02 Sep 2021 13:26:44
According to a source with knowledge of their situation, the Kings spoke to the Sixers weeks ago and made it clear that both De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton would not be included in a possible Simmons deal. That stance, the source said, has not and will not change and the internal expectation is that the core of their roster will remain the same heading into training camp later this month.

 via Sam Amick @ The Athletic.

02 Sep 2021 14:22:48
Not a smart move. Simmons and Fox won't work together and offering Fox gives them the best chance to get Simmons and they have an overcrowded backcourt so it would be smart to drop the biggest contract (if you really believe in Haliburton and Mitchell)

02 Sep 2021 15:57:26
Fox way better than Simmons smunro.

02 Sep 2021 16:40:31
It is becoming obvious that Philly wants a talented playmaker PG to fill the loss of Simmons departure. The first team to blink and gives up Fox, DLo, Lillard or Beal gets Simmons. Just not seeing these teams giving up these pieces for a broken Simmons.

Who else has a quality PG available to trade? Wall in Houston? Murray in SA?

02 Sep 2021 16:50:14
Why does everyone call Simmons broken? He hasn’t been shooting 3s for years and still been an All Star?

02 Sep 2021 17:10:04
It is weird how 7 games can totally break your reputation.

Fred: there’s another team that could blink. And it’s Phili. They could take McCollum or Hield or someone of that caliber as their centerpiece. I’d put DLo in that group more than with the other guys you mentioned, same with Wall.

I wouldn’t consider moving Fox for Simmons, I think that would be an idiotic move. I do think Sacramento is making a bad call refusing to include Hali though. Maybe I just didn’t watch him enough, but he doesn’t have an all star type likely ceiling, right? He seems like he’s more likely to top into the McCollum/ Tobias Harris/ FVV/ Brogdon type tier.

02 Sep 2021 17:52:05
I like the Brogdon comparison for Hali.

02 Sep 2021 18:55:27
@smunro. Not sure Kings "believe in" Mitchell quite yet. They see him on the right path, but he has to show this level of development consistently during the season (much like Halliburton had to do last year) .

Halliburton is what I would call "a jack of all trades, master of none" at this stage of his development. And that is where his value truly lies -- flexibility to play different roles. When paired with Fox in the backcourt, Halli would become the typical "3&D" player (reminded me some of Doug Christie) ; however, when paired with Hield, Halli's playmaking while running the P&R and making the correct pass/ shoot decision (5.3 assts/ 1.6 turnovers) is pretty nice as well especially when Fox missed some games. Probably not enough to be All-Star material, but definitely valuable in roster building being able to be on the court with anyone (can't say that about Simmons) .

I thought about adding McCollum to the list of Philly targets; however, I, personally, am not sold McCollum's playmaking abilities. Just probably haven't seen enough of it with the ball mostly being in Lillard's hands. If Philly sees the playmaking skills, then sure.

I consider Simmons "broken" because he has shown no ability to "fix" those things that are "broken" in his game. Primarily we are talking about shooting from 3pt line and the FT line. I know Simmons gets voted to All-Star teams, but I am not convinced that Simmons can "got get me a bucket in crunch time" like most All-Stars are capable of. Simmons has talent, but it is missing the most significant talent needed in the league, shooting from all levels.

02 Sep 2021 20:05:27
@Fredman I agreed with you Ben Simmons all he do is dunks layup playmaker defense but he folded under pressure he can’t be on the game during fourth quarter because when players fouls him he going to missed the free throws Coaches will bench Ben Simmons in fourth quarter he can’t be trusted to get a buckets that why I said he is role players Ben Simmons is Draymond Green 2.0 he is too lazy to improve his games he got weaknesses.

05 Sep 2021 22:55:58
Then the Kings can stay locked in mediocrity.