Portland Trail Blazers trade for Ben Simmons – Pro 3: On-court Versatility
Head-to-head, Ben Simmons is a much more versatile player than CJ McCollum. He can guard all five positions, can serve as the primary ballhandler or an off-ball screener/cutter, and can fit into any lineup.
Having a “skeleton key” type player like Simmons would allow all kinds of different looks for new Head Coach Chauncey Billups.
He could slot Simmons in at the four in a more traditional starting lineup next to Dame, Norman Powell, Robert Covington, and Jusuf Nurkic.
He could run Simmons as his point guard and surround him with shooters when Damian Lillard needs a breather.
He could even go small and play Simmons as a five when the Blazers need to get points in bunches, allowing Dame to play with the ball in his hands but Simmons to run the break as an uber-athletic point center.
Versatility is something the Blazers have been sorely lacking since the Damian Lillard-era began. Having the option to come out with different looks and adapt to different opponents is a key advantage in the playoffs.
Portland Trail Blazers trade for Ben Simmons – Con 3: Future Flexibility
If the Portland Trail Blazers do trade CJ McCollum and some combination of future first-round picks and young players for Ben Simmons, they’ll have to hope that their newly acquired star will be enough to win a championship.
Once CJ McCollum and whatever haul of potential assets is shipped out, the Blazers ability to make further trades will be extremely limited. This is the first offseason in a long time that Portland had access to all of their future picks and if they do trade for Simmons, it’ll be another looooong stretch before the Blazers have that accessibility again.
If Simmons comes to Portland and tanks his trade value even further, it’ll be near impossible to make any kind of leeway on improving the team moving forward.