76ers back to fining Ben Simmons

[bstein14]

This is appropriate and the right move. Very predictable on both sides. Ben tried to get paid using an excuse that is hard to prove. Philly called his bluff.

Until Ben does something to try and prove he's mentally ill... which is an extreme but for $360K every other day someone can/will go to extreme measures.

[Snakebites]

I'll start by saying that I don't have any doubts that Ben Simmons has mental health issues- I don't think he's "faking" them to get out of games- and I say that even acknowledging that it's fairly obvious he doesn't want to play. I think we've seen enough not to doubt him when he says that.

But yeah, if you're not going to act in good faith and work with your employer on your health concerns, especially in the context of previously straight up holding out and refusing to play, expect this to happen. It's just the way it is.

[XtremeDunkz]

I don't understand why they want him to play so bad. To improve his trade stock? Or do they think he'll have a change of heart and decide to stay? What if does the opposite and he performs worse. Why take the risk? Team is playing well, why mess with the chemistry? It seems like a spiteful tactic to make Simmons do something he doesn't want to do. They're cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Should have just kept him away from the team until they could trade him, or should have traded him at the draft or during the summer.

Because a player with 4 years left on his max contract refusing to play for the team he signed with on his own free will is a terrible precedent for the NBA.

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I don't disagree, but I've seen the Raptors go through this with Vince and there are no winners. The best thing is to keep him away from the team and figure out a trade. If they had done that in the first place, I'd argue that Simmons' value would have been higher than it is now.

They've bungled this from the get go and now they're throwing away good money after bad. Because now they've created a situation where Simmons has revealed his lack of professionalism to go along with his on court issues. Morey is banking on him coming back and playing amazing to improve his value...or possibly have a change of heart and decide to stick it out with the team. But it could just as easily go the other way, Philly can play worse, Simmons can dog it on the court and decrease his value. What would the team do at that point? Keep playing him until he plays good again? Belatedly tell him to stay away from the team as they should have done in the first place? Or just keep him around for the full duration of his deal in a clearly toxic situation for everyone.

Had they move quickly and decisively during the summer and taken the best deal and moved forward Philadelphia would arguably be in a better spot going forward.

I'm sure they'll eventually get something of value for him, but this isn't a good look for the organization or Simmons...so not only is Ben's value lower, Philly doesn't look like they know what they're doing from the outside looking in.

I couldn't disagree more. As someone who has followed this situation daily since it started, the team has handled this as well as possible.

The front office refuses to be forced to make a bad trade, and I applaud them for that.

He either plays or sits home and doesn't get paid. His choice.

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[CptCrunch]

They don't need to prove that, they just need to prove he hasn't provided sufficient evidence that he is suffering from mental health issues. Which he hasn't. Burden of proof is flipped on something like this.

Exactly. This isn't unreasonable and it's super annoying the amount of people who just blindly think a player claiming mental healthy issues is above any question or reproach just because they've said the words "my mental health". They think that's the ultimate trump card and once it's played you should just shut your mouth on it.

As someone who's dealt with mental health issues and pretty clearly sees this as a situation where mental health issues are being abused to be compensated for not working, I think it's complete bull.

Yeah this is the difference between coming up with some dumb strategy with your buddies versus trying to execute said strategy to screw over a multi-billion dollar organization.

And maybe he is suffering from mental issues for all we know, still gotta show the proof and work with the organization if you want the checks to come. Pretty simple.

Morey/Sixers/league's doctor literally cannot 'prove' that Simmons doesn't have a mental health issue.

It is much easier for Simmons' camp to claim that he has an issue based on the assessment of a psychiatrist friendly with/or paid off by Rich Paul.

Sixers can go for the fraud angle, but that seems questionable in the context of a player claiming mental health issues.

[Sixerscan]

This is appropriate and the right move. Very predictable on both sides. Ben tried to get paid using an excuse that is hard to prove. Philly called his bluff.

Until Ben plays shows flips over his pocket aces with a suicide attempt to prove his mental illness is real and forces Philly to pay him for the rest of his contract.

... that's what they're asking him to do and why they're fining him. If he shared relevant info and worked with the team on it the checks would keep coming.

[BHF]

The 76ers are in **** if Embiid goes down, not sure what they are waiting for, trade Simmons for some assets and try to compete or risk Embiid getting injured and suck again for the next 5 years.

[Sixerscan]

Exactly. This isn't unreasonable and it's super annoying the amount of people who just blindly think a player claiming mental healthy issues is above any question or reproach just because they've said the words "my mental health". They think that's the ultimate trump card and once it's played you should just shut your mouth on it.

As someone who's dealt with mental health issues and pretty clearly sees this as a situation where mental health issues are being abused to be compensated for not working, I think it's complete bull.

Yeah this is the difference between coming up with some dumb strategy with your buddies versus trying to execute said strategy to screw over a multi-billion dollar organization.

And maybe he is suffering from mental issues for all we know, still gotta show the proof and work with the organization if you want the checks to come. Pretty simple.

Morey/Sixers/league's doctor literally cannot 'prove' that Simmons doesn't have a mental health issue.

It is much easier for Simmons' camp to claim that he has an issue based on the assessment of a psychiatrist friendly with/or paid off by Rich Paul.

Sixers can go for the fraud angle, but that seems questionable in the context of a player claiming mental health issues.

They don't have to prove it. They can prove he hasn't provided sufficient evidence, i.e. that a doctor has legitimately diagnosed him, that he's legitimately trying to get help, etc. If he provides it then they'll start paying him, doesn't end there of course, if he wants the checks to keep coming he has to continue providing assurances or this will keep happening.

[chrisab123]

Calling Rich Pauls bluff is the right move. It also now ensures that Morey will never sign another Rich Paul client because he played hardball and didn't gift wrap him to California.

[Statlanta]

Ben's position was never to take money from Philadelphia to do nothing.

Ben is about not playing for Philadelphia, preferably for LA franchises. Using his contract against him only makes the likelihood of him not giving 100% increase. His lifestyle is obviously unsustainable without his contract but I bet he will sacrifice his lifestyle over playing for Philly.

[sikma42]

This is a bad look for the 76ers.


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[kuclas]

The 76ers are in **** if Embiid goes down, not sure what they are waiting for, trade Simmons for some assets and try to compete or risk Embiid getting injured and suck again for the next 5 years.

You can say that for any franchise who’s top 5-10 overall nba player goes down.

Embiid is always going to be a injury risk.

But assets being thrown around mean nothing to what sixers are trying to accomplish. Trading for cj, Minnesota junk, Indiana injured players. Sacramento dumps. Doesn’t get sixers far.

[Duke4life831]

Im curious what the best case scenario is in the eyes of the 6ers.

Are they hoping Simmons all of a sudden changes his mind and wants to play for them again and is happy to be a 6er again?
Are they hoping Simmons puts his head down and plays hard so he can rebuild his trade value so they can trade him for a star?

Neither one of those things seem reasonable at all in my opinion. Look at what he is currently doing to avoid playing, he is going to milk this "mental health" thing for as long as he can. And if it gets to the point where he is forced to play, there is no chance he plays at 100% effort.

Opposing teams know this as well. They arent going to want to bail out Philly and give them a good offer for a trade. When they know they can continue to sit back and watch his trade value continue to tank and they can get him for a very cheap price. I just dont see the path that Morey sees where he will be able to trade Simmons at peak Simmons value. Those days are long gone.

[Jkam31]

This is a bad look for the 76ers.


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Ya they should pay that bum to sit at home waiting for lebron to trade him to LA right

[Currygoat]

Clown world. Let him go, you can’t force a man to be somewhere he doesn’t want to be. I’m seeing this is racist now srs

[Synciere]

Ben's position was never to take money from Philadelphia to do nothing.

Ben is about not playing for Philadelphia, preferably for LA franchises. Using his contract against him only makes the likelihood of him not giving 100% increase. His lifestyle is obviously unsustainable without his contract but I bet he will sacrifice his lifestyle over playing for Philly.

He wants out of Philly, yeah, but he probably wants his money too. Most rich people actually do care about money and aren't about to just give away 360K or a few million off of principle. There are other ways to leverage your position.

[Jfh20]

looks like the 76ers have had enough of this guys bullsht. Klutch sports is everything wrong in sports today, no integrity whatsoever. From claiming racism due to white athletes not signing with them to now claiming the bs mental health card when the teams fines you like the CBA allows them too. Its just ridiculous how much Rich paul and klutch gets away with, how adam silver and the nba continues to let lebron and klutch to do whatever they want, break any rules they want, tamper with other teams players and create any narrative they want that benefits them. Looks like teams and owners are starting to push back, they have had enough of this as they should. I think the owners need to fire adam silver, and hire a commissioner that protects the integrity of the nba.

[XtremeDunkz]

Clown world. Let him go, you can’t force a man to be somewhere he doesn’t want to be. I’m seeing this is racist now srs

Get **** idiot

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[bbalnation]

These **** really waited till the Sarver **** hit before doing this to avoid being the only thing in the news cycle loooooooooool

[XtremeDunkz]

These **** really waited till the Sarver **** hit before doing this to avoid being the only thing in the news cycle loooooooooool

I highly doubt they care. Morey told the media already he's ready for this to go 4 years. He's not hiding anything lol.

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[FNQ]

Oh its still not going well? Trade value still not going up?

End this Morey, its not going to get better