Con 1: The Portland Trail Blazers would likely have to give up more than CJ McCollum in a Ben Simmons trade
It was reported that the Philadelphia 76ers recently turned down an offer from the Indiana Pacers that featured Malcolm Brogdon and a first-round pick in a trade for Ben Simmons.
While CJ McCollum is objectively better than Brogdon, this report likely means that the Portland Trail Blazers would have to tack on additional assets if they were to land the Australian.
If Brogdon and a future first weren’t enough, would CJ and a FRP seal the deal? I would guess the Sixers would turn down that offer as well, because even if McCollum is the perfect fit for what Philly needs, there’s likely to be better offers on the table for Simmons.
How much would the Blazers be willing to give up to acquire Simmons? Would they include an additional first-rounder, tying up their future capital? Would they include Anfernee Simons or Nassir Little, tanking their bench depth and young assets?
Con 2: The Portland Trail Blazers could lower their offensive ceiling by trading for Ben Simmons
Although Simmons is a brilliant playmaker, he has plenty of deficits on the offensive side of the ball as well.
His shooting struggles are well-documented and they were put on full exposure in the Sixers second-round loss against the Atlanta Hawks. With Joel Embiid playing through injury and Tobias Harris struggling with his own shot, the Sixers needed Simmons to provide the offense they were sorely lacking and he came up short.
Trading CJ McCollum for Ben Simmons would drastically deplete the Blazers floor-spacing, a commodity that no NBA team can afford to lose in today’s game. Would Simmons’s ability to create for others negate his lack of floor spacing? That’s a gamble that might be hard to swallow.
Con 3: Ben Simmons will sometimes be unplayable for the Portland Trail Blazers
Not only is Simmons severely lacking any sort of a jumper, his offensive struggles go well beyond his outside shooting.
At times in the Sixers-Hawks semifinals series, it appeared as though Simmons was afraid to shoot from any spot on the court. NBA teams simply cannot survive in the playoffs with a zero on offense. A playmaker’s effectiveness is depleted drastically if the defense knows that he’s not also willing to create for himself.
While the Blazers can put Simmons in spots to succeed in the half-court offense, i.e. using him as a screener, having him facilitate, putting him in the dunker’s spot, relying on him as a lob threat on the roll, etc., there will still be times where his offensive inabilities will make him unplayable.
For the Blazers, Simmons would be sharing the frontcourt with Jusuf Nurkic, another non-shooter. There’s a reason teams rarely play two traditional bigs anymore, as this just clogs up the paint and makes it easier on the defense to make rotations and cover for lapses.
Even if Coach Billups finds a way for Simmons and Nurkic to be effective on the floor together, there’s still times when the Aussie superstar will be unplayable. The most concerning part of his offense is his piss-poor free throw percentage. In the series loss against the Hawks, Simmons averaged a disgusting 33 percent from the stripe.
With his need to be involved in the action to be effective on offense, teams will turn to the hack-a-Simmons strategy to take away the Blazers attack. If Portland can’t count on him to hit his freebies, the only option will be to remove him from the game.
With these cons in mind, is it worth trading CJ McCollum and likely additional assets for a player who could be a zero on offense or played off the floor altogether?