Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and star center Joel Embiid were among the prominent figures within the organization who spoke on Monday at the team’s Media Day about the Ben Simmons situation, expressing a hope that the three-time All-Star would end his holdout and report to Philadelphia.
However, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the team’s messages “fell flat” from the perspective of Simmons and his camp, and – if anything – only added to the 25-year-old’s agitation. Amick suggests that Morey’s claim about there being “a lot of hope” for reconciliation was seen as particularly laughable.
“It’s total bulls–t,” one source with knowledge of Simmons’ thinking said of Morey’s comments, per Amick.
Asked on Monday why Simmons wanted out, head coach Doc Rivers was evasive, suggesting that Philadelphia is a tough place to play, then admitting that Simmons hadn’t specifically given that reason. According to Amick, those comments from Rivers – which shifted the blame away from the team and placed it on Simmons’ relationship with the fans – didn’t help matters either.
Here’s more from Amick on the Simmons situation:
- Although there’s no animosity between the two stars at a personal level, people with knowledge of the situation believe Simmons has decided he’s done playing with Embiid, says Amick. Sources tell The Athletic that Simmons believes the club’s choice to build its system around Embiid’s style of play isn’t conducive to the way Simmons needs to play. “It has run its course,” an Amick source said of the pairing of the two All-Stars.
- Simmons and his camp had hoped to avoid this kind of training camp circus when they went to Sixers management and directly requested a trade earlier in the offseason, according to Amick, who suggests the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up thought he would’ve been moved by now.
- Simmons was so convinced back in January that he’d be traded to the Rockets in a deal for James Harden that he actually started researching Houston real estate, reports Amick. When Harden was sent to Brooklyn, Simmons didn’t publicly gripe about sticking with the Sixers, but it certainly seems possible that the relationship between the two sides had begun fraying as a result of those public negotiations.
So he sits and gets fined. He signed the 4yr extension. Nobody forced him to sign it. I’m happy the sixers aren’t just giving him away.
That won’t happen. Sixers will move him. Ben holds all the cards and both sides know it. That’s how the NBA works. It’s not the NFL.
Sixers might decide to move him just to be fine with him and use his cap space to improve the team. However, if they wanted to, they can allow him to sit and absolutely not pay him. He’s breaking the CBA. You can’t collect a check and not play.
Actually, he’ll still get paid according to the structure of his contract. He’ll receive a good portion of this year’s contract even before game 1 tip off, which when the team can officially suspend him. He may lose the rest of the contract by sitting out but by that time it won’t even matter.
It may not work that way players sometimes have to give money back when they are over paid so if he should make 0. Some of the higher paid players who had already been fully paid in 2019-20 had to return money when games stopped.
@osonvs
I guarantee you they can sue and get the money back. No play, no pay Technically, his contract ids structured so he’s paid in advance. Technically, he hasn’t missed any NBA season games yet so they can’t sue yet.
They could certainly challenge that pre-payment since he is in breach of contract as soon as camp opens.
They could actually sue to claw the money back, haha.
No he’s not breaking the CBA. He is allowed to sit out and be fined. That IS THE CBA.
Yeah unless he starts losing those checks
Simmons’ camp was reported in an earlier article on here to say that he doesn’t care about the money. He’s also been paid a whole bunch of his salary already.
Simmons has always been a different type of dude. Doesn’t really surprise me he’s going this way.
Why would you want this cancer hanging over your team’s head? It’s not getting better, it’s clearly getting worse lol. Clear the distraction, swallow your pride and ship him out
Highly recommended viewing is bballbreakdown’s video on Ben.
The most success he experiences is when on the floor without Joel. He can play like a Giannis-lite for a mediocre team like Sac/Minny.
Guess who’s about to be “mediocre” when Simmons leaves? I wouldn’t be so patronizing if I were a Sixers fan right now.
Not a Sixers fan.
Joel with the lane unclogged will likely reveal Philly as potent as ever, good for the upper half of the standings.
Giannis-lite is a really good take on Simmons potential as a point-forward.
Obviously, he would really help Minnesota on both ends of the floor.
In an opened court, Simmons is more like a Giannis-heavy… the best.
he should watch more Magic Johnson tape
Yeah having a distraction like your second best player who is also eating $35million a year sit on the bench while the Sixers play chicken wont have any impact on the season…
I love that Philly thinks they can win the PR campaign against a Hollywood production company with unlimited access to the various media outlets.
Doc didn’t want to embarrass ben,but the fact is Simmons can’t handle facing the sixer fans after crumbling in the playoff spotlight, ever again. He’s running from that and blaming anyone and everyone but himself. He’s bigley weak and if this manchild wants to sit and pay instead of picking himself up and redeeming himself in the eyes of the best fans in sports, then so be it.
Bye, Philly. Hope he lands somewhere that appreciates him more.
He will be the same “manchild” on any other team…
Buddy Hield is unhappy in SAC
Simmons is unhappy in PHI
There’s a deal to be made and both team benefit with other things involved.
Sixers get a SG and Kings get an athletic PF to play with Fox, Haliburton, and add another defensive presence with Mitchell.
Have u watched Buddy Hield at all. He stinks. Yes he can shoot, but he stinks at everything else
Yeah that’s about what the Sixers can expect back, although I doubt it will be Hield (that would leave the Kings with an awkward combo of Fox and Simmons, although they could then flip Ben after he plays well for a few months.
That’s probably the trade, it’s just going to take Philly a few more days to realize that’s all they’re getting. Yesterday was a joke, as is the entire 76er franchise. They’ll be a lottery team again before you know it.
I’ve always said that Hield makes the most sense here. I think their salaries are close. Is Hield as good as Simmons? No way. But Hield could put up decent numbers with Embiid in the middle. With Simmons, I view this as addition by subtraction. The Sixers should know by now that they will not win a championship with Simmons in tow.
The King’s would have to add another player for salary-matching purposes. Either Halliburton or Bagley would work (I don’t think the Sixers would be interested in anyone else). Simmons for Hield + Bagley/Halliburton + 2 firsts.
Haliburton is not available
nope
No way I would trade Simmons for Hield. If he wants to sit out and not get paid that is fine. He has no leverage in this situation (especially if that is all they can get for him) and they are using the media to try to force Philly’s hand. There is a reason we don’t see holdouts in the NBA and neither the owners or players association wants to see it happen.
Oh, it’s happening. Watch it. Ben is not coming back, baby.
Well, you clearly don’t understand what leverage is…
So Doc Rivers treats Ben the exact same way he treated PG13 but somehow dodges the blame here?
Whoever he plays for this season, Ben Simmons is going off exactly like PG13 went off last season, book it.
Simmons is no Paul George my friend and George doesn’t fade at crunch time. As far as doc,he had Simmons back from day one,including when it cost his team playoff wins. Simmons will take his weakness with him wherever he goes,afraid of the big moment.
Feels like you forgot about “playoff P” in the bubble under doc. He was non existent which showed in the clippers results. I agree with Mac, Doc was at fault for George and he deliberately took Ben off the court every attacking play in the closing stages instead of leaving him to fight the slump or putting his arm around him he put the spotlight on his faults.
With Simmons it’s all psychological. He has possible HOF talent no doubt. But he’s his own worst enemy. I said a while back and stick to it. He needs to join a struggling team with nothing to lose, develop his play as a no1 and get some confidence. Saying he might blow up isn’t that crazy, but unlikely. But he’s still worth a lot more than 90% of plastic GMs on here are saying though.
@jw91
how was Doc responsible for PG13s dismal playoff performance? Just curious.
Poor performance from a franchise player mainly falls on the player, I can’t argue that.
But Doc was too stubborn, playing him in a way he has never played before, it showed in PG posting the lowest numbers in year in an underwhelming 1st year in LA. He even came out and said Doc told him to adjust his style(the same style that made him the player he is).
Problem with Doc, it’s his way or nothing. After George complained about him being too rigid in the Denver implode and refusing to make adjustments. Doc simply replied, it won’t change under Lue, (it clearly did.) Instead of shouldering it like a coach should he slated the players. I’m sorry I might be wrong but this isn’t the best example of good coaching.
As far as holding out, one thing working in Simmons favor right now is that he’ll receive about half of this year’s salary before training camp starts.
Wrong my friend, fines begin 1st day of training camp and are automatically deducted from check which isn’t due until Oct 1st. Fines are roughly 250,000 per day and philly can withhold Simmons pay for breech of contract. Simmons needs to fire that agent and report to camp.
He’s already been paid a huge chunk of his 2021-22 salary. Fines don’t start until training camp.
Hoops Rumors already posted a good article on Bens pay structure this year- He’s gonna get like 40% of this years salary before training camp even begins
Simmons does not give any flicks about the money. He feels disrespected by the team and the fans. Bye, Philly-shuh
Dude is on his way to China at this point. No fan base will explain away his lack of shooting for 4 years. And the fan base turned on him once he started this BS. His own doing, not the fans. He wants to be the gutless wonder, I just hope he doesn’t injure himself in those empty gyms away from team facilities that might give the Sixers a way to void his contract.
Ben bitthhhup. Simple as that. Like I said when it happened. Philly will never let him forget it. Sixers blew this by making it worse. They knew he wanted out. They thought they could wait him out. Morey sucks it’s as simple as that. He put Philly in this position. Stop crying about Ben. You always knew who he was. Sixers catered to him. So shut up and build up his value. Some team will step up and take him. It’s a game of chicken now. Cause Sixers flinched first. Morey sucks. He bent over for Harden then ran away. He could of got plenty at draft for Ben. Now it’s best deal he can get. There’s a trade out there. But it’s going to be less than what they could of got. Still say and been saying it. Since they lost to Hawks. Kings can give best offer.
So it sounds like the best offers right now are either trading him to sactown for hield or Minnesota’s scraps. Yeah Philly’s right to wait. It’s the NBA they’ll be another player throwing a tantrum demanding a trade in no time.
Sounds like he wants to go to Houston, a trade for Wall isn’t out of the question.
LOL. This comment made my day.
I’m FROM Houston. I AM a Rockets fan and this DID make my day, too! :)
There’s plenty of blame to go around. Simmons has failed to improve his outside shooting and free throws in 5 years and disappeared in the 4th quarter of key games in the playoffs. Sixer’s management had plenty of opportunity to trade Simmons last year and held out for ridiculous demands. Neither has handled things well since the season ended. The Sixers need to cut their losses and do the best they can for him and get rid of the huge distraction.
#FreeBenSimmons
Free Nerlens and Free Jah worked well
Imagine if Simmons said publicly that he didnt have any confidence Sixers can win in postseason with chokester Rivers? Or how Embid always gets hurt and thus Sixers are unable to get into rhythm to win? How would they feel? :)
Simmons is a punk. Doc is a fraud.
Doc Rivers is a clown, and Simmons is acting like one. The team is conducive to Simmons playstyle. He starts out at PG, surrounded by shooting, woth Embiid and Harris as their primary half court options, and then he moves to the 4/5 on 2nd units, still surrounded by shooting, and they can get out and run a lot more. The problem is Doc Rivers doesnt know who plays on his team, and in a matchup where they should have had clear advantages, they made things a lot harder for themselves, and actually created more disadvantages. Combining that with Simmons already being less likely to be aggressive, it turned into what we saw…
Fire Doc Rivers. Whether or not that helps this situation, that’s still a win, and if it does help, you ate his coaching contract to alleviate issues with a top player, whose co tract status is exponentially more important. It shouldnt be hard to explain why this team is still good for Simmons basketball wise, if you dont have a clown trying to explain it
All that being said, Simmons is acting like more than a child. To not even be willing to speak to people that co sider him a friend is super over the top. Also, you have 4 years under contract. It doesnt work this way. You dont choose where you are until free agency. That’s why it’s called free agency. If he was so close to having such problems there, maybe he shouldnt have signed the extension, and instead took a qualifying offer to make him a free agent where he could make a decision like that…asking for a trade doesnt mean a team should do it, especially if you cant get back value equal to what you’re sending out, which they couldn’t
What a weakling