Sixers Suspend Ben Simmons For One Game

[ATLTimekeeper]

Unsure if Howard Eskin's legit, but he does have a blue checkmark. Sixer fans are free to help me on this, so anyway:

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So Howard IS sorta piggybacking off Shams' report, but to be fair he does add the part about the team not being happy he "went down this road" and fining him every game.

Honestly, I"m not sure how Simmons plays with how things are anyway, but still....

Back injury involving the nerves is hard to prove/disprove. Mental illness is impossible to disprove short of the Sixers having some kind of recording of Simmons saying he was deliberately going to 'fake it'.

To be fair to Simmons, he's not actually claiming to have a mental illness (Edit: I might be wrong on this), he just said he's not mentally ready to play, which is probably true. But yes, the back injury is one of those things that's so obviously bs with no way to prove it's bs.

The Sixers already released to the public that they were scouring for sports psychologists. It'd be interesting to see if the PA doesn't grieve any future fines. Morey already has an ugly exchange with Royce White on his resume.

[Bornstellar]

You really think so?

Embiid is probably smiling and thinking or even saying to front office to fine Ben's ass.

Yeah man I'm sure Embiid is enjoying his team wasting a year of his prime and endless questions about the situation from the media.

He loves the attention and does not care about questions about little Benny. Probably even loves to make fun out of Ben.

Joel is a competitor. If you think he "loves" the situation going on in Philly right now, which severely weakens his team's chances of being relevant this season, you're either in complete denial or delusional

Besides, the Sixers have other players on the roster besides Embiid. I'm sure they all just love the circus going on right now because it's sooo funny

[Educator]

Even injured players sit on the bench. And to everyone who says this is a 100% shield from being fined I wouldn't be so sure there would need to be strongly worded language in the CBA to back that claim. Players have dealt with REAL trauma before and took some time off but that was because the team green lighted it and Morey is obviously playing hard ball.

Of course this doesn't protect Ben Simmons from being fined/not paid. If this is indeed the route that Simmons chooses to go, what will likely happen is that Simmons will demand arbitration to try and recover his pay, but an arbitrator is not going to accept what Ben Simmons and his doctors say at face value. The arbitrator will consider reports from team doctors, Simmons's doctors, and likely doctors selected by the arbitrator, along with all the other evidence (the comments, videos, being thrown out of practice, etc.), and Simmons will lose. In fact, I don't even think the players union will back him.

[bebopdeluxe]

The fastest way to get traded is string together some good games, not all this crap he's doing. DSJ quit on the mavs and went home a couple years ago, wanted a trade and was convinced that wasn't the route, came back got a triple double against the Knicks and was traded the next day.

Ben does not want to be traded to any team that makes an offer. He wants to be traded to a team of his choice. The mental issues is just an excuse to ensure that any team considering him understand that his mental issues will remain till he is playing in LA.

Spot on. Well played.

One of the leaks coming out of Ben's camp was that he didn't get a chance to go to a bad team and "make mistakes" as part of his growth process. He was immediately on a team that won 50+ games (OH THE HORROR). He is letting you know that, if he comes to your team, he is going to continue to make mistakes, but that OK because he is "Simmo The Savage!"

[dlts20]

Just trade him. He will never give you anything close to 100 percent effort ever again

[Tomjas]

Ummm...no.

.

Please explain how this benefits the Sixers

It benefits the Sixers because the PLAYERS ON THE TEAM - you know, the ones who aren't throwing a temper tantrum and having a pity party because THEY SAID SOMETHING THAT WASN'T UNAMBIGUOUSLY PRAISEWORTHY about me - see the Sixers organization taking a stand against this jabroni holdout. They see that Morey is comfortable enough going to war with the players they have, and that they are confident that this team is good enough to win games without giving Simmons away for 20 cents on the dollar.

It also benefits the Sixers because it sends a STRONG message to Embiid that it is HIS TEAM. I think that Embiid is embracing that as well. Listen to his comments after the game last night how - instead of staying in his hotel room playing video games - he joined the players for a dinner together on the road (something that JJ Redick criticized the team for not doing enough when he was there). The bonding that is happening through this is HUGE.

Fine if you don't agree.

The team is going nowhere until they sort this mess out

NBA games are won by talent not feel good factor

As for Embiid, this team has catered to his every whim for years and nothing has changed

He will spend 25% of the season resting but this time won’t have Ben around to pick up the slack

[NYK Dolemite]

Just trade him. He will never give you anything close to 100 percent effort ever again

Don’t think they will be motivated to until Embiid says “make this crap go away.” Morey seems to have set the acceptable return exceedingly high for a player too fragile to take shots within 18 inches in the playoffs.

[Young gun 6]

I don’t mind this stance from Philly. If you can’t find a suitable trade and he doesn’t want to honour his contract by playing basketball that’s fine, just don’t pay the man.

I definitely hope Simmons isn’t doing this just to get paid because he doesn’t deserve a cent.

They really should find a way to just rip up his contract if he continues not abiding by it.

[NYK Dolemite]

Unsure if Howard Eskin's legit, but he does have a blue checkmark. Sixer fans are free to help me on this, so anyway:

Read on Twitter

So Howard IS sorta piggybacking off Shams' report, but to be fair he does add the part about the team not being happy he "went down this road" and fining him every game.

Honestly, I"m not sure how Simmons plays with how things are anyway, but still....

Eskin is definitely a legit Philly sports institution. I’ve heard more of him with regards to the Eagles, but he’s definitely legit.

[bebopdeluxe]

Simmons should just say he has mental issues he needs to work on. Boom, problem solved. He would get all his money.

Here is the thing - THIS IS PROBABLY TRUE.

IF Ben SImmons would HONESTLY come out and say, yes, he is struggling with issues related to his mental health that are impacting his ability to play, I would support him 1000%. The way it is coming out now, though - and within the context of the past couple of weeks - robs the guy of all credibility...which is GENUINELY unfortunate if this is the case.

[ciueli]

I don’t mind this stance from Philly. If you can’t find a suitable trade and he doesn’t want to honour his contract by playing basketball that’s fine, just don’t pay the man.

I definitely hope Simmons isn’t doing this just to get paid because he doesn’t deserve a cent.

They really should find a way to just rip up his contract if he continues not abiding by it.

Why would they do this? It just means they get nothing and Simmons is free to play for another team. And they'd probably get sued with no guarantee of victory or recouping court costs. The simple solution was always to trade him move on, but somehow that solution has continued to elude them.

[ReasonablySober]

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Yikes.

[Sixersftw]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

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We're gonna take it nice and slow

[Ruma85]

I don’t mind this stance from Philly. If you can’t find a suitable trade and he doesn’t want to honour his contract by playing basketball that’s fine, just don’t pay the man.

I definitely hope Simmons isn’t doing this just to get paid because he doesn’t deserve a cent.

They really should find a way to just rip up his contract if he continues not abiding by it.

If this situation continues Simmions might even be blackballed from the league.

[YamiRain]

WOJ said he's coming to shoot around though

[Dark Faze]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

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We're gonna take it nice and slow

The entire strategy seems to be a hail mary hope and prayer that Dame or Brad will ask out at the deadline.

Other than that I don't see how the passage of time will result in a "difference maker" being offered for Ben.

[bebopdeluxe]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

You really think so?

Embiid is probably smiling and thinking or even saying to front office to fine Ben's ass.

Yeah man I'm sure Embiid is enjoying his team wasting a year of his prime and endless questions about the situation from the media.

He sounded just fine after the game last night. I think he is happy to go to war with the teammates he has.

They might win a few games, too.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Stupid Morey. Typical of his ego to think he can win this war.

[shangrila]

I've watched the NBA since 1979. I've never seen anyone get treated the way Simmons did after the loss to the Hawks. Tragic Johnson for the Lakers anyone? Yeah, that's nothing compared to this. Ben got death threats from insane Philly fans. He got thrown under the bus not just by his coach and Embiid but the entire city of Philly crucified this guy.

No he didn't.

Rivers did, objectively.

Embiid's comments were a little more ambiguous.

[Sixersftw]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

Read on Twitter

We're gonna take it nice and slow

The entire strategy seems to be a hail mary hope and prayer that Dame or Brad will ask out at the deadline.

Other than that I don't see how the passage of time will result in a "difference maker" being offered for Ben.

May I present to you, the quadruple down

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