Philadelphia 76ers: On Ben Simmons, Kevin Porter Jr, and the hype cycle

On October 7th, Kenneth Teape made minor waves over at the NBA Analysis Network by suggesting a trade between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Houston Rockets centered around Ben Simmons and Kevin Porter Jr.

Now, right from the jump, this trade is never going to happen. Teape suggests that the Sixers would package Simmons, Paul Reed, and Isaiah Joe together for KPJ, Eric Gordon, D.J. Augustin, and three first-round picks, which is a bizarre haul for both sides no matter how you slice it.

But the most interesting development from this suggested trade is just how viciously Rockets fans came out against the hypothetical deal.

Apparently, this trade proposal amounted to something akin to trading Joel Embiid for Andrew Wiggins or exchanging Tyrese Maxey for a top-55 protected second-round pick. Sure, it played on the usual anti-Simmons tropes – that he’s a bust, a lousy player, soft, etc. – but there were just as many, if not more people who outright rejected the proposal because it featured Porter, who many commenters deemed borderline untouchable at this point in his relatively young NBA career.

If this surprises you, a Philadelphia 76ers fan who hasn’t thought about the Houston Rockets since they decided not to trade James Harden to the City of Brotherly Love, it really shouldn’t; you just haven’t been paying attention.

KPJ and the Philadelphia 76ers’ PG are on opposite ends of the hype cycle.

This time last year, the idea of trading Ben Simmons for Kevin Porter Jr. would have been unimaginable.

Porter was a troubled former 30th overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers who was on indefinite leave from the team after getting into a wild altercation with team officials goaded on by having his locker moved following the acquisition of Taurine Prince from the Brooklyn Nets. After making their intentions known that Porter would not be with the team moving forward, GM Koby Altman ultimately traded his former first-round pick to the Houston Rockets for a top-55 protected second-round pick; a pick that few expected to actually convey.

At the time, this move wasn’t particularly lauded by anyone but fans of the Rockets, as they were fresh off trading their best player in a Process-level blow-up of their playoff core and saw a chance to secure the second coming of James Harden for pennies on the dollar.

Unless said fan was a hardcore fan of USC, they’d likely never seen KPJ play a game of organized basketball outside of a single December game versus the Rockets back in 2019, and even if they did watch the Trojans religiously, they still likely never got an idea of just how good the former first-round pick would become, as he only appeared in 21 games before being suspended for “personal conduct issues.”

With a game similar to Harden, all the way down to the stepback J and the lower than expected 3 point shooting percentage, Porter developed into a pretty darn intriguing backcourt performer after largely being used as a small-ball small forward in Cleveland. He scored 16.6 points per game – the fifth-best mark on the team behind Harden, Victor Oladipo, John Wall, and former Philadelphia 76ers forward Christian Wood – maintained his efficiency from the field on almost twice as many shots, and most impressively of all, nearly tripled his assist average from 2.2 to 6.3.

For a team reeling from the loss of their best player and championship chances, Porter proved a ray of light a la Michael Carter-Williams in 2013-14; if MCW was an electric offensive scorer instead of proto Ben Simmons, of course.

Factor in some incredibly exciting performances as an on-ball point guard next to 2021 second-overall pick Jalen Green through the first two games of the preseason, and KPJ might just be one of the hottest names in the NBA today, with sky-high expectations for a breakout sophomore season in Houston.

Ben Simmons, by contrast, is coming off of one of the worst playoff performances we’ve seen by a three-time All-Star in recent memory and has seemingly lost any goodwill he once had with fans in Philadelphia or really anywhere else in the NBA. Sure, Simmons still made the All-Star game in 2021, earned a spot on the All-Defense team, finished out the season second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and was able to stifle Trae Young something fierce in the Sixers’ Round 2 playoff showdown versus the Atlanta Hawks, but after passing up that shot and just generally playing a truly maddening brand of passive basketball, it soured the most hardened fans of his game.

Is Simmons still a useful, talented player? Most definitely. He’s averaged 15.9 points per game despite being a non-shooter and backs that up with 8.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.7 steals per game as the Sixers’ resident stat stuffer. He’s also arguably the best positionless defender in the entire NBA, as he can truly cover opponents 1-5 on any given play and hold his own.

Heck, from a physical standpoint, Simmons might be the most impressive player in the entire NBA, as you don’t often find players that big who are that fast with that good of a handle.

With all of that in mind, would a hypothetical trade of Simmons for KPJ make sense? Sure. Simmons would be a wonderful defensive foil for Green, and Porter would be a fine 1b pick-and-roll partner for Embiid. Throw in John Wall or a couple of former Daryl Morey guys like Eric Gordon and Danuel House, and you’d surely be able to work something out with a draft pick or two thrown in on either side if need be.

But honestly, if I’m the Houston Rockets, I wouldn’t do that deal, even if such a take might look downright goofy if KPJ doesn’t reach his ceiling.

Why? Because the hype around Kevin Porter Jr. is worth betting on.

Kevin Porter Jr. is fresh, fun, and exciting. At 21, he’s still years away from his NBA prime and could conceivably get even better over the next half-decade. Sure, some will call his stats bloated by being the top option on a not-so-good team, but surely those numbers will hold up when the team gets good, right? It worked for the Philadelphia 76ers with Joel Embiid; why not with KPJ in the Space City? Ben Simmons, by contrast, is what he is, a darn good defender who can pass better than any other 6-foot-10 human in history and will probably never put in the work needed to reach his NBA ceiling. A year ago, if such a package was presented, Daryl Morey would have laughed his predecessor off the phone. But today? Gambling on aspirationalism is always more attractive than accepting limitations, even if it comes up bust in the end.