2021 nba offseason draft free agency etc

these wolves I tell ya what

Glen Taylor wants Simmons?

timberwolves, normal stuff as per usual

Just looked through Rosas' history of transactions. His first move was trading Cam Johnson and Saric for Culver; his last move was trading Culver and Juancho for Pat Bev.

i mean there had been ZERO smoke on this locally, not even the slightest rumor

not really defending rosas's record so far but i'm just shocked it's now at this moment

he did not impress the new ownership group

A lot of the Timberwolves/Simmons stuff I had heard had stemmed from Gersson feeling pressure to make a big splash to impress new the new ownership group. Now he's gone. Will be interesting to see how this impacts the Simmons situation.

— Sean Highkin (@highkin) September 22, 2021

wtf…

— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) September 22, 2021

...lol

In wake of Gersson Rosas' departure, word has circulated among league sources since Summer League that incoming Minnesota Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have communicated they are fond of Sixers general manager Elton Brand. A name to keep an eye on here.

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) September 22, 2021

let’s gooooo

lmaoooooooo

Wollllllllves!

the more i think about it i agree that simmons won't play for the sixers again and i think his position is entirely justified. at no point have the sixers, as far as we know, said that they want to keep him. their position is that he should return to the team and play so that he will improve his trade value and be sent off whenever the sixers decide they can get the value they're seeking for him. so his response being "i'm never stepping foot in the building again, trade me now" is completely rational to me, on like a personal dignity level. why should he bust his ass in training camp and on the court for the benefit of trade value? when you add in the general toxicity of how their season ended and the environment w/ philly fans i do think he's just not gonna show up. he has $145 million guaranteed or whatever coming to him, he can probably eat the fines for a month or however long it ends up being

i think the irrational actor in this scenario is the philly front office which seems to be operating under the delusion that simmons can improve his trade value by playing well in october and november

yeah otm

yah the more trade value he has the worse his future team/teammates and assets on that team will be.

doc is currently trending for doing the "hey we'd love him to stay but what can we do" bit on espn

Here's how I roll:

enjoyment of watching Philly fans clown Simmons >= enjoyment watching Simmons play for Philly = enjoyment watching whatever pieces they get for Simmons

jon k was on our local sports talk:

- apparently there has been a lot of talk and dissatisfaction internally with rosas for a while, building this summer

- there was some sort of "event" that was a straw that broke the camel's back type of scenario

- acting president of basketball operations is going to be sachan gupta, our analytics guy. interestingly, he was asked to interview for a few positions in the league this offseason and was blocked from doing so by the team so who knows maybe that was looking forward to this

- it's a shitshow

incoming Minnesota Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have communicated they are fond of Sixers general manager Elton Brand.

This is incredible. Brand is the basketball genius who signed Horford to that deal to play the 4, moved Harris to the 3 and signed him to a max deal, and chose not to re-sign Butler cause he wasn't sure he was a team guy.

i.e. good luck ums.

Simmons isn’t a center

He can’t post up and he’s defensively versatile. Why in the world do people think that’s a center.

Power forward, sure.

that's a semantic distinction

Why in the world do people think that’s a center.

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 2:21 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

draymond made everyone think anyone can be draymond

i think him and kat would be an ideal pairing

Yeah it’s a semantic distinction, which you guys are really attached to. He’s not a center.

ok. so what's your point?

if you're a power forward you're a center it's 2021 let's catch up

Yeah no, that’s not true.

My point is that you keep calling him a center when he isn’t. Why you do that idk

ok but again -- what's your point

like aside from picking a semantic argument do you actually have anything to say about basketball here or should we just wrap this one up

did they ever get to the bottom of what happened to Simmons during the playoffs

incoming Minnesota Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have communicated they are fond of Sixers general manager Elton Brand.

This is incredible. Brand is the basketball genius who signed Horford to that deal to play the 4, moved Harris to the 3 and signed him to a max deal, and chose not to re-sign Butler cause he wasn't sure he was a team guy.

i.e. good luck ums.

― Taliban! (PBKR), Wednesday, September 22, 2021 4:20 PM (fifty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

At this point I'm just in it to see how weird it can get, that and The Lad

For me the nadir was the Al Jefferson years, he's a really boring player to be your best player

Keep the Timberwolves Weird

He can’t post up and he’s defensively versatile. Why in the world do people think that’s a center.

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 5:21 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

hes tall cant shoot and can play defense, and im sure youve noticed posting up isnt quite as central to the nba as it once was

draymond made everyone think anyone can be draymond

― a talented ‘Rebel’ with Balls (Spottie), Wednesday, September 22, 2021 5:24 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

its just the best comp for his skills, and of course he is physically much more of a center than dray

He can’t post up and he’s defensively versatile. Why in the world do people think that’s a center.

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 5:21 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

hes tall cant shoot and can play defense, and im sure youve noticed posting up isnt quite as central to the nba as it once was

yeah i mean you can shoot and play center but you cant not shoot and play shooting guard

like aside from picking a semantic argument do you actually have anything to say about basketball here or should we just wrap this one up

yeah i mean you can shoot and play center but you cant not shoot and play shooting guard

You’d think a celtics fan would know this!

draymond made everyone think anyone can be draymond

― a talented ‘Rebel’ with Balls (Spottie), Wednesday, September 22, 2021 5:24 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

its just the best comp for his skills, and of course he is physically much more of a center than dray

― lag∞n, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 3:46 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

draymond has a 7'1" wingspan

i didnt say they were exactly the same guy

i mean you could play simmons at power forward but youd need to pair him with a center who can shoot, which would mean on offense he is essentially... playing center, which tbh might be the best arrangement but is trickier to pull off from a personnel standpoint, you could also just play him at center i think it would be fine and actually good, having an elite ballhandler/passer at center is a pretty sick advantage

right i just disagree that ben is physically much more of a center than dray.

id be interested in seeing if ben can play small ball five for 15 minutes a game, to see how he holds up

You’d think a celtics fan would know this!

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 6:54 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

marcus has to his credit turned himself into a passable shooter, but earlier in his career his bad shooting was a huge problem, he was coming off the bench despite being an all world defender and generally good player

could ben really guard, say, jokic for most of a playoff series, I guess I don’t know how he handles truly huge dudes

there are a lot of nba centers who have a hard time with jokic and embiid doesnt mean theyre not centers