it's the same problem Billups had. Pride. Even if it's not fixed Simmons is hands down the best player we can land for CJ. Period. Again plan on he can't fix it so get even more shooters, and then if he does, what's your ring size? Right now Portland is way, WAYYYYY out of contention. We aren't even as good as Den without Murray. We are just straight-up worse than both LA team, PHX, Utah and Denver. Dallas and Golden State are right there with us and even the Pelicans with an emergent Zion aren't that much worse than us. We need a swing for the fences move. We need a superstar-level talent and our cupboard is fairly bare. It's CJ for Simmons and I guarantee, I absolutely guarantee that team of Dame Roco Powell Simmons and then surrounding them with more shooters is far, far better than our current team.
Yes, of course Dame and Embiid are kinda different players. Sure Dame needs the ball a lot of the time but can find Simmons slashing or cutting. A Dame plus Simmons Pick and roll with three shooters? Unstoppable. A creative coach can absolutely make Simmons work next to Lillard. You know, Lillard is pretty good at shooting. Embiid while great for a big man, is simply not a good off-the-ball option compared to getting it in the post. This seems, fairly straightforward to me.
There is so much you can do with Simmons offensively to deal with his limitations. I think 70% FT shooting is not only achievable, it will happen. If he can even find a long-range stroke? He would be on the shortlist of MVP players. What do you think is more likely? Simmons learning to shoot, or CJ becoming a lockdown defender? I think we both know the answer to that. How many NBA 1st team level guys are out there available? How many coming in 2nd on DPOY voting players are available? In both cases, the answer is, just one and his name is Ben Simmons.
Getting Simmons for CJ would be the best trade this franchise has made since trading for Pippen and all that lead to. Interestingly, Simmons is a bigger, faster, better version of Pippen, aside from the lack of jump shot. A huge difference obviously, but Simmons is better than Pippen at everything else. IF he finds a stroke? He's Pippen on steroids and methamphetamines.