Samson wrote:deep6er wrote:Hey, sorry to hear about your back. After a lifetime of thinking I'm unbreakable, I'm getting back problems and it's effin miserable.
The negotiations here are pretty different than your labor dispute though. No offense, but Ben is a much more valuable asset to his org than you were to yours. The value in your negotiations had very little to do with your individual circumstance and much more to do with the orgs need to keep all settlements as low as possible. In Ben's case these negotiations are all about this particular circumstance (some may argue that Morey needs to take a hard stand to prevent all max players from forcing trades whenever they want, but that's BS, Morey has shown that he could give a **** about the affect of these negotiations on the league and is all about maximizing value for his club, whether you agree his tactics will produce that is another story).
The big question... is this mental health story all BS? It's not so simple. We have a lot of armchair psychologists in the forum trying to diagnose Ben. I am a licensed professional therapist and I promise you that as fun as it is to try, it is nearly impossible to make an accurate clinical diagnosis from instagram posts, public actions and messages through reps. What is obvious, is that Ben has taken actions that are not in his best interests (unless his interests involve tanking his professional reputation and commercial marketability). It is unclear if he has taken these actions based purely on bad management advice or because of performance anxiety or something else entirely, but one has to suspect that in order to consistently play this situation so poorly, there has to be some sort of overriding emotional need not to be on the court with the Sixers.
Now does this mean that Ben has a mental health impairment that would entitle him to protections in a more traditional workplace? No, it doesn't. He could have an underlying anxiety disorder, but only a thorough psycho/social eval would let us know about that. So, you're right, most of our workplaces would laugh at us if we came to them like Ben. But, I will say in my professional opinion based on my observations of public statements and behaviors... Diagnosis: Something is up with this dude. It's not that he's just straight up faking, it's that he has created such a mental aversion to playing for the Sixers that he is willing to damage himself to avoid doing so, and well, that's something. Not something that our employers would care about, but it would be nice if they did. Also, he is a 25 year old who has lived life with few responsibilities beyond being good at basketball and is not good at making life decisions.
I do hope that he is getting legitimate mental health therapy, because whether he has a diagnosable disorder or not, he clearly needs to work through some issues. As a Sixers fan, I hope it leads to him being able confront his fears so that he can focus on playing basketball for the absurd amount of money he is being paid. I will forever hate him if he forces us into a bad trade, but is this mental health piece totally fraudulent? Certainly not in any provable way and probably not in any other meaningful way.
I know that many people could turn around and say this exact same thing to me, so at the possible repercussions of being hypocritical , but 'Cool Story Bro' ... I'm not really sure what ' licensed professional therapist' means, I Googled quite a bit and got many different answers - but are *you* even allowed to 'diagnose' mental illness? And even if you are, you can't do it without talking to him neither, right? Howard Dean accused Trump of being a "cokehead" during the 2016 campaign and then almost got into big trouble because "he would *NEVER* try to make a diagnosis based on the television, I mean, I couldn't do that even if I wanted to..." and he's like, you know, a Medical Doctor...
At this point I think you might be the only one defending him from a mental health standpoint. I have all the sympathy in the world for mental illness, as I have freely admitted on here. I have *no use whatsoever* for it being used as a Collective Bargaining tool and blatant excuse.
Nah friend, I think you read me wrong. I'm not defending Ben nor am I diagnosing him. I pointed out that much like you said, it's impossible to diagnose from a distance. So just like no one can say, he has an anxiety disorder, they also can't say he's full of ****. My "diagnosis" was an obvious joke as "something up with this dude" is not yet recognized in the DSM.
It's an observable fact, not a diagnosis that Ben has a clear aversion to playing with the Sixers. One that is so strong that he is willing to lose 2 million dollars and a lot of public status to avoid doing so. That is not a mental impairment just a description of what we are all seeing.
Interestingly enough, the Simmons camp has been very careful with their language not to claim any mental health disorder. They have just said that he is not mentally ready to play. You have to believe that is purposeful.
In answer to your credential check. I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I am allowed and expected to diagnose and I do so on a regular basis for my work.
Let me summarize my points
We both assert that neither you nor I can diagnose someone at a distance so neither of us can say if Simmons does or does not have a mental health disorder
As a Sixers fan, I believe that Ben is a sensitive bitch who is in his feelings and this is the main factor in the dumbass decisions he has been making. He may be playing some games around the term mental health and the CBA, but he is not some 4d chess player who is driving the narrative. He is making stupid decisions out of fear, which is not a diagnosable mental health problem. I hope that he gets help to overcome the fears that are driving him so he can play basketball for a team that I like or get traded.
