have too many Centers when they are about to have too many PG's and SF's as well.   That team will have two first units.

so you made all that up about Simmons playing point guard or what?

No.  He's widely believed to be their long term point guard, but they plan on playing him at point forward early on.  Similar to LeBron's position in the NBA, I guess.

Just did some googling and am surprised to find that to be the case.

Seems a bit of a 180 from earlier in the offseason. They must have planned on moving a big by now but were really surprised by the lack of good offers.

Simmons' hype is based on his elite-level PG skills and playmaking ability.  I'm not being cheeky when I say he's believed to be a 6'10 Rondo that can guard 5 positions.  We'll see how he develops though. 

You know, when Bron joined the league they actually tried playing him at PG originally.  Early LeBron was thought to be the next Magic Johnson.  He showed a surprising ability to score early on and his role evolved.  Eventually LeBron gained a solid shooting ability as well, and he focused even more on scoring.  We never got to really see LeBron as the pure distributor, because he became too talented of a scorer.   

[MBunge]

They don't need to do anything.  Plenty of minutes to go around.  It's not ideal, but who cares.  That team isn't threatening for a championship this year.

Imagine a scenario where Thomas and Bradley keep playing excellent basketball.  Pretend Marcus Smart actually makes his leap and looks like a starter.  Now let's also pretend that Terry Rozier's Summer League was legit and he's everything we hope he can be.  Let's say Terry Rozier looks like a legit starting PG in the handful of minutes he gets.  How's he getting starting guard minutes on a team with Thomas, Bradley and Smart all playing excellent ball? 

Now, because Rozier's minutes are limited and teams know Boston is desperate to move one of their PGs, should Boston trade him for a early 2nd rounder just for the sake of trading him?  No, of course not.  That doesn't help the team.  Better off just having Rozier play his 5-10 minutes per night at PG than give him away for pennies on the dollar.   In that scenario, Boston just hangs onto him until someone makes a legit offer or they figure out a way to get equal value for Thomas or Smart. 

Once you understand that, you'll understand why 99% of this board his no idea what they are talking about in regards to Philly's big man situation.   They'll probably trade one of those guys eventually, but it makes the most sense to play out the season and see if someone's trade value increases to the point that someone makes them an acceptable offer.

Perhaps that's because Smart, Rozier, and Bradley can all effectively play two (or even three in Smart's case) positions, and Okafor, Noel, and Embiid are all pure 5's that can neither play the 4 nor play together.

Combine that with the fact that both Saric and Simmons are clearly 4's that simply can't play the 3 (though Simmons could play small-ball 5), let alone Covington that will also have time at the small-ball 4, and, no, there simply isn't enough minutes to go around, and keeping all of them is going to do nothing but start locker room issues (as we're seeing play out before our eyes) and lower their trade value even more by them either not getting sufficient minutes or having to play out of position with a poor fitting frontcourt mate.

Ah, that Sam Hinkie team-building logic, though!

Hinkie collected assets.  It remains to be seen how it fits together.  They have time to figure it out.  Embiid might be able to play PF.  Simmons might be able to play PG or SF.  They'll figure it out eventually.

This is a good lesson for us all.  This whole thing started because LarBrd had to take a contrarian viewpoint to prove how smart he is.  It's now wound up with him saying stuff that makes it seem like he doesn't understand basketball in the slightest.

Mike

Sounds like you don't trust the process

If it makes people say things like "Simmons might play PG" when he didn't even play it in college and could barely defend against college bigs, no one should trust it.

Could Philly wind up running a lot of their offense through Simmons?  Sure, much like the Kings did through Chris Webber back in the day.  If anyone at the Kings had suggested playing Webber at point, however, they would have been shot out of a cannon into the Pacific Ocean.

Mike

Nobody panics when a team has too many bad players at a position ... for instance, our many irrelevant shooting guards.  It only becomes a "problem" when you have too many good players at a position.  Philly is on record with saying they will not make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  They are obviously open to a move, but it needs to be what they consider a fair offer.  They see their log jam as a luxury and in a way, they are right.  The reason why we see so many articles about this is because it's acknowledged throughout the league that if Philly decides to move one of their prize bigs, that player automatically becomes one of the best available trade chips in the league.  Hence why we see so many articles about Noel.  Fans are fawning over the dream of snagging him from Philly.  We're guilty of that almost daily.  I'd love to have Noel in Boston.  Unfortunately, Philly is the gate keeper.

As for the Simmons thing... pretty much every article I read on him suggests the plan is for him to play Point Guard.

You and I have evidently been reading very different articles.

everything I've read suggests he specifically won't run the point and he will probably play the 4.

If Simmons isn't playing point, perhaps Joel Embiid will.  At media day, he said he's comfortable learning the PG position:

"If someone teaches me the point guard position, I think I can do that."

He also said he's going to have a 20-year career, so Philly should have that PG position locked up for the foreseeable future.    NOt to mention, if they struggle this season to reach their contender potential, they're once again looking at possibly two Top 5 picks this Summer in which 5 of the top 6 prospects are PGs and SFs... so who cares if they have too many Centers when they are about to have too many PG's and SF's as well.   That team will have two first units.

so you made all that up about Simmons playing point guard or what?

No.  He's widely believed to be their long term point guard, but they plan on playing him at point forward early on.  Similar to LeBron's position in the NBA, I guess.

Just did some googling and am surprised to find that to be the case.

Seems a bit of a 180 from earlier in the offseason. They must have planned on moving a big by now but were really surprised by the lack of good offers.

Simmons' hype is based on his elite-level PG skills and playmaking ability.  I'm not being cheeky when I say he's believed to be a 6'10 Rondo that can guard 5 positions.  We'll see how he develops though. 

You know, when Bron joined the league they actually tried playing him at PG originally.  Early LeBron was thought to be the next Magic Johnson.  He showed a surprising ability to score early on and his role evolved.  Eventually LeBron gained a solid shooting ability as well, and he focused even more on scoring.  We never got to really see LeBron as the pure distributor, because he became too talented of a scorer.   

Still waiting for ONE link to ONE article where ANYONE says Simmons is going to play point guard as a rookie.

Mike

[LarBrd33]

They don't need to do anything.  Plenty of minutes to go around.  It's not ideal, but who cares.  That team isn't threatening for a championship this year.

Imagine a scenario where Thomas and Bradley keep playing excellent basketball.  Pretend Marcus Smart actually makes his leap and looks like a starter.  Now let's also pretend that Terry Rozier's Summer League was legit and he's everything we hope he can be.  Let's say Terry Rozier looks like a legit starting PG in the handful of minutes he gets.  How's he getting starting guard minutes on a team with Thomas, Bradley and Smart all playing excellent ball? 

Now, because Rozier's minutes are limited and teams know Boston is desperate to move one of their PGs, should Boston trade him for a early 2nd rounder just for the sake of trading him?  No, of course not.  That doesn't help the team.  Better off just having Rozier play his 5-10 minutes per night at PG than give him away for pennies on the dollar.   In that scenario, Boston just hangs onto him until someone makes a legit offer or they figure out a way to get equal value for Thomas or Smart. 

Once you understand that, you'll understand why 99% of this board his no idea what they are talking about in regards to Philly's big man situation.   They'll probably trade one of those guys eventually, but it makes the most sense to play out the season and see if someone's trade value increases to the point that someone makes them an acceptable offer.

Perhaps that's because Smart, Rozier, and Bradley can all effectively play two (or even three in Smart's case) positions, and Okafor, Noel, and Embiid are all pure 5's that can neither play the 4 nor play together.

Combine that with the fact that both Saric and Simmons are clearly 4's that simply can't play the 3 (though Simmons could play small-ball 5), let alone Covington that will also have time at the small-ball 4, and, no, there simply isn't enough minutes to go around, and keeping all of them is going to do nothing but start locker room issues (as we're seeing play out before our eyes) and lower their trade value even more by them either not getting sufficient minutes or having to play out of position with a poor fitting frontcourt mate.

Ah, that Sam Hinkie team-building logic, though!

Hinkie collected assets.  It remains to be seen how it fits together.  They have time to figure it out.  Embiid might be able to play PF.  Simmons might be able to play PG or SF.  They'll figure it out eventually.

This is a good lesson for us all.  This whole thing started because LarBrd had to take a contrarian viewpoint to prove how smart he is.  It's now wound up with him saying stuff that makes it seem like he doesn't understand basketball in the slightest.

Mike

Sounds like you don't trust the process

If it makes people say things like "Simmons might play PG" when he didn't even play it in college and could barely defend against college bigs, no one should trust it.

Could Philly wind up running a lot of their offense through Simmons?  Sure, much like the Kings did through Chris Webber back in the day.  If anyone at the Kings had suggested playing Webber at point, however, they would have been shot out of a cannon into the Pacific Ocean.

Mike

Nobody panics when a team has too many bad players at a position ... for instance, our many irrelevant shooting guards.  It only becomes a "problem" when you have too many good players at a position.  Philly is on record with saying they will not make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  They are obviously open to a move, but it needs to be what they consider a fair offer.  They see their log jam as a luxury and in a way, they are right.  The reason why we see so many articles about this is because it's acknowledged throughout the league that if Philly decides to move one of their prize bigs, that player automatically becomes one of the best available trade chips in the league.  Hence why we see so many articles about Noel.  Fans are fawning over the dream of snagging him from Philly.  We're guilty of that almost daily.  I'd love to have Noel in Boston.  Unfortunately, Philly is the gate keeper.

As for the Simmons thing... pretty much every article I read on him suggests the plan is for him to play Point Guard.

You and I have evidently been reading very different articles.

everything I've read suggests he specifically won't run the point and he will probably play the 4.

If Simmons isn't playing point, perhaps Joel Embiid will.  At media day, he said he's comfortable learning the PG position:

"If someone teaches me the point guard position, I think I can do that."

He also said he's going to have a 20-year career, so Philly should have that PG position locked up for the foreseeable future.    NOt to mention, if they struggle this season to reach their contender potential, they're once again looking at possibly two Top 5 picks this Summer in which 5 of the top 6 prospects are PGs and SFs... so who cares if they have too many Centers when they are about to have too many PG's and SF's as well.   That team will have two first units.

so you made all that up about Simmons playing point guard or what?

No.  He's widely believed to be their long term point guard, but they plan on playing him at point forward early on.  Similar to LeBron's position in the NBA, I guess.

Just did some googling and am surprised to find that to be the case.

Seems a bit of a 180 from earlier in the offseason. They must have planned on moving a big by now but were really surprised by the lack of good offers.

Simmons' hype is based on his elite-level PG skills and playmaking ability.  I'm not being cheeky when I say he's believed to be a 6'10 Rondo that can guard 5 positions.  We'll see how he develops though. 

You know, when Bron joined the league they actually tried playing him at PG originally.  Early LeBron was thought to be the next Magic Johnson.  He showed a surprising ability to score early on and his role evolved.  Eventually LeBron gained a solid shooting ability as well, and he focused even more on scoring.  We never got to really see LeBron as the pure distributor, because he became too talented of a scorer.   

Still waiting for ONE link to ONE article where ANYONE says Simmons is going to play point guard as a rookie.

Mike

My source is Ilikesports17.  See bolded text above.  Here's the link:  http://www.google.com

[CelticPride2016]

Philly probably doesn't want our '18 and beyond picks (w/o a solid rookie not named Young) because of the position we are in that could make it a meh pick over the next few years (hopefully beyond). I think we only have 1 first for '17 (BKN thank you) so that's absolutely off the table at this point. If they did want a Celtics '18+ we would have a deal by now if the added player wasn't a major piece.

I think people are underestimating Roze's potential value to us w/ ET gone. If he can get his own and facilitate that could be crucial for us. IMO, we are the ones in the wait and see on Roze but would have given him up if we still had ET.

Both teams need more of a sample pool from our young guys to involve them in a trade with a much more defined asset like Noel.

I agree with you our draft picks are garbage. I probably shouldn't have mentioned them.

The Brooklyn picks should be pure gold for two straight years. Danny can't risk out on a chance at the next LeBron or Shaq. He can't gut the team for Cousins.

I think Danny is trying to set up shop for a minimum of a ten year dynasty. I no longer think he is itching for any fireworks unless it makes complete sense. Why would someone throw away the chance at a San Antonio, New England Patriots kind of run stretching over ten+ years?

I think Danny is salivating as much as any of us and eager to see what Brown, Rozier, Smart and Olynyk have to offer. Danny needs to bridge us a couple years if most of the young guys are holding their own with good development.

I think we could survive without Jerebko and Rozier. Too bad they are stocked at Center or we could unload Zeller on them.

Noel is turning into a Rondo. Philly might have to take what they can get and hope for a Jae Crowder surprise.

Demetrius Jackson could be a good pg. I think Rozier would be worth risking to get Noel.

We could offer Bradley for Noel if we feel good about Rozier. We have Marcus Smart for shooting guard. I feel that one of Smart and Bradley might ultimately be traded.

It all depends on conjecture.

We'll see how it unfolds.

Philly and Boston do not seem to line up for a trade at present, although they did during the off-season.

I agree it would be risky to trade Rozier, but Isaiah is in his prime and gobbles up most of the pg minutes. It might be worth it to have Noel as in championship title worth it.

Or we go with what we have- Horford, Amir, Kelly and Tyler is quite good. It's a far cry from the days of Sully, Olynyk, Bass and Zeller. 

[CelticPride2016]

"It'll be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year."

The guy who wrote that must have the record for being wrong.

[LarBrd33]

"It'll be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year."

The guy who wrote that must have the record for being wrong.

You don't think it would be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year?  I think it would be super interesting and I'm pretty much always right.

[walker834]

I think it's questionable whether Noel would be an absolute upgrade over Amir right off the bat.  There would probably be an adjustment period with him and he is a young player still learning.  He isn't an allstar at this point.  I also think Ainge is greedy in some ways although not in the typical sense and does try to fleece teams if he can although ultimately he would try to make the best deal.  I think Ainge would try to hold onto that pick first.  If we could get Noel without givng up either nets pick that would be great. Noel wants out.  I don't think Philly is that stupid though.  I think they know Noels value. They wanted Kris Dunn for him and the celtics scoffed. I don't think Philly is going to break on that either and give us noel for rozier.  It would take next years nets pick and rozier and something like that. Is that too much? Maybe but I also think people are overvaluing next years pick.

It really depends on if Noel is even the guy. I have questions about that. If he is the celtics would work something out.  I don't think he is at this point. There is still a possibility we could do better but again what?

It's similar to the pomeranz trade in that it would solidify our position as a contender and we are gi ving up a prospect.    I was not overly a fan of that deal. But Noel is different in that he is young himself and really good shotblockers of his level are pretty rare.

People thinking we are going to get Noel without giving up anything at this point are not really understanding his value though. It would take something like that to get him.

Don't you think if Ainge could get Noel for crap or any team for that matter a deal would be made?  The issue is its going to take something like that to trade for him.

If we want him ultimately too his value isn't going to nosedive to the point where some team won't outbid our crap offer either in the next year.

We either want him or we don't in that regard or we find something else or come up with a comparable offer that would get them to actually make a trade.

Personally I would think strongly about making such a deal because it would solidify our team as contenders. We also have the 18 pick and cap space going forward to add to that plus Noel who is a valuable player.

I would be hesitant because we have Amir and there may be other options and there are questions to me whether or not Noel is even that good.

The 17 nets pick is really a big question mark.  It's hard to give up because we don't know what it is but looking at the draft there isn't anyone that is jumping out as the next so and so.

Philly fans saying they would never ask for the nets pick doesnt say much to me because if that were the case some team will outbid us anyways and he'll be gone by next year. He's still in philly because they like him and haven't been offered what they would want. Colangelo wants a top pick for him and particularly a point guard.

[Ilikesports17]

"It'll be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year."

The guy who wrote that must have the record for being wrong.

You don't think it would be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year?  I think it would be super interesting and I'm pretty much always right.

"terrifying" seems more appropriate.

Luckily we most likely wont have to worry about it as this team is not making the playoffs.

I think they are the second worst team in the East and Id imagine you agree, LB.

[CelticPride2016]

"It'll be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year."

The guy who wrote that must have the record for being wrong.

You don't think it would be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year?  I think it would be super interesting and I'm pretty much always right.

For starters, you should change the avatar. Someone could get a seizure.

Aren't you the guy that had Brooklyn winning forty games and a thread watch for a Celtics' lottery pick?

[CelticPride2016]

"It'll be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year."

The guy who wrote that must have the record for being wrong.

You don't think it would be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year?  I think it would be super interesting and I'm pretty much always right.

Sorry, I didn't answer your question. Philly has 0% chance of making the playoffs. Maybe Celtics Blog can start a section where folks make up weird NBA scenarios and then ask for opinions on it.

[LarBrd33]

"It'll be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year."

The guy who wrote that must have the record for being wrong.

You don't think it would be interesting if Philly makes the playoffs this year?  I think it would be super interesting and I'm pretty much always right.

For starters, you should change the avatar.

Aren't you the guy that had Brooklyn winning forty games and a thread watch for a Celtics' lottery pick?

For starters, I've changed my avatar per your suggestion.

Secondly, no.  I never had Brooklyn winning 40 games.  I predicted Brooklyn would be a bottom 5 team.

And yes, I agree it's unlikely that Philly makes the playoffs this year.  That's why it would be very interesting if they did. 

[jpotter33]

I'd like to officially accuse walker834 of taking post-enhancing supplements.   I'd like to formally challenge him to a type-off:  http://www.typingtest.com/

6.7 posts per day is mighty impressive. Must top the Cs blog leaderboard.

Nah... I looked that up a couple months ago, because one of my fans was commenting on my 5 posts per day. Me and walker are nowhere near the top of that leaderboard.  For instance, SHAQATTACK makes 9.8 posts per day, PhoSita makes 10.1 posts per day.  Jpotter33 makes 16 posts per day.

Still, I had the market cornered on overly verbose posts and this sudden rash of walker's wordy posts have convinced me he's juicing.   I demand he reveal his type-off results.  http://www.typingtest.com/

  Okay, that one gave me a chuckle.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

They don't need to do anything.  Plenty of minutes to go around.  It's not ideal, but who cares.  That team isn't threatening for a championship this year.

Imagine a scenario where Thomas and Bradley keep playing excellent basketball.  Pretend Marcus Smart actually makes his leap and looks like a starter.  Now let's also pretend that Terry Rozier's Summer League was legit and he's everything we hope he can be.  Let's say Terry Rozier looks like a legit starting PG in the handful of minutes he gets.  How's he getting starting guard minutes on a team with Thomas, Bradley and Smart all playing excellent ball? 

Now, because Rozier's minutes are limited and teams know Boston is desperate to move one of their PGs, should Boston trade him for a early 2nd rounder just for the sake of trading him?  No, of course not.  That doesn't help the team.  Better off just having Rozier play his 5-10 minutes per night at PG than give him away for pennies on the dollar.   In that scenario, Boston just hangs onto him until someone makes a legit offer or they figure out a way to get equal value for Thomas or Smart. 

Once you understand that, you'll understand why 99% of this board his no idea what they are talking about in regards to Philly's big man situation.   They'll probably trade one of those guys eventually, but it makes the most sense to play out the season and see if someone's trade value increases to the point that someone makes them an acceptable offer.

Perhaps that's because Smart, Rozier, and Bradley can all effectively play two (or even three in Smart's case) positions, and Okafor, Noel, and Embiid are all pure 5's that can neither play the 4 nor play together.

Combine that with the fact that both Saric and Simmons are clearly 4's that simply can't play the 3 (though Simmons could play small-ball 5), let alone Covington that will also have time at the small-ball 4, and, no, there simply isn't enough minutes to go around, and keeping all of them is going to do nothing but start locker room issues (as we're seeing play out before our eyes) and lower their trade value even more by them either not getting sufficient minutes or having to play out of position with a poor fitting frontcourt mate.

Ah, that Sam Hinkie team-building logic, though!

Hinkie collected assets.  It remains to be seen how it fits together.  They have time to figure it out.  Embiid might be able to play PF.  Simmons might be able to play PG or SF.  They'll figure it out eventually.

This is a good lesson for us all.  This whole thing started because LarBrd had to take a contrarian viewpoint to prove how smart he is.  It's now wound up with him saying stuff that makes it seem like he doesn't understand basketball in the slightest.

Mike

Sounds like you don't trust the process

If it makes people say things like "Simmons might play PG" when he didn't even play it in college and could barely defend against college bigs, no one should trust it.

Could Philly wind up running a lot of their offense through Simmons?  Sure, much like the Kings did through Chris Webber back in the day.  If anyone at the Kings had suggested playing Webber at point, however, they would have been shot out of a cannon into the Pacific Ocean.

Mike

Nobody panics when a team has too many bad players at a position ... for instance, our many irrelevant shooting guards.  It only becomes a "problem" when you have too many good players at a position.  Philly is on record with saying they will not make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  They are obviously open to a move, but it needs to be what they consider a fair offer.  They see their log jam as a luxury and in a way, they are right.  The reason why we see so many articles about this is because it's acknowledged throughout the league that if Philly decides to move one of their prize bigs, that player automatically becomes one of the best available trade chips in the league.  Hence why we see so many articles about Noel.  Fans are fawning over the dream of snagging him from Philly.  We're guilty of that almost daily.  I'd love to have Noel in Boston.  Unfortunately, Philly is the gate keeper.

As for the Simmons thing... pretty much every article I read on him suggests the plan is for him to play Point Guard.

You and I have evidently been reading very different articles.

everything I've read suggests he specifically won't run the point and he will probably play the 4.

If Simmons isn't playing point, perhaps Joel Embiid will.  At media day, he said he's comfortable learning the PG position:

"If someone teaches me the point guard position, I think I can do that."

He also said he's going to have a 20-year career, so Philly should have that PG position locked up for the foreseeable future.    NOt to mention, if they struggle this season to reach their contender potential, they're once again looking at possibly two Top 5 picks this Summer in which 5 of the top 6 prospects are PGs and SFs... so who cares if they have too many Centers when they are about to have too many PG's and SF's as well.   That team will have two first units.

so you made all that up about Simmons playing point guard or what?

No.  He's widely believed to be their long term point guard, but they plan on playing him at point forward early on.  Similar to LeBron's position in the NBA, I guess.

Just did some googling and am surprised to find that to be the case.

Seems a bit of a 180 from earlier in the offseason. They must have planned on moving a big by now but were really surprised by the lack of good offers.

Simmons' hype is based on his elite-level PG skills and playmaking ability.  I'm not being cheeky when I say he's believed to be a 6'10 Rondo that can guard 5 positions.  We'll see how he develops though. 

You know, when Bron joined the league they actually tried playing him at PG originally.  Early LeBron was thought to be the next Magic Johnson.  He showed a surprising ability to score early on and his role evolved.  Eventually LeBron gained a solid shooting ability as well, and he focused even more on scoring.  We never got to really see LeBron as the pure distributor, because he became too talented of a scorer.   

Still waiting for ONE link to ONE article where ANYONE says Simmons is going to play point guard as a rookie.

Mike

You really couldn't just google "Ben Simmons point guard" and find it yourself? Good lord.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/brett-brown-ben-simmons-will-play-some-point-guard-his-rookie-season/

[MBunge]

They don't need to do anything.  Plenty of minutes to go around.  It's not ideal, but who cares.  That team isn't threatening for a championship this year.

Imagine a scenario where Thomas and Bradley keep playing excellent basketball.  Pretend Marcus Smart actually makes his leap and looks like a starter.  Now let's also pretend that Terry Rozier's Summer League was legit and he's everything we hope he can be.  Let's say Terry Rozier looks like a legit starting PG in the handful of minutes he gets.  How's he getting starting guard minutes on a team with Thomas, Bradley and Smart all playing excellent ball? 

Now, because Rozier's minutes are limited and teams know Boston is desperate to move one of their PGs, should Boston trade him for a early 2nd rounder just for the sake of trading him?  No, of course not.  That doesn't help the team.  Better off just having Rozier play his 5-10 minutes per night at PG than give him away for pennies on the dollar.   In that scenario, Boston just hangs onto him until someone makes a legit offer or they figure out a way to get equal value for Thomas or Smart. 

Once you understand that, you'll understand why 99% of this board his no idea what they are talking about in regards to Philly's big man situation.   They'll probably trade one of those guys eventually, but it makes the most sense to play out the season and see if someone's trade value increases to the point that someone makes them an acceptable offer.

Perhaps that's because Smart, Rozier, and Bradley can all effectively play two (or even three in Smart's case) positions, and Okafor, Noel, and Embiid are all pure 5's that can neither play the 4 nor play together.

Combine that with the fact that both Saric and Simmons are clearly 4's that simply can't play the 3 (though Simmons could play small-ball 5), let alone Covington that will also have time at the small-ball 4, and, no, there simply isn't enough minutes to go around, and keeping all of them is going to do nothing but start locker room issues (as we're seeing play out before our eyes) and lower their trade value even more by them either not getting sufficient minutes or having to play out of position with a poor fitting frontcourt mate.

Ah, that Sam Hinkie team-building logic, though!

Hinkie collected assets.  It remains to be seen how it fits together.  They have time to figure it out.  Embiid might be able to play PF.  Simmons might be able to play PG or SF.  They'll figure it out eventually.

This is a good lesson for us all.  This whole thing started because LarBrd had to take a contrarian viewpoint to prove how smart he is.  It's now wound up with him saying stuff that makes it seem like he doesn't understand basketball in the slightest.

Mike

Sounds like you don't trust the process

If it makes people say things like "Simmons might play PG" when he didn't even play it in college and could barely defend against college bigs, no one should trust it.

Could Philly wind up running a lot of their offense through Simmons?  Sure, much like the Kings did through Chris Webber back in the day.  If anyone at the Kings had suggested playing Webber at point, however, they would have been shot out of a cannon into the Pacific Ocean.

Mike

Nobody panics when a team has too many bad players at a position ... for instance, our many irrelevant shooting guards.  It only becomes a "problem" when you have too many good players at a position.  Philly is on record with saying they will not make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  They are obviously open to a move, but it needs to be what they consider a fair offer.  They see their log jam as a luxury and in a way, they are right.  The reason why we see so many articles about this is because it's acknowledged throughout the league that if Philly decides to move one of their prize bigs, that player automatically becomes one of the best available trade chips in the league.  Hence why we see so many articles about Noel.  Fans are fawning over the dream of snagging him from Philly.  We're guilty of that almost daily.  I'd love to have Noel in Boston.  Unfortunately, Philly is the gate keeper.

As for the Simmons thing... pretty much every article I read on him suggests the plan is for him to play Point Guard.

You and I have evidently been reading very different articles.

everything I've read suggests he specifically won't run the point and he will probably play the 4.

If Simmons isn't playing point, perhaps Joel Embiid will.  At media day, he said he's comfortable learning the PG position:

"If someone teaches me the point guard position, I think I can do that."

He also said he's going to have a 20-year career, so Philly should have that PG position locked up for the foreseeable future.    NOt to mention, if they struggle this season to reach their contender potential, they're once again looking at possibly two Top 5 picks this Summer in which 5 of the top 6 prospects are PGs and SFs... so who cares if they have too many Centers when they are about to have too many PG's and SF's as well.   That team will have two first units.

so you made all that up about Simmons playing point guard or what?

No.  He's widely believed to be their long term point guard, but they plan on playing him at point forward early on.  Similar to LeBron's position in the NBA, I guess.

Just did some googling and am surprised to find that to be the case.

Seems a bit of a 180 from earlier in the offseason. They must have planned on moving a big by now but were really surprised by the lack of good offers.

Simmons' hype is based on his elite-level PG skills and playmaking ability.  I'm not being cheeky when I say he's believed to be a 6'10 Rondo that can guard 5 positions.  We'll see how he develops though. 

You know, when Bron joined the league they actually tried playing him at PG originally.  Early LeBron was thought to be the next Magic Johnson.  He showed a surprising ability to score early on and his role evolved.  Eventually LeBron gained a solid shooting ability as well, and he focused even more on scoring.  We never got to really see LeBron as the pure distributor, because he became too talented of a scorer.   

Still waiting for ONE link to ONE article where ANYONE says Simmons is going to play point guard as a rookie.

Mike

You really couldn't just google "Ben Simmons point guard" and find it yourself? Good lord.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/brett-brown-ben-simmons-will-play-some-point-guard-his-rookie-season/

If LarBrd wants to troll, he should at least be made to put some effort into it.

Mike

[LarBrd33]

They don't need to do anything.  Plenty of minutes to go around.  It's not ideal, but who cares.  That team isn't threatening for a championship this year.

Imagine a scenario where Thomas and Bradley keep playing excellent basketball.  Pretend Marcus Smart actually makes his leap and looks like a starter.  Now let's also pretend that Terry Rozier's Summer League was legit and he's everything we hope he can be.  Let's say Terry Rozier looks like a legit starting PG in the handful of minutes he gets.  How's he getting starting guard minutes on a team with Thomas, Bradley and Smart all playing excellent ball? 

Now, because Rozier's minutes are limited and teams know Boston is desperate to move one of their PGs, should Boston trade him for a early 2nd rounder just for the sake of trading him?  No, of course not.  That doesn't help the team.  Better off just having Rozier play his 5-10 minutes per night at PG than give him away for pennies on the dollar.   In that scenario, Boston just hangs onto him until someone makes a legit offer or they figure out a way to get equal value for Thomas or Smart. 

Once you understand that, you'll understand why 99% of this board his no idea what they are talking about in regards to Philly's big man situation.   They'll probably trade one of those guys eventually, but it makes the most sense to play out the season and see if someone's trade value increases to the point that someone makes them an acceptable offer.

Perhaps that's because Smart, Rozier, and Bradley can all effectively play two (or even three in Smart's case) positions, and Okafor, Noel, and Embiid are all pure 5's that can neither play the 4 nor play together.

Combine that with the fact that both Saric and Simmons are clearly 4's that simply can't play the 3 (though Simmons could play small-ball 5), let alone Covington that will also have time at the small-ball 4, and, no, there simply isn't enough minutes to go around, and keeping all of them is going to do nothing but start locker room issues (as we're seeing play out before our eyes) and lower their trade value even more by them either not getting sufficient minutes or having to play out of position with a poor fitting frontcourt mate.

Ah, that Sam Hinkie team-building logic, though!

Hinkie collected assets.  It remains to be seen how it fits together.  They have time to figure it out.  Embiid might be able to play PF.  Simmons might be able to play PG or SF.  They'll figure it out eventually.

This is a good lesson for us all.  This whole thing started because LarBrd had to take a contrarian viewpoint to prove how smart he is.  It's now wound up with him saying stuff that makes it seem like he doesn't understand basketball in the slightest.

Mike

Sounds like you don't trust the process

If it makes people say things like "Simmons might play PG" when he didn't even play it in college and could barely defend against college bigs, no one should trust it.

Could Philly wind up running a lot of their offense through Simmons?  Sure, much like the Kings did through Chris Webber back in the day.  If anyone at the Kings had suggested playing Webber at point, however, they would have been shot out of a cannon into the Pacific Ocean.

Mike

Nobody panics when a team has too many bad players at a position ... for instance, our many irrelevant shooting guards.  It only becomes a "problem" when you have too many good players at a position.  Philly is on record with saying they will not make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  They are obviously open to a move, but it needs to be what they consider a fair offer.  They see their log jam as a luxury and in a way, they are right.  The reason why we see so many articles about this is because it's acknowledged throughout the league that if Philly decides to move one of their prize bigs, that player automatically becomes one of the best available trade chips in the league.  Hence why we see so many articles about Noel.  Fans are fawning over the dream of snagging him from Philly.  We're guilty of that almost daily.  I'd love to have Noel in Boston.  Unfortunately, Philly is the gate keeper.

As for the Simmons thing... pretty much every article I read on him suggests the plan is for him to play Point Guard.

You and I have evidently been reading very different articles.

everything I've read suggests he specifically won't run the point and he will probably play the 4.

If Simmons isn't playing point, perhaps Joel Embiid will.  At media day, he said he's comfortable learning the PG position:

"If someone teaches me the point guard position, I think I can do that."

He also said he's going to have a 20-year career, so Philly should have that PG position locked up for the foreseeable future.    NOt to mention, if they struggle this season to reach their contender potential, they're once again looking at possibly two Top 5 picks this Summer in which 5 of the top 6 prospects are PGs and SFs... so who cares if they have too many Centers when they are about to have too many PG's and SF's as well.   That team will have two first units.

so you made all that up about Simmons playing point guard or what?

No.  He's widely believed to be their long term point guard, but they plan on playing him at point forward early on.  Similar to LeBron's position in the NBA, I guess.

Just did some googling and am surprised to find that to be the case.

Seems a bit of a 180 from earlier in the offseason. They must have planned on moving a big by now but were really surprised by the lack of good offers.

Simmons' hype is based on his elite-level PG skills and playmaking ability.  I'm not being cheeky when I say he's believed to be a 6'10 Rondo that can guard 5 positions.  We'll see how he develops though. 

You know, when Bron joined the league they actually tried playing him at PG originally.  Early LeBron was thought to be the next Magic Johnson.  He showed a surprising ability to score early on and his role evolved.  Eventually LeBron gained a solid shooting ability as well, and he focused even more on scoring.  We never got to really see LeBron as the pure distributor, because he became too talented of a scorer.   

Still waiting for ONE link to ONE article where ANYONE says Simmons is going to play point guard as a rookie.

Mike

You really couldn't just google "Ben Simmons point guard" and find it yourself? Good lord.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/brett-brown-ben-simmons-will-play-some-point-guard-his-rookie-season/

If LarBrd wants to troll, he should at least be made to put some effort into it.

Mike

welp that's two posters who have just confirmed you don't know what you are taking about and yet you wanted me to go out of my way to google something for you.  Seems pretty transparent you is the one Trollin