76ers back to fining Ben Simmons

[Tomjas]

I just hope he gets the help he needs. He really should rethink his basketball career also and focus on getting mentally ready. I hope he takes a couple of years off and voids his contract so he can be okay

Bjorn Borg retired at 26 as he was racked with anxiety

Stranger things have happened

I hope that's not the case, like I said. But when we see him suiting up for a new team a few days after he's traded...I expect you to rescind your position on this.

It’s already been made clear that he won’t be available to play for anyone anytime soon

[Asianiac_24]

You can believe that he's scamming the system all you want. At the end of the day, that's just an opinion and, yes, we can agree to disagree on this or any other opinion. We just shouldn't pretend that our opinions are facts.

He can take his vacation and get better without pay. The fact that he refuses to cooperate at any level with the Sixers until they fined him says all you need to know about Simmons/Paul and their priorities here.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Not getting paid for not working also gives me anxiety.

[Nuntius]

You can believe that he's scamming the system all you want. At the end of the day, that's just an opinion and, yes, we can agree to disagree on this or any other opinion. We just shouldn't pretend that our opinions are facts.

He can take his vacation and get better without pay.

Sure.

The fact that he refuses to cooperate at any level with the Sixers until they fined him says all you need to know about Simmons/Paul and their priorities here.

Given that we're talking about an organization with a history of pulling a fast one on their players, I disagree. Not cooperating with the Sixers only makes sense in this case. You know that they'll try to spin everything.

[MrBigShot]

Bjorn Borg retired at 26 as he was racked with anxiety

Stranger things have happened

I hope that's not the case, like I said. But when we see him suiting up for a new team a few days after he's traded...I expect you to rescind your position on this.

It’s already been made clear that he won’t be available to play for anyone anytime soon

If he got traded to the Lakers he'd suit up tomorrow.

[azcatz11]

I hope that's not the case, like I said. But when we see him suiting up for a new team a few days after he's traded...I expect you to rescind your position on this.

It’s already been made clear that he won’t be available to play for anyone anytime soon

If he got traded to the Lakers he'd suit up tomorrow.

We all know that. There are a few select posters here who choose to live in fairy tale land and not in reality. And I'm not being insulting either. I genuinely wish I was that trusting of people but I've seen crap like BS is pulling way too many times

[Asianiac_24]

You can believe that he's scamming the system all you want. At the end of the day, that's just an opinion and, yes, we can agree to disagree on this or any other opinion. We just shouldn't pretend that our opinions are facts.

He can take his vacation and get better without pay.

Sure.

The fact that he refuses to cooperate at any level with the Sixers until they fined him says all you need to know about Simmons/Paul and their priorities here.

Given that we're talking about an organization with a history of pulling a fast one on their players, I disagree. Not cooperating with the Sixers only makes sense in this case. You know that they'll try to spin everything.

Well the alternative is the Sixers pay Ben Simmons without any kind of knowledge that his claims are even real and that Simmons is actually even trying to get back to his job. I'm all for workers rights but Simmons has to prove that A) he does have mental health issues and he isn't faking it, and B) he is actively working on fixing the issues to get back to court, and not soak, not do anything, and gets paid until he gets traded.

You hiring Nuntius? I have a feeling if you were the one having to pay a fraud like Ben Simmons you'd be singing a different tune.

[seren]

Ya, Rich is just murdering Ben's value.

If he isnt faking this, then there is no guarantee he recovers mentally for whichever team he is traded to. So teams must look at this as even more of a gamble, thus relegating them to offering less and making Morey more unlikely to trade him.

If he is faking it, then your a team trading for a guy with a track record of falsifying a mental health issue to allow him to collect checks while not playing. Its a signal of a completley immoral, unethical, loser of a human being. And you dont want to trade for that kind of character.

I just dont see who in their right mind would move serious assets for him at this point. Ben and Clutch totally, fully messed this up. I think he might be sitting for a year at this point.

Yep. Rich Paul essentially ended Simmons’ career. Best agent ever. Not

[Tomjas]

It’s already been made clear that he won’t be available to play for anyone anytime soon

If he got traded to the Lakers he'd suit up tomorrow.

We all know that. There are a few select posters here who choose to live in fairy tale land and not in reality. And I'm not being insulting either. I genuinely wish I was that trusting of people but I've seen crap like BS is pulling way too many times

The point is that nobody knows what is going on so I am not going to make assumptions either way

He might play tomorrow or he might not play for an extended period

Nothing would surprise me at this point

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Anyway, the wording by Rich Paul is extremely fishy.
What "mentally ready" is supposed to mean?
Isn't it a.bit too generic?

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[Nuntius]

Well the alternative is the Sixers pay Ben Simmons without any kind of knowledge that his claims are even real and that Simmons is actually even trying to get back to his job. I'm all for workers rights but Simmons has to prove that A) he does have mental health issues and he isn't faking it, and B) he is actively working on fixing the issues to get back to court, and not soak, not do anything, and gets paid until he gets traded.

You hiring Nuntius? I have a feeling if you were the one having to pay a fraud like Ben Simmons you'd be singing a different tune.

1) Simmons did provide them with the names of the specialists he has been seeing, though -> https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/11/08/report-ben-simmons-tells-76ers-names-of-his-mental-health-professionals-doesnt-grant-team-full-access-to-info/

So, the Sixers do have some knowledge of the situation. They just don't have as much knowledge as they'd want and it's not clear in the CBA if they even should have the knowledge that they're asking for. We'll see how it plays out.

2) If I recall your positions on the CA board, you aren't all for worker's rights but that's a different can of worms.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Yes, I'm quite aware that it was for James Harden. Does that change the fact that they tried to trade him? Nope, it doesn't. Maybe shopped wasn't the accurate way to phrase it and I should have just said "tried to trade" but they absolutely did try to trade him before he asked out. There's no denying that.

I was an equity portfolio manager for 20 years. The best piece of advice I got from my mentor was this:

“Every day, every stock in my portfolio is for sale.”

In the fall of 2020, I trade Ben Simmons for James Harden every day that ends in y.

And guess what? When you sign a contract for $177 million, if you don’t want to be traded - or won’t accept being traded - demand a no- trade clause. Simple.

It is a shame that Simmons was butthurt about his name coming up in trade talks, but when the player you are being disscussed about being traded for is one of the top-3-to-5 offensive players of his generation, it is hard to get THAT bent, IMO.

Here's the thing, though. I don't care whether Simmons was hurt about it or not. It doesn't change my argument. My argument is this:

This is not like those times where a star asks a trade away from his small-market franchise. It's not Kawhi asking out of San Antonio or AD asking out of NOLA. This is a big market that has been open to the idea of trading this player that is now refusing to trade him because they haven't found a good enough trade yet. Let's not pretend that the Sixers want to actually keep Simmons. They don't.

How is that even remotely relevant to the topic?
The Sixers have all the rights to check their options and eventually trade Ben if a better option comes out.

And you are extremely moderate on anything about what Ben wants or does, but you don't apply the same method to the team, apparently

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[MrBigShot]

If he got traded to the Lakers he'd suit up tomorrow.

We all know that. There are a few select posters here who choose to live in fairy tale land and not in reality. And I'm not being insulting either. I genuinely wish I was that trusting of people but I've seen crap like BS is pulling way too many times

The point is that nobody knows what is going on so I am not going to make assumptions either way

He might play tomorrow or he might not play for an extended period

Nothing would surprise me at this point

Well technically nobody knows for sure that I'm not the real Chauncey Billups either

[azcatz11]

If he got traded to the Lakers he'd suit up tomorrow.

We all know that. There are a few select posters here who choose to live in fairy tale land and not in reality. And I'm not being insulting either. I genuinely wish I was that trusting of people but I've seen crap like BS is pulling way too many times

The point is that nobody knows what is going on so I am not going to make assumptions either way

He might play tomorrow or he might not play for an extended period

Nothing would surprise me at this point

If your kid had a test tomorrow morning that you knew he didn't study for and claimed he had the flu when he woke up, would you believe him?

[Ryoga Hibiki]

It’s already been made clear that he won’t be available to play for anyone anytime soon

If he got traded to the Lakers he'd suit up tomorrow.

We all know that. There are a few select posters here who choose to live in fairy tale land and not in reality. And I'm not being insulting either. I genuinely wish I was that trusting of people but I've seen crap like BS is pulling way too many times

if you want to trust people you must equally trust both sides.
if you give the benefit of the doubt only on one side there must be something else

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[Nuntius]

I was an equity portfolio manager for 20 years. The best piece of advice I got from my mentor was this:

“Every day, every stock in my portfolio is for sale.”

In the fall of 2020, I trade Ben Simmons for James Harden every day that ends in y.

And guess what? When you sign a contract for $177 million, if you don’t want to be traded - or won’t accept being traded - demand a no- trade clause. Simple.

It is a shame that Simmons was butthurt about his name coming up in trade talks, but when the player you are being disscussed about being traded for is one of the top-3-to-5 offensive players of his generation, it is hard to get THAT bent, IMO.

Here's the thing, though. I don't care whether Simmons was hurt about it or not. It doesn't change my argument. My argument is this:

This is not like those times where a star asks a trade away from his small-market franchise. It's not Kawhi asking out of San Antonio or AD asking out of NOLA. This is a big market that has been open to the idea of trading this player that is now refusing to trade him because they haven't found a good enough trade yet. Let's not pretend that the Sixers want to actually keep Simmons. They don't.

How is that even remotely relevant to the topic?
The Sixers have all the rights to check their options and eventually trade Ben if a better option comes out.

And you are extremely moderate on anything about what Ben wants or does, but you don't apply the same method to the team, apparently

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

The poster I was quoting in that comment, rickxdel, said that Simmons and his agent are trying to "strong-arm" the Sixers into a trade. I pointed out that this narrative is inaccurate. The Sixers aren't a small-market trying to keep a star that wants out. They are a big market team who already wants to trade away that "star" (whether Ben Simmons should qualify for a star or not is a separate discussion). Trying to paint the Sixers as that kind of team is trying to spin this situation in a way that benefits the Sixers from a PR standpoint.

[Yoshun]

I just hope he gets the help he needs. He really should rethink his basketball career also and focus on getting mentally ready. I hope he takes a couple of years off and voids his contract so he can be okay

Bjorn Borg retired at 26 as he was racked with anxiety

Stranger things have happened

I hope that's not the case, like I said. But when we see him suiting up for a new team a few days after he's traded...I expect you to rescind your position on this.

Just curious because I've seen a few people say this.

Let's say he gets traded tonight, when is it acceptable for him to play again? A day? Week? Month? Next season? How long does he have to sit out to prove he has a mental illness? When is he healed?

I'm not saying he does have a mental illness, but do you see the problem that kind of thinking creates?

[Flash4thewin]

Here's the thing, though. I don't care whether Simmons was hurt about it or not. It doesn't change my argument. My argument is this:

This is not like those times where a star asks a trade away from his small-market franchise. It's not Kawhi asking out of San Antonio or AD asking out of NOLA. This is a big market that has been open to the idea of trading this player that is now refusing to trade him because they haven't found a good enough trade yet. Let's not pretend that the Sixers want to actually keep Simmons. They don't.

How is that even remotely relevant to the topic?
The Sixers have all the rights to check their options and eventually trade Ben if a better option comes out.

And you are extremely moderate on anything about what Ben wants or does, but you don't apply the same method to the team, apparently

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

The poster I was quoting in that comment, rickxdel, said that Simmons and his agent are trying to "strong-arm" the Sixers into a trade. I pointed out that this narrative is inaccurate. The Sixers aren't a small-market trying to keep a star that wants out. They are a big market team who already wants to trade away that "star" (whether Ben Simmons should qualify for a star or not is a separate discussion). Trying to paint the Sixers as that kind of team is trying to spin this situation in a way that benefits the Sixers from a PR standpoint.

I get what you are trying to say but it make no sense. Say for argument sake say Kobe in his prime is available for a trade, you would be an idiot to not try to trade for him. Does that mean your actively trading a player or its an opportunity where everyone do the same. If at the time you could trade Simmons for Harden, I doubt one GM doesn't make that move. You are being very disingenuous here.

[bebopdeluxe]

Here's the thing, though. I don't care whether Simmons was hurt about it or not. It doesn't change my argument. My argument is this:

This is not like those times where a star asks a trade away from his small-market franchise. It's not Kawhi asking out of San Antonio or AD asking out of NOLA. This is a big market that has been open to the idea of trading this player that is now refusing to trade him because they haven't found a good enough trade yet. Let's not pretend that the Sixers want to actually keep Simmons. They don't.

How is that even remotely relevant to the topic?
The Sixers have all the rights to check their options and eventually trade Ben if a better option comes out.

And you are extremely moderate on anything about what Ben wants or does, but you don't apply the same method to the team, apparently

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

The poster I was quoting in that comment, rickxdel, said that Simmons and his agent are trying to "strong-arm" the Sixers into a trade. I pointed out that this narrative is inaccurate. The Sixers aren't a small-market trying to keep a star that wants out. They are a big market team who already wants to trade away that "star" (whether Ben Simmons should qualify for a star or not is a separate discussion). Trying to paint the Sixers as that kind of team is trying to spin this situation in a way that benefits the Sixers from a PR standpoint.

From both a contract and a business perspective the Sixers have done nothing wrong here.

Ben Simmons is contracturally obligated to play for the Sixers for FOUR MORE SEASONS, for a total compensation of $140 million (more or less). While I am not a contract lawyer, I am sure that Simmons' representation reviewed the terms of the contract before signing it - which includes the right of the team to trade his contract rights to any other team in the NBA.

Simmons has no contractural or business right to demand a trade. He also has no contractural or business right to withhold services while still being paid under the terms of the contract. I am sure that the terms of this contract are standard for the NBA.

I think it is a JOKE to hold the Sixers in any way responsible for Simmons' continued withholding of services. Being a professional athlete is a pretty good gig. Most players are extremely well compensated in return for their contractural services. It is true that, with the financial rewards of being an athlete comes both responsibilities as well as pressure. It appears that Ben Simmons cannot handle the pressure that comes with being a highly visible, high-profile player. I am certainly not trying to make light of this. We have seen many examples of this recently - athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka have struggled with the pressure that comes with being a high-profile athlete in the most demanding moments in their respective sports: the Olympics, a Grand Slam tennis event, or in Ben SImmons' case, the NBA playoffs.

Ben SImmons signed a contract that will pay him $140 million over the next 4 years. NOWHERE IN THAT CONTRACT does it say that the team cannot engage in trade talks. NOWHERE IN THAT CONTRACT does it say that the head coach or other players cannot criticize him for his play. This is not up for debate.

The Sixers possess Ben SImmons' contractural rights. He is required to play in order to get paid. The SIxers are under NO OBLIGATION to trade him. NONE. Ben Simmons does not possess the contractural rights to withhold his services while still getting paid. And even if Simmons says that he needs mental health support to fulfill his contractural obligations to the Sixers, if Simmons wants to be paid during this treatment, the Sixers are well within their contractural rights to 1) require Simmons to comply with "reasonable" non-game activities commensurate with being a member of the team, and 2) engage in good-faith efforts to structure his mental health treatment in such a way as to get back on the court playing for the Sixers as quickly as possible.

Everything else that is discussed around this is noise. It is ridiculous that the Sixers are perceived as being in the wrong here.

THEY ARE CONTRACTURALLY ALLOWED TO ENGAGE IN TRADE DISCUSSIONS

THEY ARE CONTRACTURALLY ALLOWED TO CHOOSE IF, WHEN, AND WHERE SIMMONS IS TRADED

THERE IS NO CLAUSE IN THE CONTRACT THAT SAYS THAT SIMMONS CANNOT BE CRITICIZED BY HIS COACH FOR HIS PLAY

But you Benablers (you know who you are) keep apologizing for the guy. Just know that the Sixers HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG.

[Tomjas]

We all know that. There are a few select posters here who choose to live in fairy tale land and not in reality. And I'm not being insulting either. I genuinely wish I was that trusting of people but I've seen crap like BS is pulling way too many times

The point is that nobody knows what is going on so I am not going to make assumptions either way

He might play tomorrow or he might not play for an extended period

Nothing would surprise me at this point

If your kid had a test tomorrow morning that you knew he didn't study for and claimed he had the flu when he woke up, would you believe him?

Simmons has been in therapy for months

For all we know, he’s got real issues

Or maybe he doesn’t

I find it hard to believe that someone would voluntarily go down that route when under no pressure to do so