The pro-Simmons case: If you’re a Blazers fan, you’d obviously prefer it not be centered around a Damian Lillard / Ben Simmons swap. You’d rather it be CJ McCollum, though that would mean sacrificing whatever decent draft capital you have, as opposed to the possibility of getting back something in addition to Simmons in exchange for Lillard. But ultimately, if you can partner Lillard and Simmons, hoping they could be a majority facsimile of Steph Curry and Draymond Green, that’s something that probably makes you better, as good as McCollum is. Simmons, as disappointing as his lack of offensive evolution has been, he’s still one of the very best defenders on the planet, and Lillard has never had a teammate that could do what he does there. They’d mesh together quite well on the court in an ideal world.
For Philadelphia, having McCollum to complement Joel Embiid and under Doc Rivers and Daryl Morey, he could play his best basketball yet, too. Remember, Simmons won’t be there, so the spacing improves by default. McCollum will also be without Lillard, and effectively your primary ball-handler since Tobias Harris becomes your second-best perimeter scorer. Embiid will inevitably miss some games, and McCollum might have a pathway to a career year as a result due to playing off him and also stepping up in his likely absences.
The anti-Simmons case: It seems like Portland wants to run this back, for now, with Lillard and McCollum still leading the way, in hopes everything around them improves. Though, to be honest, outside of a new head coach in Chauncey Billups, they’re mostly running it back. The real anti-Simmons case for them is just not believing he’s repairable, and or the Sixers could be asking for too much, which seems to be the case. If so, that could be reasonable, the rest of us would just like to know what the alternative is because Lillard is more vocal now than ever, and it’s not to say the answer is Simmons, but the answer is someone not currently in Portland.
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