Ben Simmons to Cavs would be a fresh start for both

The potential payoff for the Cavs

Simmons has always liked playing the guard spot even though he’s a big man, by size and ideally skill set, seemingly. He also is an outstanding player in the open court. He excels in transition basketball.

And the Cavs need a player who has had more experience as well in winning basketball. Cleveland has drafted well the last few years. Picturing a starting five lineup for the Cavs this season that could be:

Garland-Ricky Rubio-Simmons-Evan Mobley-Jarrett Allen

Maybe you’d start recent sign-and-trade acquisition Lauri Markkanen at the 4 instead of Evan Mobley to start the season. But it’s an intriguing lineup and one that the Wine and Gold would instantly be considered even stronger candidates for the playoffs.

In the end, I believe the Cavs need to make a splash in order to get more respect around the league in this post LeBron James (Round 2) era. Gaining Mobley as their draft pick in the recent NBA draft was a good step in the right direction. And even though Simmons is seemingly struggling at the moment, or at least did so in the postseason, the Cavaliers would benefit from the pickup.

The Cavs can’t say that they have other All-Star talent on their team other than Kevin Love, and that was a while ago, so gaining another All-Star would be a nice start (and Love would be send out likely, it’d appear). So perhaps this sort of thing could play out, although it’s still a long shot it would seem as of right now.