76ers back to fining Ben Simmons

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

Simmons is still a star level talent. Someone should roll the dice for him. It’s a shame Klutch sports made an absolute effing mess of this. What a toxic agency, they’re enabling this behavior. There are other ways. Be a professional, you’re getting (was) paid a stupid amount of money to play a game you love. Stop being an idiot

[Teal25]

Is there someone keeping track if all these fines? He’s at 4 million now?

[dhsilv2]

I have never seen a team throw their supposed star under the bus so hard but, yeah, we can definitely agree to disagree.

I'm not sure but he can get a lot better and we need to work....is throwing something not just under the bus. But throwing them HARD under the bus...we couldn't have more differing opinions here. If that was throwing him under the bus...my goodness, 99% of coaches are equivalents to murders.

Equivalent to murder? Really? I don't see the need to exaggerate here. We can have a difference of opinion without exaggerating, can't we?

And, yeah, I definitely haven't seen a lot of teams speak like that about their stars. Not playoff teams, at least. Coaches, players, teams and the like usually speak in platitude. They speak in vague terms. "We as a team can do better", "we could have all played harder", yada, yada, yada. That's not what Doc and the rest of Sixers did after their loss. They blamed it on Simmons and I don't blame them for that either. His play deserved these comments but that's how you burn down bridges.

Embiid was the only other person to even make reference in simmon's direction and he went out of his way multiple times to place the blame on himself. And frankly, I took Doc's words as being overwhelmingly complementary and positive towards Simmons. Given how the sports media has run with it...I can see why some could see it the otherway after having the idiots of ESPN painting some made up narrative, but all doc to me said was that Simmons is great but we have to get better and he thinks he can do just that with simmons.

[Bum Adebayo]

Players never threw Simmons under the bus, that is just a fake narrative, some fans maybe did but that's another thing. Reality is, Simmons has wanted out for quite some time, he just had to find an excuse and this is it (the under the bus thing).

[9th Wonder]

As mentioned above, people are exaggerating what was actually said. Go watch the video. Embiid doesn't even say Simmons' name. He says the turning point is when they had an open dunk (Simmons) that resulted in 1/2 at the line (Thybulle). The only person he explicitly blames is himself.

True, Doc said he didn't know when asked if Simmons is a championship-level point guard. But he also spent the entire season bending over backwards to praise Simmons when there was even a slight suggestion that he could be taking jump shots.

If you want evidence of Simmons being **** on, check out Embiid's pre-season comments.

[celticfan42487]

Simmons is still a star level talent. Someone should roll the dice for him. It’s a shame Klutch sports made an absolute effing mess of this. What a toxic agency, they’re enabling this behavior. There are other ways. Be a professional, you’re getting (was) paid a stupid amount of money to play a game you love. Stop being an idiot

I do think he's a star, he just needs to be used differently. As a Center. Or at the very least as the only player who can't shoot 3s on a team.

He can be a 6'10" 250 pound Rajon Rondo. That massive physicality difference is huge and if you can get away with him being at the PG spot in the pick and roll era it's a devestating defensive advantage.

A much lesser Greak Freak in a lot of ways which around other all-star talent can be really great for your team. Ideally the 3rd star on a championship team. But one that can raise all ships kind of how Gobert does in the regular season (and also like Gobert we're not sure they can or do in the playoffs).

[SpreeChokeJob]

Simmons is still a star level talent. Someone should roll the dice for him. It’s a shame Klutch sports made an absolute effing mess of this. What a toxic agency, they’re enabling this behavior. There are other ways. Be a professional, you’re getting (was) paid a stupid amount of money to play a game you love. Stop being an idiot

I do think he's a star, he just needs to be used differently. As a Center. Or at the very least as the only player who can't shoot 3s on a team.

He can be a 6'10" 250 pound Rajon Rondo. That massive physicality difference is huge and if you can get away with him being at the PG spot in the pick and roll era it's a devestating defensive advantage.

A much lesser Greak Freak in a lot of ways which around other all-star talent can be really great for your team. Ideally the 3rd star on a championship team. But one that can raise all ships kind of how Gobert does in the regular season (and also like Gobert we're not sure they can or do in the playoffs).

He doesn’t want to play center. He wants to be a pg. that’s why Simmons is in this mess in the first place. He only does what he wants. The problem is he isn’t as good to dictate those terms on a four year contract.

[celticfan42487]

Simmons is still a star level talent. Someone should roll the dice for him. It’s a shame Klutch sports made an absolute effing mess of this. What a toxic agency, they’re enabling this behavior. There are other ways. Be a professional, you’re getting (was) paid a stupid amount of money to play a game you love. Stop being an idiot

I do think he's a star, he just needs to be used differently. As a Center. Or at the very least as the only player who can't shoot 3s on a team.

He can be a 6'10" 250 pound Rajon Rondo. That massive physicality difference is huge and if you can get away with him being at the PG spot in the pick and roll era it's a devestating defensive advantage.

A much lesser Greak Freak in a lot of ways which around other all-star talent can be really great for your team. Ideally the 3rd star on a championship team. But one that can raise all ships kind of how Gobert does in the regular season (and also like Gobert we're not sure they can or do in the playoffs).

He doesn’t want to play center. He wants to be a pg. that’s why Simmons is in this mess in the first place. He only does what he wants. The problem is he isn’t as good to dictate those terms on a four year contract.

Well he's also played with a franchise Center his entire career that occupies the spaces he needs to as a fellow Center to be effective.

I'm sure he'll be 100% happy being a Point Center and having all the spots he needs to be in to be effective be open for him to play at instead of having to constantly do things on offense he's not capable of (shooting) or being an obvious anchor to his offense as teams play well off him.

[sfballa13]

As mentioned above, people are exaggerating what was actually said. Go watch the video. Embiid doesn't even say Simmons' name. He says the turning point is when they had an open dunk (Simmons) that resulted in 1/2 at the line (Thybulle). The only person he explicitly blames is himself.

True, Doc said he didn't know when asked if Simmons is a championship-level point guard. But he also spent the entire season bending over backwards to praise Simmons when there was even a slight suggestion that he could be taking jump shots.

If you want evidence of Simmons being **** on, check out Embiid's pre-season comments.

Love the salty Sixers fans

So many former players (not analysts) came out and said that Doc/Embiid did Simmons dirty after their loss

A few said they would never play for a coach / player who talked **** like that in the media - behind closed doors, sure

Other former players blamed Doc/Embiid for making comments in the "heat of the moment"

This doesnt even touch the fact that Simmons was basically traded for Harden until the deal fell apart bc Morey refused to give up picks and young guys like Maxey

What player wants to play for a GM that is looking to trade him?

See Ray Allen - beloved by the city of of Boston but constantly mentioned in trade rumors. The first chance he got he bounced to the Heat, the Celtics' biggest rival. Celtics were still a competitive team and nearly beat the Heat WITHOUT Allen. Why wouldnt he just stay and help get another chip? Because he felt like he was done dirty

Regardless of what was said, he asked for a trade after the series loss and it's been 4 months

Since then his trade value has plummeted and the only one to blame is Morey.

NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB - show me a situation where a player demanded a trade and the organization refused and held out

Seen it done for contract extensions esp in the NBA/MLB where players are looking to get more money and negotiate by missing games to start the season but this really is the first or only times where a player has missed 20% or more of a season without a trade being completed.

Morey messed this up big time.

Sixers' fans can keep blaming Simmons and whining and crying but the fact remains - 30M+ of cap space is being taken up by a guy who hasnt stepped on the court and your team has already played 20% of the regular season

Agents and other NBA players are taking note, you can bet your ass that no big future free agents are signing with the Sixers if Morey is the GM. If they are bums looking for a big deal sure, but no big name players are going to willingly sign a deal with a team that refuses to trade them.

Wonder how Embiid will feel when he realizes he cant win a chip with the Sixers and requests a trade

[9th Wonder]

As mentioned above, people are exaggerating what was actually said. Go watch the video. Embiid doesn't even say Simmons' name. He says the turning point is when they had an open dunk (Simmons) that resulted in 1/2 at the line (Thybulle). The only person he explicitly blames is himself.

True, Doc said he didn't know when asked if Simmons is a championship-level point guard. But he also spent the entire season bending over backwards to praise Simmons when there was even a slight suggestion that he could be taking jump shots.

If you want evidence of Simmons being **** on, check out Embiid's pre-season comments.

Love the salty Sixers fans

So many former players (not analysts) came out and said that Doc/Embiid did Simmons dirty after their loss

A few said they would never play for a coach / player who talked **** like that in the media - behind closed doors, sure

Other former players blamed Doc/Embiid for making comments in the "heat of the moment"

This doesnt even touch the fact that Simmons was basically traded for Harden until the deal fell apart bc Morey refused to give up picks and young guys like Maxey

What player wants to play for a GM that is looking to trade him?

See Ray Allen - beloved by the city of of Boston but constantly mentioned in trade rumors. The first chance he got he bounced to the Heat, the Celtics' biggest rival. Celtics were still a competitive team and nearly beat the Heat WITHOUT Allen. Why wouldnt he just stay and help get another chip? Because he felt like he was done dirty

Regardless of what was said, he asked for a trade after the series loss and it's been 4 months

Since then his trade value has plummeted and the only one to blame is Morey.

NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB - show me a situation where a player demanded a trade and the organization refused and held out

Seen it done for contract extensions esp in the NBA/MLB where players are looking to get more money and negotiate by missing games to start the season but this really is the first or only times where a player has missed 20% or more of a season without a trade being completed.

Morey messed this up big time.

Sixers' fans can keep blaming Simmons and whining and crying but the fact remains - 30M+ of cap space is being taken up by a guy who hasnt stepped on the court and your team has already played 20% of the regular season

Agents and other NBA players are taking note, you can bet your ass that no big future free agents are signing with the Sixers if Morey is the GM. If they are bums looking for a big deal sure, but no big name players are going to willingly sign a deal with a team that refuses to trade them.

Wonder how Embiid will feel when he realizes he cant win a chip with the Sixers and requests a trade

You're missing my point and then going on to raise all sorts of issues that I didn't make any comment about. I simply stated that people are exaggerating the post-game-7 comments. I even conceded that Embiid said some nasty stuff about Simmons in pre-season. Reasonable people can disagree on where the blame should be placed, but let's start by understanding what Doc and Embiid said.

[Joshyjess]

In the Boston game tonight, Al Horford got a wide open pass under the basket from Smart. Before he put it in, he took a quick look at the corners, but then decided to go ahead and put the shot in himself. Brian Scalabrine (one of the Boston commentators), kind of laughed, and said that Al thought about being Ben Simmons for a second.
I think this just cements the idea of the kind of reputation that Simmons has made for himself.

[Ill News]

In the Boston game tonight, Al Horford got a wide open pass under the basket from Smart. Before he put it in, he took a quick look at the corners, but then decided to go ahead and put the shot in himself. Brian Scalabrine (one of the Boston commentators), kind of laughed, and said that Al thought about being Ben Simmons for a second.
I think this just cements the idea of the kind of reputation that Simmons has made for himself.

Well, passing up an open dunk in Game 7 against the Hawks is the defining play of Simmons' career so far, and that's a stain that will be extremely hard to remove. That all but sealed the deal on his reputation. He went from being scared to shoot threes/jumpers, to being scared to shoot entirely, and now he's scared to play altogether

[LAL1947]

Simmons is still a star level talent. Someone should roll the dice for him. It’s a shame Klutch sports made an absolute effing mess of this. What a toxic agency, they’re enabling this behavior. There are other ways. Be a professional, you’re getting (was) paid a stupid amount of money to play a game you love. Stop being an idiot

I do think he's a star, he just needs to be used differently. As a Center. Or at the very least as the only player who can't shoot 3s on a team.

He can be a 6'10" 250 pound Rajon Rondo. That massive physicality difference is huge and if you can get away with him being at the PG spot in the pick and roll era it's a devestating defensive advantage.

A much lesser Greak Freak in a lot of ways which around other all-star talent can be really great for your team. Ideally the 3rd star on a championship team. But one that can raise all ships kind of how Gobert does in the regular season (and also like Gobert we're not sure they can or do in the playoffs).

I agree... and think he'd fit great with Dallas playing at the 4.
Tis a shame they don't have the assets to get him without giving up Porzingis.

PG: Luka
SG: THJ
SF: Bullock
PF: Simmons
CE: Porzingis

[Nuntius]

Sad thing about this is if he was being genuine and didn't handle this like an entitled brat, people might actually support him. Instead of saying he's refusing to play for a team he signed a $177 million contract with that has 4 years remaining, then showing up to training camp just to get the 8.25 mil he was supposed to get in early October, faking back stiffness to avoid playing, refusing to participate in practice, and now using mental health as a ploy.

Nah, man. Remember how people around here treated Markelle Fultz and Royce White? The fact is that there is a huge stigma against mental health in the sports world (and in society as a whole) and that's 100% evident any time that these issues are discussed in the GB. I mean, there was a poster a couple of pages back who said that we should stop "humanizing players" and that we shouldn't be treating players as human. That's the level of empathy that we're talking about here.

Look at Rui Hachimura. He took a break to focus on his mental health and I haven't seen anything but positive comments about it.

That's mostly because people aren't talking about Rui Hachimura, in general. I doubt that most casual fans even know that he has taken a break to focus on his mental health.

If Simmons gets traded and immediately suits up to play I hope all the posters buying into this bs come out and admit they got duped.

IF playing for Philly is one of the sources that causes Simmons' mental health issues then why would it be weird when things became better when he removed himself from that situation? The whole argument here is that the situation between Ben Simmons and Philly has become so toxic that it negatively impacts Ben's mental health. What should one do when he is in a toxic situation (be that a friendship, a relationship or even one's work environment) that negatively impacts their mental health? They should remove themselves from that situation. That's what mental health specialists generally suggest in these cases.

Will removing themselves from that situation make the issues go away completely? No, it won't. But it will alleviate the symptoms significantly since the trigger for these negative emotions will no longer be present. So, yeah, I don't see why would anyone "admit they got duped" when the expectation is that Simmons will get better once he removes himself from the toxic situation surrounding him in Philly.

[Nuntius]

Who has said that and I wonder their intentions

There are several people in this thread who have said that this has been an issue ever since before the playoffs. Some of them are Sixer fans as well and they've definitely followed this situation closer than either one of us.

You mean like the poster pretending to have worked under a billionaire? Uh huh….

Unfortunately for you, that's not the only source. The whole issue with his family has been public ever since this April. The trial was in September. The situation was not a secret at all. No idea why you're pretending that it was or some poster here made it up.

[Tomjas]

I'm still dying to know what high level billionaire Tomjas has worked for and knows their inner workings so well...

Google Al Nayhan

Family pumps 3.8 million barrels of oil per day at a cost of less than $20

Josh Harris lol

Billionaires are common in the Middle East & if you’re an expat working for a big company then chances are that you’re working for one of the wealthiest people in the world because of how they are structured

Happy to educate you further if you like

[Nuntius]

I'm not sure but he can get a lot better and we need to work....is throwing something not just under the bus. But throwing them HARD under the bus...we couldn't have more differing opinions here. If that was throwing him under the bus...my goodness, 99% of coaches are equivalents to murders.

Equivalent to murder? Really? I don't see the need to exaggerate here. We can have a difference of opinion without exaggerating, can't we?

And, yeah, I definitely haven't seen a lot of teams speak like that about their stars. Not playoff teams, at least. Coaches, players, teams and the like usually speak in platitude. They speak in vague terms. "We as a team can do better", "we could have all played harder", yada, yada, yada. That's not what Doc and the rest of Sixers did after their loss. They blamed it on Simmons and I don't blame them for that either. His play deserved these comments but that's how you burn down bridges.

Embiid was the only other person to even make reference in simmon's direction and he went out of his way multiple times to place the blame on himself. And frankly, I took Doc's words as being overwhelmingly complementary and positive towards Simmons. Given how the sports media has run with it...I can see why some could see it the otherway after having the idiots of ESPN painting some made up narrative, but all doc to me said was that Simmons is great but we have to get better and he thinks he can do just that with simmons.

I agree when it comes to Embiid and the rest of the players. They've generally done what they're supposed to do and, outwardly at least, has said that they support him, that he's still their brother and all that stuff.

I 100% disagree when it comes to Doc and the Sixers ownership and FO. They threw him under the bus and the ownership/FO, in particular, allowed (if not instructed) their media to rip him to pieces over the summer.

[dhsilv2]

Equivalent to murder? Really? I don't see the need to exaggerate here. We can have a difference of opinion without exaggerating, can't we?

And, yeah, I definitely haven't seen a lot of teams speak like that about their stars. Not playoff teams, at least. Coaches, players, teams and the like usually speak in platitude. They speak in vague terms. "We as a team can do better", "we could have all played harder", yada, yada, yada. That's not what Doc and the rest of Sixers did after their loss. They blamed it on Simmons and I don't blame them for that either. His play deserved these comments but that's how you burn down bridges.

Embiid was the only other person to even make reference in simmon's direction and he went out of his way multiple times to place the blame on himself. And frankly, I took Doc's words as being overwhelmingly complementary and positive towards Simmons. Given how the sports media has run with it...I can see why some could see it the otherway after having the idiots of ESPN painting some made up narrative, but all doc to me said was that Simmons is great but we have to get better and he thinks he can do just that with simmons.

I agree when it comes to Embiid and the rest of the players. They've generally done what they're supposed to do and, outwardly at least, has said that they support him, that he's still their brother and all that stuff.

I 100% disagree when it comes to Doc and the Sixers ownership and FO. They threw him under the bus and the ownership/FO, in particular, allowed (if not instructed) their media to rip him to pieces over the summer.

What did ownership and the FO do? They don't own media...and what evidence do you have about instructing media?

So far we just know that Morrey wants Ben back...he even resigned Green who is a Ben Simmons complement, so he spent millions and millions on a guy FOR BEN SIMMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's an old saying that you can tell someone's priorities by looking at their bank account. The 76er's bank account says they LOVE ben and want him back.

[tbhawksfan1]

I'm still dying to know what high level billionaire Tomjas has worked for and knows their inner workings so well...

Google Al Nayhan

Family pumps 3.8 million barrels of oil per day at a cost of less than $20

Josh Harris lol

Billionaires are common in the Middle East & if you’re an expat working for a big company then chances are that you’re working for one of the wealthiest people in the world because of how they are structured

Happy to educate you further if you like

I clean toilets at Tesla and I know exactly how Elon Musk's mind works

[Nuntius]

What did ownership and the FO do? They don't own media...and what evidence do you have about instructing media?

Come on now. You really think that teams have absolutely zero input on what the team's beat writers publish? That they don't influence the narratives that they push? Every team does that, not just the Sixers.

So far we just know that Morrey wants Ben back...he even resigned Green who is a Ben Simmons complement, so he spent millions and millions on a guy FOR BEN SIMMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's an old saying that you can tell someone's priorities by looking at their bank account. The 76er's bank account says they LOVE ben and want him back.

Green is a very experienced veteran who also fits perfectly with Embiid. You can believe that Morey wants Ben back all you want, it's your right, but as I've said before we fully disagree on this. Morey wants Ben gone. 100%. He just wants to win the trade more than he wants to get rid for him which is why he won't trade him for something that he considers to be lower than his value (which also means that he will fail to get a deal done because no one is giving up the stuff that Morey wants for Simmons).