XtremeDunkz wrote:gbball wrote:XtremeDunkz wrote: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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That's fair. I think him being with the team is a distraction, but you're correct, he shouldn't expect to be paid. If he wants to hold out, there should be a consequence.
That being said. I think this could end up backfiring for the Sixers. It might not, but if Simmons plays and plays poorly it'll be the Vince Carter situation all over again. Super talented player with questionable love for the game, teams aren't sure what they'll be getting and the offers will reflect that. As a Raptors fan, I saw Vince dog it on the court to the tune of a career low 15pts/game with lackadaisical effort and not playing through injuries. It forever tarnished his reputation with Raptors fans and people around the league. When they traded him it was for pennies on the dollar and it set the Raptors back years.
It's a no win situation for the Sixers, but Simmons has proven to me that he's willing to stoop to new lows to avoid playing.
These are the possible outcomes that I can see.
1. Simmons stays home paid or unpaid - Sixers make a trade this season with his value what it is now...this is the most pragmatic approach imo
2. Simmons eventually comes back and plays, value decreases - becomes an even less valuable trade chip due to dogging it, legitimate poor play, bad attitude or injury. Based on what I've seen I wouldn't rule any of these out in this situation
3. Simmons comes back and plays great - Sixers get some good offers and choose the best one.
4. Simmons and the team have a change of heart and he comes back and they try to make it work.
Out of the above 4 scenarios, the team has the most control over the first option. In which case they might even choose to eat the money owed until they can trade him.
I do think this whole situation will lead to major reforms in the next CBA as it should. That being said, I'm thinking of what the most pragmatic solution for Philadelphia should be under the current circumstances. They shouldn't be trying to win against Simmons, they should just do whatever will give them the best chance of winning a championship, even if that means giving him what he wants when they don't want to.
When a team makes it personal, to punish a player rather than take a dispassionate and pragmatic approach you get Kawhi to Toronto for DeRozan instead of a better package from the Lakers to avoid giving him what he wanted by dealing him to LA. I get it and I understand it, but it's not necessarily doing the best thing for your team in the long run.
Except Oden manged to play over 100 games in the NBA, I don't think Embiid will play more.
