The Philadelphia 76ers vs Ben Simmons

And, yes, "versus" is about the right word.

I mean, Joel Embiid put it politely, but, he said Ben Simmons needs to shoot, and specifically hinted at the ending of Game 7 of the East semifinals, where Simmons had a point-blank dunk attempt and instead, of course, passed to Matisse Thybulle, who got fouled and ... made only one of his free-throws. Simmons, had he been fouled, was in the position to have likely made his dunk anyway and have a possible three-point play, which makes this even worse.

Sixers coach Doc Rivers, under fire from fans himself, said the team has a plan to help Simmons' shooting woes.

These are woes at both the free-throw line and the arc. One or the other being bad would be acceptable, especially given Simmons' D. The two combined are not.

A lot of fans, and a guy named Magic Johnson who has some knowledge of what it's like to be a tall point guard AND to be a PG who can't shoot a 3-ball — though he eventually fixed that to a reasonable degree — think it would benefit both him and the team to trade him.

It benefited the Sixers to walk away from Markelle Fultz two years ago, though it pretty clearly did NOT benefit Fultz.

But, where to?

Some rumors, and some early fan pleadings, say Detroit. I couldn't tell if the Fansided "crack blogger" who runs the Pistons account was yea or nay on the trade when he cited the Pistons' history with poor FT, poor 2-ball guy Ben Wallace. (Even given his 4x Defensive Player of the Year honors, it's still arguable the 2004 Pistons won the title in spite of him, not because of him.)

Setting aside his value to the Pistons specifically, or not ... what is he worth? He's played four years now, and gotten marginally better on 3-balls, and marginally better on his willingness to shoot them. His FT percentage has plateaued, as has his free throw attempts. His total shot attempts have also dropped. And, per the Red Satan link up top, this all was worse, at least this year, in the playoffs than the regular season. And, his splits show that he not only doesn't want to shoot threes, but that he's afraid to shoot anything outside 10 feet. Contra the overdone thoughts of Rick Carlisle vis a vis Kristaps Porzingis, per the shooting distance splits of B-Ref, a 10-16 foot 2-ball is fine; 16-arc is what you want to avoid. But, Simmons won't even shoot those.

Question to me is, contra the Sixers' talk, which Red Satan notes is not new, do other teams think his shot is fixable? Or is he already perceived as damaged goods, like Fultz?

I mean, there's also a clubhouse trust issue. What Embiid said in public was surely louder in the locker room. And, does Thybulle, a second-year player who surely now thinks Simmons was kind of throwing HIM under the bus with that pass, trust him?

Who I am really reminded of is one Chris Webber. No, really. I think he called that nonexistent timeout with the Wolverines because he didn't want to face last-shot pressure. I also recall Game 7 of the Kings-Lakers Western Conference finals in 2002. It was like he thought the ball was a hot potato the last five minutes of the game. (Setting aside his knee problems shortening his career, this was another reason I wasn't sold on his Hall of Fame candidacy.) And, sorry folks, if you click that link, there was no big free throw disparity, just a MADE free throw disparity.

For example, and setting aside cap issues and where each player would fit on their new team, if the Sixers asked the Nuggets to swap straight up for Aaron Gordon? That ain't happening.

The other problem is, who takes over at the point? George Hill is old. Can Seth Curry be your PG? Uhh, probably not. Or are you going to make sure a PG comes back as part of a trade?

Could Ben still work out with better lineup rotations, as speculated here? Can any team win it all with Doc blowing 3-1 leads not just here but also with the Clips? One can make the argument he should have one more than one title with the Kevin Garnett / Paul Pierce / Ray Allen Celtics.

So, Sixers fans? If you want Morey to make a deal, fine. Just don't bitch at him if he has to trade Simmons at an apparent loss. This Sixers Fansided site offers a mix of possibilities. It's true that Magic didn't pick up the three-ball until half a dozen years in the league, but I don't think Simmons is fixable. (Morey's already talking smack about how most teams would love to be in the Sixers' position while saying that unnamed people need to get better on offense.)

And, speaking of Simmons, Fultz and Embiid, we're getting closer and closer to shutting the door on Trust the Process. Besides lining up the draft picks to get all three, let's not forget Sam Hinkle was the genius who traded for Nerlens Noel and drafted Jahlil Okafor No. 3.