ROSTER TALK: Mavs favs for Vogel if no HC job exists. Kyrie handshake deal?

[mvossman]

Same here. Simmons is the obvious fit for Dallas that solves their two open needs simultaneously.

Reading the tea leaves of who has been seen in Vegas and who has not (although Powell gets a pass for playing for the Canadian national team), I could see the core of the deal being something like THJ/Maxi/Powell for Simmons. Maybe you add a future pick or take some other smaller contracts back.

Brooklyn is notably lacking size and both Maxi and Powell would help there while also being easily movable expirings for future deals and/or cap flexibility. THJ would be the direct Simmons positional replacement with more shooting. And all three would also be much-needed good lockerroom guys.

For Dallas, this looks pretty damn competitive as your core playoff 8:

Ballhandlers: Luka/Dinwiddie (Simmons is also an additional ballhandler in any lineup)

Wings: Simmons/DFS/Bullock/Green (crazy good defensive flexibility)

Bigs: Wood/McGee


Pipe dream? Sure. But I do think it makes tons of sense in terms of roster construction.

That looks more like a core 6, and that is assuming Simmons shows up.  That team has no rim protection other than 15 minutes of McGee and I don't know how Simmons and Luka play together?  I guess Luka would have to bone up on his off ball game (not a strong suit in his NBA game) because Simmons is useless without the ball.

If we send out even one first, it will kill our ability to make a big trade for years and if Simmons decides he doesn't want to play basketball anymore then we are even more screwed than we were with KP.  This would be an all-in move and that team does not look like a contender to me.