Ben and Rich Paul backed into a corner

[dannyboy35]

Not many teams are interested in giving up the farm and 140 million for a basketball Dinosaur that can't stretch the floor to save his life.

I think the idea that all big men need to stretch the floor is wrong-minded.  A big who can score inside, pass like a point guard, and defend both the interior and perimeter is quite valuable.

Simmons’ problems are that he’s a terrible FT shooter, and that he mentally can’t handle 4th quarter pressure.  Sitting out won’t help that perception, but Philly needs to understand that teams won’t give up full value for a guy with suspect mental skills.

And he absolutely lazy and sorry.   Being paid millions and he can’t even stay in the gym for a thousand hour and fix his free throw shooting as a supposed guard .  He is not a guard IMO , he is PF would is too chicken to play his rightful position.

    It’s even worse than lazy because you  improvement he’s made to his physique but I can only guess it was purely for beach muscles?  Strange. I have no idea if the hit is single but my friends snd I were joking he could hire bikini models to rebound for him. OT anybody. I’m smacking my head ‘cuz it’s by far the skill that takes the least amount of physical exertion. It’s really hard to understand.

[Vermont Green]

I think it is oversimplifying the issues to assume that all Simmons needs to do is go to the gym and take 1,000 free throws.  If the problem is more in his head than his hands, that isn't going to necessarily help.  Simmons clearly has some maturity or emotional issues.  To me, these are bigger than any physical issues, and harder to fix.  That is the problem.  Teams don't know what they are getting, a star player or a head case who will never fulfill his promise.

A year ago, these "head case" issues were not so apparent, at least not to the rest of the league.  I would have been  thrilled to have the Celtics trade for him and play him exclusively as a PF (no more PG).  But now, I am not so sure.  It may still just come down to restoring his confidence in a new setting and muscling through the free throw issues, I don't know.  And not knowing is the problem.

I do feel that he has made the issues worse for himself though.  He is making it really hard to have any kind of a good outcome for him.

[johnnygreen]

I don't know much about Ben Simmons, but I think he needs to change how he relies on his inner circle. For instance, isn't his shooting coach his brother? Ben's shooting mechanics need to be corrected. Once that has been fixed, his mental confidence will slowly come back.

[RJ87]

i am curious as to why some posters here clearly take the side of owners over players in terms of money (which owners have a lot more of), control over the league rules (which owners have a lot more of), and movement of players (which owners have a lot more of).

simply because owners have long had so much control over the movement and contracts of players is not automatically a good reason to continue this practice.

Fans interests are more aligned with the owners.  Owners generally have team interests/winning as top priority - players have their own interest as top priority.  Simple as that.

Owners don't care about winning. They care about profitability and getting a return on their investment. If owners really cared about winning, you'd see a lot more teams in the luxury tax because they're building competitive teams. So many owners are just happy to toe the line to bank money.

The players are the product and in my opinion, they don't get paid enough. It's been proven that players like Steph Curry and Lebron James bring in far more money for their franchises than they get in salary.

As far as athletes being pampered, I respect them more than I do owners. A lot of them come from nothing. Take a guy like Jimmy Butler. He was kicked out as a teen by his own mother and was homeless. Now he's in a position to provide generational wealth for his family. I'd take that dude's perseverance over a guy born a millionaire who understands how to invest.

[Donoghus]

This is getting pretty entertaining.

Jake Fischer
@JakeLFischer
 · 10m
The Sixers will indeed not pay Ben Simmons the 25% of his salary due today, according to league sources. And there are now growing whispers that Simmons could respond by actually reporting to Philadelphia, albeit maintaining that he is injured:

[Donoghus]

Bleacher Report piece

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2948947-sources-new-developments-emerge-in-ben-simmons-philadelphia-76ers-standoff

[celticsclay]

Bleacher Report piece

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2948947-sources-new-developments-emerge-in-ben-simmons-philadelphia-76ers-standoff

Jeez this is kind of the biggest mess I can remember. Leonard obviously had an injury disagreement with the Spurs and wanted a trade but 1) he was at least legit injured, but more of a debate of how bad 2) once he really wanted out it happened quicker

So now simmons gets a third party doctor to say his back is damaged but then has to get treatment from Philly approved doctors or what?

[bdm860]

This is getting pretty entertaining.

Jake Fischer
@JakeLFischer
 · 10m
The Sixers will indeed not pay Ben Simmons the 25% of his salary due today, according to league sources. And there are now growing whispers that Simmons could respond by actually reporting to Philadelphia, albeit maintaining that he is injured:

So what's the next level of spiciness here?  Since this was the 2nd installment, theoretically wouldn't the Sixers be in their right to go after the $8.25m they already paid him in the first installment?  I want that to happen now.

[Celtics2021]

This is getting pretty entertaining.

Jake Fischer
@JakeLFischer
 · 10m
The Sixers will indeed not pay Ben Simmons the 25% of his salary due today, according to league sources. And there are now growing whispers that Simmons could respond by actually reporting to Philadelphia, albeit maintaining that he is injured:

So what's the next level of spiciness here?  Since this was the 2nd installment, theoretically wouldn't the Sixers be in their right to go after the $8.25m they already paid him in the first installment?  I want that to happen now.

They can’t go after that for quite some time.  He’d have to sit out most of the season before they could consider having that fight.  He needs to miss the games he’s been pod in advance for first.