Boston Celtics: A Ben Simmons trade would be irresponsible

When it comes to this new-look Boston Celtics front office, it’s quite evident that they’re not afraid to shake things up if it means they’re better positioning their team for success moving forward.

All offseason, we’ve seen rookie President of Basketball Operations take part in a bevy of transactions, some being smaller acquisitions like the signing of Enes Kanter and the trade for Josh Richardson while others were on the larger side of things like the trade that nabbed Al Horford from the OKC Thunder.

Now, as we continue barreling towards October 20th’s tip-off, many are on the fence as to what the C’s next moves should be.

For some, the front office should settle down on their major roster renovations and, if they wish to continue looking to add talents, they should put forth minimalist efforts like shelling out training camp invites to available veterans.

Others, however, are still hoping for another sizeable move to be made by Stevens and co. what with the fact that they hold the rights to a rather lofty $17 million trade exception and, on an even bigger scale, have been linked to some of this year’s reportedly disgruntled stars.

For those of you who follow us at the Houdini, you’re already likely aware that we’re certainly not opposed to either one of these aforementioned routes, for we believe Boston’s decision-makers have done a solid job re-tooling this summer and, in turn, could opt to keep to roster intact moving forward yet we also believe they could consider making a few more moves to legitimately thrust themselves back into the title contention category.

That said, even though we’re not opposed to seeing the Boston Celtics making one more big splash, there are a few that we believe should be avoided at all costs.

One theoretical move that we believe the franchise should steer clear of is any possible trade that would bring 76ers star, Ben Simmons, to the shamrocks.

As things currently stand, it is reported that the fifth-year veteran has no intentions of attending the team’s upcoming training camp and, instead, is looking for a way out of Philadelphia.

Because of this, fans and media alike have all taken to the internet discussing ways in which their favorite ball clubs could somehow scrape together a package to entice the Sixers to ship Simmons out.

The Boston Celtics faithful have been no exception, with FanSided sister-site, Chowder and Champions, going as far as to say the franchise would be the “perfect fit” for the 3x All-Star.

"The thing is, the Boston Celtics happen to be looking for exactly what Simmons offers. Sure his shooting issues aren’t ideal, but if he’s playing alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they really don’t need him to shoot the ball. In fact, what they need is someone who can help get Tatum and Brown open, especially considering defenses were allowed to key in on them last season.Simmons would be the perfect candidate to do that. He can get to the rim when he feels like it, and when defenses shrink into the paint to stop him, that opens up shots at the three point line that Tatum and Brown would gladly take. Some players don’t have the ability to make those passes, but Simmons is not one of those players.Despite his height, Simmons is one of the better passers in the game. He averaged 6.9 assists per game last season, which was the lowest of his career. He typically will get close to double digits on a nightly basis, which is something the Celtics didn’t have on their roster last season, and is something they don’t really have heading into this season either."

Looking at writer, Owen Crisafulli’s reasoning it’s hard to argue against the fact that, at least on paper, Ben Simmons on the Boston Celtics would be a tremendous talent to have running alongside the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

That said, there are many more factors at play other than a simple fit amongst the C’s star wings

Currently heading into his second year of a 5-year, $177 million deal that pays him an average salary of $35.4 million throughout, the concept of simply putting together a trade package that would make the money work is rather difficult to construct.

In his article, Crisafulli stated that including the likes of Marcus Smart in such a deal would be a must, which, yes, is almost certainly correct. However, with the fact that he’s only making $13.8 million this year, that leaves nearly $20 million in salary left to be matched, which is no small number/ feat to accomplish.

Not only this, but considering the fact that the C’s more valuable young assets are still rather unproven (Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, etc.), ample draft compensation on top of simply matching salaiers would undoubtedly be a must.

So, just for the sake of it, let’s say a package for Simmons would look something like this:

Is this trade really something the Boston Celtics should strongly consider pursuing?

Now yes, again, the idea of having Simmons team up with the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown is a rather enticing prospect, for the trio would formulate a rather menacing Big-3 that could, in theory, put themselves in contention to combat the other formidable foes out there in the NBA (Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, etc.).

That said, seeing how poor the point guard played under the bright lights of last year’s postseason (his putrid scoring game was literally the main reason for their second-round demise with his combined six made field goals from game five through seven), is he really worth the long-term gamble/ lacking financial flexibility moving forward for a Celtics team coming off of a disappointing 2020-21 campaign themselves?

Ben Simmons is undeniably one of the most talented players currently in the association and, frankly, he’s a consistent jumper away from arguably being the best player in the league.

However, no matter how many offseason shoot-around clips there are of him taking and making 3-pointers, no one believes that the day will ever come where the 25-year-old works his way into becoming even a solid shooter which, in this modern-day game, hinders a player’s upside tremendously.

Instead, he’ll continue to be a highly overpaid talent with untapped potential that very likely will never be unlocked.

On paper, trading for the likes of Ben Simmons makes the Boston Celtics a much more menacing squad for opponents to go up against.

However, what matters is not what a team looks like on paper but, rather, what they look like on the hardwood and we do not believe that any realistic deal would warrant the assets that would be shelled out and long-term financial commitment that would come back with Ben Simmons heading to Boston.