PTOITWCFTPP wrote:Simmons is gonna learn to shoot
LeBron wants to play off ball more
Stagger minutes
Win titles

He would def take turns w kyrie at times. Let the old man do some resting on offense instead of saving his resting only for transition D

Houshphandzadeh wrote:can one of the LeBron boosters tell me what Simmons does if you sign James? do you trade Simmons or you just have him like a Mbah a Moute type out there or what

I feel like Lebron and Ben running pick and rolls would be insane. Those backdoor cuts where Ben gets open rim runs would be interchangeable with him and Lebron. Plus, with the Sixers commitment to staggering their stars, you're probably not playing them as much together as you would think.

I think there's still a lot of growth to be had with Simmons playing off-ball. He hasn't done it much yet, which I would argue was more out of necessity than design thanks to the Fultz situation, and obviously his lack of shooting doesn't make him the ideal off-ball fit, but there's still a lot he can do off-ball to remain a threat.

Plus, honestly, I think Lebron signing in Philly would sorta be a tacit admission that he's ready for the next phase of his career, where he doesn't have to be 82-game-a-year crazy ball-dominant guy. He's still the best player in the league, so obviously you want to get the ball in his hands as much as possible, but I think there will be plenty of touches to go around.

Think about this lineup for just a min

Simmons-cov-lebron-dario-jo

Cov can just literally go stand at 3 line to clear space

Simmons and cov can guard most backcourt combos

Who do your players under 6'7 guard

That team would also have an NBA record defensive rebound rate and be deadly in transition

i'm salivating

mcare89 wrote:
Plus, honestly, I think Lebron signing in Philly would sorta be a tacit admission that he's ready for the next phase of his career, where he doesn't have to be 82-game-a-year crazy ball-dominant guy.

He said publicly yesterday that he wanted to play more off the ball. LeBron, the spot-up shooter?

phillychuck wrote:

mcare89 wrote:
Plus, honestly, I think Lebron signing in Philly would sorta be a tacit admission that he's ready for the next phase of his career, where he doesn't have to be 82-game-a-year crazy ball-dominant guy.

He said publicly yesterday that he wanted to play more off the ball. LeBron, the spot-up shooter?

He said that? I thought Broussard just said that he heard that.

MoBettle wrote:

phillychuck wrote:

mcare89 wrote:
Plus, honestly, I think Lebron signing in Philly would sorta be a tacit admission that he's ready for the next phase of his career, where he doesn't have to be 82-game-a-year crazy ball-dominant guy.

He said publicly yesterday that he wanted to play more off the ball. LeBron, the spot-up shooter?

He said that? I thought Broussard just said that he heard that.

Maybe I mis-read it as him telling Broussard--I think that was where I heard it.

Look, if you have the opportunity to bring LeBron here you have to do it and doing so could very well lead to one or more championships. But let’s not kid ourselves. We’ll be asking the GOAT to adjust his game, be somewhat less than what’s made him the GOAT, we’ll be asking him to play less minutes and, of course, at some point Father Time is going to catch him.

In addition we’ll be asking one of our two great young franchise players to be a very, very different player, especially when he and LeBron are on the court together. This is not like Harden and Paul who can switch roles seamlessly because they can both shoot. Asking/forcing Simmons to be a different player could end being a good thing by forcing him to grow and get better at his weaknesses. OTOH it could really screw him up. We saw in the Boston series that he becomes way less effective — even in some ways a liability — when he’s taken off his game.

An analogous situation might be when the Sixers had a future HOF forward, George McGinnis, still in the prime of his career but had the opportunity to get Dr J. That acquisition eventually led to our last championship, but not before the team had to come to the realization that Dr J and McGinnis weren’t going to make it work together so McGinnis had to be traded for Bobby Jones. If that were to happen in this case it would be tough to have to trade Ben so early in his career.

Two great players, both of whom are unselfish like LeBron and Ben, would probably find a way to make it work, maybe spectacularly. But let’s not kid ourselves that it doesn’t have risks, including lack of compatibility, LeBron finally slowing down, difficulty in filling out the roster because of lack of cap space and it could also screw up Ben and the franchise long term.

It's going to be great when Simmons comes out shooting like Curry next season.

Broussard said he heard it from someone who would know.

Signing Lebron shuffles the entire starting lineup. You have to a JJ and another shooter out there. Dario and Cov become bench players unless you want to eatch teams bring back the 2-3 Zone or Box and 1.

You can't bench Dario

Wheels Tupay wrote:You can't bench Dario

On a championship level team he is probably a great 6th man.

Who is more valuable getting 8 shots a game, Dario or Covington?

Covington was the 5th option in the starting lineup this year and he averaged 10 shots in 31 minutes. That number is not going to go up if you add a guy that has never taken fewer than 17.6 shots a game plus all the free throws he gets.

Benching Dario let's him have a bigger role.

Cov is more of the "McKie" type. Bring him off the bench to be a lock down defender and hit a 3.

JFLNYC wrote:LeBron finally slowing down

Wouldn't we essentially be year to year with him, though? And able to slot a new max guy in if/when LeBron leaves?

Grotewold wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:LeBron finally slowing down

Wouldn't we essentially be year to year with him, though? And able to slot a new max guy in if/when LeBron leaves?

Once Ben and probably Dario sign their 2nd contracts in two years the option to sign someone is probably closed for the foreseeable future. Maybe you can trade for someone but then you're talking about trading assets rather than adding to the roster.

MoBettle wrote:

Grotewold wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:LeBron finally slowing down

Wouldn't we essentially be year to year with him, though? And able to slot a new max guy in if/when LeBron leaves?

Once Ben and probably Dario sign their 2nd contracts in two years the option to sign someone is probably closed for the foreseeable future. Maybe you can trade for someone but then you're talking about trading assets rather than adding to the roster.

But if we sign someone to a long-term deal now that would be less of an issue? I'm honestly asking; don't understand the cap.

Grotewold wrote:

MoBettle wrote:

Grotewold wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:LeBron finally slowing down

Wouldn't we essentially be year to year with him, though? And able to slot a new max guy in if/when LeBron leaves?

Once Ben and probably Dario sign their 2nd contracts in two years the option to sign someone is probably closed for the foreseeable future. Maybe you can trade for someone but then you're talking about trading assets rather than adding to the roster.

But if we sign someone to a long-term deal now that would be less of an issue? I'm honestly asking; don't understand the cap.

I think that's where the bird rights come into play. If we have someone long term we can go over to keep Ben and Saric. If we don't have someone and sign Ben and Saric to their next contracts we can't go over to bring in someone new then.

heyeaglefn wrote:

Grotewold wrote:

MoBettle wrote:

Grotewold wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:LeBron finally slowing down

Wouldn't we essentially be year to year with him, though? And able to slot a new max guy in if/when LeBron leaves?

Once Ben and probably Dario sign their 2nd contracts in two years the option to sign someone is probably closed for the foreseeable future. Maybe you can trade for someone but then you're talking about trading assets rather than adding to the roster.

But if we sign someone to a long-term deal now that would be less of an issue? I'm honestly asking; don't understand the cap.

I think that's where the bird rights come into play. If we have someone long term we can go over to keep Ben and Saric. If we don't have someone and sign Ben and Saric to their next contracts we can't go over to bring in someone new then.

Right yeah, basically the plan would be to lock in a guy now, then use everyone's bird rights to go over the cap to keep everyone together.

Whereas if you sign Lebron, he plays here for 3 years, then leaves, if you are over the cap you can't use cap space to replace him.

Ah, thanks, makes sense.

One of the NBC guys said yesterday the Lakers believe they can sign Kawhi and might sit this summer out. I wonder if that opens a door to PG to the Sixers? But of course it would seem to widen it for LeBron.

The article also mentions the Sixers for Kawhi, fwiw, citing his camp's desire for him to be in a bigger market.