Does Ben Simmons Still Have Conflict With 76ers?
By Trevor Trout (@totaltroutmove)
Isn’t that funny?
I mean… Shams isn’t wrong.
Right?
Could Daryl Morey be lying through his teeth? Absolutely.
There is a grey area being ignored in these reports that’s looking us dead in our faces. We’re either choosing to ignore it, or just completely blind to it.
Rumors have circulated for the last year about Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid being split. Some argue that it simply doesn’t work, while others will blame past incompetence of the Philadelphia’s front office. Both these things can be true if you want them to.
Ben Simmons didn’t think they knew what they were doing. And after their playoff exit, Embiid went to his infamous trolling tactics. Changes were going to be made — but the question was, what?
Here lies Ben Simmons.
Before Daryl Morey or Doc Rivers were hired, Ben Simmons had to see Tobias Harris get $180 million on a five-year deal and Al Horford get $109 million on a four-year deal. In today’s NBA, it’s going to be really difficult to contend for titles with decisions like these. The spacing is in hell.
Then you have a guy like Joel Embiid. Very good at what they ask him to do. Easily the most skilled 5-man in the league. That’s why the 76ers believe they can build around him. Though he was noticeably lazy at times, it didn’t matter. He was that special of a player.
If he’s consistently locked in, he’s one of the best in the world at what they want him to do which is cook the other team’s center one-on-one on the block all night long. And though he’s capable, he didn’t do it every night at the level which he was expected to. And on some nights when he was special, role players couldn’t do what they were paid to do and make shots.
On top of that, Embiid isn’t going to “pick-and-pop” for 30–40 minutes. Matter of fact, it’s something he’s bad at.
But that’s where Ben Simmons’ is one of the league’s very best.
Are we seeing the issue here?
It’s not even about a rumored “beef” — that means little in the grand scheme of things. It’s simply not working. And it’s no indictment of both talents.
It’s just what it is.
They may not fit. But the 76ers want it to. And they can be saluted for trying to make the changes to keep these guys together.
But you have to put yourself in Ben Simmons’ shoes.
You’ve been the starting point-guard every year the 76ers’ have gone to the playoffs. You shoot 58% from the field, gettin’ eight dimes, sixteen points, and eight boards a night. And if they really let you rock out like you know you can, you’d probably be a walkin’ double-double at the 1-spot. Not to forget, you strap up nightly with the best of ’em and lead the league in steals.
But there is the one thing they troll you for all season, despite the utterly amazing things you do on the basketball court as the 6–10 primary ballh-handler — And it’s glaring.
You can’t shoot the three…
It’s not that you don’t want to. It’s just not your game. You’re trying to implement it because they want you to, but you know what gets your bread buttered. That paint. You’re unstoppable down there if nobody is in the way.
And every time you go to the cup, opposing bigs are sitting in the lane ready to knock your head off because Joel may be in your way. And that’s affecting how you play the game.
As a front office, it’s their job to go get guys who can go make shots in meaningful basketball games. The 76ers did not do this. They pulled up to Orlando and were the worst team from three on that Disney campus. A smelly 26%. And they were shooting 30 of them a game. They shot 31 of ’em in the regular season.
An easy first-round exit. It’s funny how that works.
Ben saw it. And so did Joel.
Ben was hurt, but he knew what the deal was. Joel did his job for the most part. He was getting his thirty against Boston who didn’t have a big on the floor that belonged. But he also knew what the deal was.
Brett Brown got fired. Which really meant little. Guys in that organization knew it wasn’t just about Brett Brown. Some would argue he was scapegoated because they didn’t give him enough to work with.
But this all goes back to Ben Simmons thinking that the people who make decisions in the organization didn’t know what they were doing. And was he wrong? After Brett Brown’s smear campaign, they did a complete overhaul in the coaching and executive ranks.
So if you’re Ben Simmons, what’s going on in your mind?
Ben Simmons believes he’s a MVP-caliber player. He’s 24. He made All-NBA. He’s a two-time NBA All-Star. Before he touched down, the 76ers were stuck in mediocrity. He helped change that. Yet, from his perspective, he still has to see the lane clogged all because perimeter defenders are playing up on his teammates because Joel Embiid.
He may not find the situation ideal. He may think it’s not best for him.
So now you bring in Daryl Morey. A guy who doesn’t believe in players who can’t shoot. Guess what Ben Simmons doesn’t do well?
Bingo!
We can read all the headlines and believe he wants to make this work. And it’s very possible he does. But if you’re Ben Simmons, you can only judge based on what has already happened. And we saw what that was in Houston.
These rumors of Ben Simmons getting traded have been swirling for a while. And nobody is saying that they don’t have truth to them. Just as much as nobody is saying Daryl Morey isn’t telling the truth. But has anyone noticed Ben Simmons has had nothing to say?
Nobody finds that interesting?
Would it be reasonable to believe that Ben Simmons is trying to get himself traded and Daryl Morey is not trying to get bullied?
Simmons may have wanted out before Morey or Doc were hired, but Morey may have helped put the writing on the wall for Simmons better than he himself ever could. Yes, the 76ers fired everyone and have promised to keep him and Joel together for at least two more years. But is that what Ben wants?
Let’s look at it from another angle.
What if Ben Simmons wants to stay and Daryl Morey isn’t telling him he’s willing to trade him? We’ve seen the reports about them staying together, but what if the inevitable leaked? What if he really is trying to package Ben Simmons to Houston?
If you were to ask Doc Rivers a few weeks ago if James Harden was going to be a 76er, he probably would’ve believed you. And he’d have every reason to. What if Morey wasn’t telling Ben Simmons that he’s thinking about trading him? Are we sure that there isn’t any dishonesty going on?
But there’s two ways to look at this.
Either Daryl Morey is lying and is trying to trade him after all the semantics, or Ben Simmons is leaking possible packages to Houston to get the butter churning for his exit, but doesn’t want to say anything publicly.
At the end of the day, the Rockets are broke and are just trying to clean the books up. Would the Rockets lie like this unless they were reached out to by another party? The party being Ben Simmons.
We can’t say this isn’t possible. This is the NBA.
Ben Simmons could’ve easily come out and said these rumors aren’t true. Players do it all the time. Especially if it’s something they don’t want to happen. Which begs another interesting question:
What if Daryl Morey and Ben Simmons are working together?
It’s very possible Daryl Morey wants to trade him and Ben Simmons is on board, but just isn’t ready to say it publicly. The optics have to be right. It’s going to be interesting to see how this thing unfolds.
