Ben Simmons believes playing with Joel Embiid has ‘run its course’ and Sixers media day messages fall flat with him
https://theathletic.com/2854156/2021/09/28/ben-simmons-believes-playing-with-joel-embiid-has-run-its-course-and-sixers-media-day-messages-fall-flat-with-him/?source=twitterhq
Ben Simmons believes playing with Joel Embiid has ‘run its course’ and Sixers media day messages fall flat with him
By Sam Amick 1h ago 101
Ben Simmons was looking for houses in Houston not too long ago.
Let’s start there.
Early on last season, when the intel coming the Philadelphia 76ers guard’s way indicated that he’d likely be trading places with then Rockets-star James Harden, Simmons was so convinced that new Sixers president Daryl Morey was about to reunite with his favorite franchise player that he started researching on the real estate front. If you had to pinpoint a moment when emotional ties were severed between Simmons and the only NBA franchise he has ever known, that may have been it.
Even if no one knew it at the time.
The trade never came, however. Harden headed for Brooklyn instead, and Simmons — who took the uncertainty in stride and never publicly complained about the role he had unwillingly played in it all — came back to the team that would finish the regular season with the best record in the East before its ill-fated end against Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon, when Morey, Sixers coach Doc Rivers and big man Joel Embiid all spoke at length about Simmons’ absence from their training camp during the team’s media day, and it should surprise no one that their messages fell flat when they reached the Simmons camp. If anything, it only added to the agitation.
Specifically, Morey’s claim that “there’s a lot of hope” for a reconciliation here — paired with the inference that Simmons is the NBA’s version of the NFL’s Aaron Rodgers — was seen as laughable and out of touch.
“I watched last night a player lead their team to victory where a thousand pounds of digital ink were spilled on how much he would never play for that team again,” Morey had said of the Green Bay Packers star who led a last-second win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night after looking destined for a divorce with the franchise just months ago. “Look, every situation is different, but we have a lot of optimism that we can make it work here. …Ben’s a great player, and we expect him back. We expect him to be a 76er.”
Cue the response.
“It’s total ********,” one source with knowledge of Simmons’ outlook said of Morey’s analysis.
Rivers’ suggestion that Simmons was shying away from the tough Sixers fanbase didn’t help much, either.
So no, in other words, nothing that was said in those candid Sixers media sessions appears to have helped this stalemate.
When it comes to understanding Simmons’ hardline stance, one that could become quite costly soon if he starts missing games, it’s all so layered at this point that it’s hard to know where to begin. He’s clearly hurt by the way he was, in his eyes, scapegoated after his widely criticized finish against the Hawks and how that blame-game tone remains. But the issues between Simmons and the Sixers started long before then.
Yet of all the problem areas to explore, there’s none more unyielding and impossible to ignore than this: People who have intimate knowledge of how he sees this situation continue to insist that he’s done playing with Embiid. There’s nothing personal about this choice, it seems, but the 25-year-old Simmons has clearly decided that his career is better off without Embiid blocking the runways in the paint that he so badly needs to succeed.
As he sees it, sources say, the organization’s choice to build its basketball ecosystem around Embiid’s style simply isn’t conducive to the way he needs to play. So while Embiid insisted to reporters on Monday that he wants Simmons back, this much is clear: The feeling is not mutual.
“It has run its course,” the source said of their pairing.
There’s a reason Simmons turned his teammates away when they wanted to visit him in Los Angeles this week and make a last-ditch plea for him to re-join the squad: In his mind, this chapter is closed and there’s simply no dignity in coming back for the sake of filling a familiar spot until the inevitable occurs. Even if he has four seasons and a combined $140 million left on his deal.
Truth be told, sources say Simmons thought he would have been traded by now.
When he met with the Sixers brass at the Los Angeles home of his agent, Rich Paul, in August, telling managing partner Josh Harris in direct fashion that he no longer wanted to play for his club, the goal was to avoid this sort of mess. Sources say the Sixers had come equipped with all sorts of reasons that he should want to stay, and even supported the argument with a statistically based presentation featuring the success of the Embiid-Simmons pairing. But his view, his uneasy feelings about the problematic fit remained unchanged.
And now, it seems, that leaves them all with this uncomfortable purgatory period. Will Morey finally lower his price in trade talks for Simmons and send him to a new home, or will Simmons relent on his stance and return to Philadelphia as a way to avoid paying the price for his absence while his fate is decided by the front office?
Either way, the claim from the Simmons side is that there is no coming back from this. Even if he returned to avoid the stiff penalties, sources close to Simmons say the notion that he would up his trade value by re-engaging mentally and playing well enough to convince suitors that he might be willing to stay is, well, just that. Delusional.
This relationship is too far gone. The only question left to answer now, as Simmons sees it, is where his next house-hunt will take place.
https://theathletic.com/2854156/2021/09/28/ben-simmons-believes-playing-with-joel-embiid-has-run-its-course-and-sixers-media-day-messages-fall-flat-with-him/?source=twitterhq
Ben Simmons believes playing with Joel Embiid has ‘run its course’ and Sixers media day messages fall flat with him
By Sam Amick 1h ago 101
Ben Simmons was looking for houses in Houston not too long ago.
Let’s start there.
Early on last season, when the intel coming the Philadelphia 76ers guard’s way indicated that he’d likely be trading places with then Rockets-star James Harden, Simmons was so convinced that new Sixers president Daryl Morey was about to reunite with his favorite franchise player that he started researching on the real estate front. If you had to pinpoint a moment when emotional ties were severed between Simmons and the only NBA franchise he has ever known, that may have been it.
Even if no one knew it at the time.
The trade never came, however. Harden headed for Brooklyn instead, and Simmons — who took the uncertainty in stride and never publicly complained about the role he had unwillingly played in it all — came back to the team that would finish the regular season with the best record in the East before its ill-fated end against Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon, when Morey, Sixers coach Doc Rivers and big man Joel Embiid all spoke at length about Simmons’ absence from their training camp during the team’s media day, and it should surprise no one that their messages fell flat when they reached the Simmons camp. If anything, it only added to the agitation.
Specifically, Morey’s claim that “there’s a lot of hope” for a reconciliation here — paired with the inference that Simmons is the NBA’s version of the NFL’s Aaron Rodgers — was seen as laughable and out of touch.
“I watched last night a player lead their team to victory where a thousand pounds of digital ink were spilled on how much he would never play for that team again,” Morey had said of the Green Bay Packers star who led a last-second win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night after looking destined for a divorce with the franchise just months ago. “Look, every situation is different, but we have a lot of optimism that we can make it work here. …Ben’s a great player, and we expect him back. We expect him to be a 76er.”
Cue the response.
“It’s total ********,” one source with knowledge of Simmons’ outlook said of Morey’s analysis.
Rivers’ suggestion that Simmons was shying away from the tough Sixers fanbase didn’t help much, either.
So no, in other words, nothing that was said in those candid Sixers media sessions appears to have helped this stalemate.
When it comes to understanding Simmons’ hardline stance, one that could become quite costly soon if he starts missing games, it’s all so layered at this point that it’s hard to know where to begin. He’s clearly hurt by the way he was, in his eyes, scapegoated after his widely criticized finish against the Hawks and how that blame-game tone remains. But the issues between Simmons and the Sixers started long before then.
Yet of all the problem areas to explore, there’s none more unyielding and impossible to ignore than this: People who have intimate knowledge of how he sees this situation continue to insist that he’s done playing with Embiid. There’s nothing personal about this choice, it seems, but the 25-year-old Simmons has clearly decided that his career is better off without Embiid blocking the runways in the paint that he so badly needs to succeed.
As he sees it, sources say, the organization’s choice to build its basketball ecosystem around Embiid’s style simply isn’t conducive to the way he needs to play. So while Embiid insisted to reporters on Monday that he wants Simmons back, this much is clear: The feeling is not mutual.
“It has run its course,” the source said of their pairing.
There’s a reason Simmons turned his teammates away when they wanted to visit him in Los Angeles this week and make a last-ditch plea for him to re-join the squad: In his mind, this chapter is closed and there’s simply no dignity in coming back for the sake of filling a familiar spot until the inevitable occurs. Even if he has four seasons and a combined $140 million left on his deal.
Truth be told, sources say Simmons thought he would have been traded by now.
When he met with the Sixers brass at the Los Angeles home of his agent, Rich Paul, in August, telling managing partner Josh Harris in direct fashion that he no longer wanted to play for his club, the goal was to avoid this sort of mess. Sources say the Sixers had come equipped with all sorts of reasons that he should want to stay, and even supported the argument with a statistically based presentation featuring the success of the Embiid-Simmons pairing. But his view, his uneasy feelings about the problematic fit remained unchanged.
And now, it seems, that leaves them all with this uncomfortable purgatory period. Will Morey finally lower his price in trade talks for Simmons and send him to a new home, or will Simmons relent on his stance and return to Philadelphia as a way to avoid paying the price for his absence while his fate is decided by the front office?
Either way, the claim from the Simmons side is that there is no coming back from this. Even if he returned to avoid the stiff penalties, sources close to Simmons say the notion that he would up his trade value by re-engaging mentally and playing well enough to convince suitors that he might be willing to stay is, well, just that. Delusional.
This relationship is too far gone. The only question left to answer now, as Simmons sees it, is where his next house-hunt will take place.
Comment