Ben Simmons (not) back for Game 4

[ozgod]

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn·40m

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul met with GM Sean Marks and Nets leadership today to discuss how they’ll continue to work through the physical and mental hurdles needed to get Simmons back on the court.

Congratulations to the Nets for winning the Harden-Simmons trade.

So there's still mental hurdles eh.

[celticsclay]

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn·40m

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul met with GM Sean Marks and Nets leadership today to discuss how they’ll continue to work through the physical and mental hurdles needed to get Simmons back on the court.

Congratulations to the Nets for winning the Harden-Simmons trade.

I’m not as down on the 76ers chances this year as some (if they make the finals they would beat anyone except the warriors, though suns could give them a run with Booker back). That being said if they don’t win this year they have a fat aging harden making max money. He is pretty clearly in decline at this point. If the 76ers are just slowly getting worse the next few years and overpaying harden did they really win with the trade? If they had hield and Halliburton I would feel so much better than them having Morey get his moby d.

[Vermont Green]

Hype from Klutch sports to keep the public interest on Ben Simmons in the spotlight and stoke the flame of him being some sort of superstar savior.

If this is true, that Klutch Sports is the one leaking the false "Ben is ready to play" rumors, then they are really bad at PR.  They are making their client look worse, not better.  This premise makes absolutely no sense to me.  I can see "Ben is working hard", "Ben is doing everything the team has asked", but why set unrealistic expectations that result in your client looking worse (which in this case, it is really hard to be made to look worse than he already looked)?

It doesn't make any sense for the team to be leaking these either.  If they thought this would help get him back on the court faster, they couldn't have been more wrong.  They had to know he wasn't ready.  And that even if he said he was ready, they should not have expected much out of him.  Nash never seemed to be aware of any eminent return.

There is something missing here.  It isn't that Simmons isn't going to play, that is not surprising at all.  It is the false rumors around this that make no sense.  He isn't gong to play.  He is afraid to take the court because he knows he is not emotionally ready to handle the pressure.  So why put even more pressure on him with false rumors?

[colincb]

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn·40m

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul met with GM Sean Marks and Nets leadership today to discuss how they’ll continue to work through the physical and mental hurdles needed to get Simmons back on the court.

Congratulations to the Nets for winning the Harden-Simmons trade.

So there's still mental hurdles eh.

The upside is that he can add some much-needed color on the sideline next season to the darkest stadium in the NBA:

[jambr380]

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn·40m

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul met with GM Sean Marks and Nets leadership today to discuss how they’ll continue to work through the physical and mental hurdles needed to get Simmons back on the court.

Congratulations to the Nets for winning the Harden-Simmons trade.

I’m not as down on the 76ers chances this year as some (if they make the finals they would beat anyone except the warriors, though suns could give them a run with Booker back). That being said if they don’t win this year they have a fat aging harden making max money. He is pretty clearly in decline at this point. If the 76ers are just slowly getting worse the next few years and overpaying harden did they really win with the trade? If they had hield and Halliburton I would feel so much better than them having Morey get his moby d.

It was a fail for everyone. Simmons went to an even bigger market in NYC when he should be playing for SAC/OKC, Nets are wasting a prime year of Durant/Kyrie, and PHI gave up a lot for basically one or two good shots at a Title. I suppose this could still totally work out for PHI, but if they don't win it all, then it was a terrible move.

[Vermont Green]

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn·40m

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul met with GM Sean Marks and Nets leadership today to discuss how they’ll continue to work through the physical and mental hurdles needed to get Simmons back on the court.

Congratulations to the Nets for winning the Harden-Simmons trade.

I’m not as down on the 76ers chances this year as some (if they make the finals they would beat anyone except the warriors, though suns could give them a run with Booker back). That being said if they don’t win this year they have a fat aging harden making max money. He is pretty clearly in decline at this point. If the 76ers are just slowly getting worse the next few years and overpaying harden did they really win with the trade? If they had hield and Halliburton I would feel so much better than them having Morey get his moby d.

I am with you.  On paper, Embiid and Harden should be absolutely dominant.  But Harden does not look full speed.  May be he will never be "full speed" again.  I don't know.  And now Embiid has a torn ligament in his right thumb?

The Sixers, even at this point, are probably better off with Harden over Simmons and the role players they gave up but hard to say anyone has "won" this trade at this point.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Ben Simmons is becoming a Tim Tebow like distraction. Neither played that much (though Tebow won a big playoff game vs Pitt), yet the media is obsessed. Keeping up with Ben Simmons- he's becoming a Kardashian before our eyes.

Is there any chance that we, the international basketball watching community, can agree to ignore this guy until he impacts winning?

[celticsclay]

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn·40m

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul met with GM Sean Marks and Nets leadership today to discuss how they’ll continue to work through the physical and mental hurdles needed to get Simmons back on the court.

Congratulations to the Nets for winning the Harden-Simmons trade.

I’m not as down on the 76ers chances this year as some (if they make the finals they would beat anyone except the warriors, though suns could give them a run with Booker back). That being said if they don’t win this year they have a fat aging harden making max money. He is pretty clearly in decline at this point. If the 76ers are just slowly getting worse the next few years and overpaying harden did they really win with the trade? If they had hield and Halliburton I would feel so much better than them having Morey get his moby d.

I am with you.  On paper, Embiid and Harden should be absolutely dominant.  But Harden does not look full speed.  May be he will never be "full speed" again.  I don't know.  And now Embiid has a torn ligament in his right thumb?

The Sixers, even at this point, are probably better off with Harden over Simmons and the role players they gave up but hard to say anyone has "won" this trade at this point.

Yeah. I mean in a vacuum the 76ers are better off with harden for this season than Seth curry and Drummond. But that’s not how this works. They certainly could have gotten younger players that won’t command 50 million a year. I mean after this year I would probably even rather have McCollum at 33 million and a few first rounders than harden. But the 76ers are still on the old nba path of “star hunting” when they already have a superstar in Embid. With these super max contracts I think the days of a big three are over.

[celticsclay]

Ben Simmons is becoming a Tim Tebow like distraction. Neither played that much (though Tebow won a big playoff game vs Pitt), yet the media is obsessed. Keeping up with Ben Simmons- he's becoming a Kardashian before our eyes.

Is there any chance that we, the international basketball watching community, can agree to ignore this guy until he impacts winning?

If he is not playing next year this will happen. Remember when people were talking non stop about okafor until they weren’t? If you want a laugh go read that all things Philadelphia thread. Man did some peoples takes age like milk.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Ben Simmons is becoming a Tim Tebow like distraction. Neither played that much (though Tebow won a big playoff game vs Pitt), yet the media is obsessed. Keeping up with Ben Simmons- he's becoming a Kardashian before our eyes.

Is there any chance that we, the international basketball watching community, can agree to ignore this guy until he impacts winning?

If he is not playing next year this will happen. Remember when people were talking non stop about okafor until they weren’t? If you want a laugh go read that all things Philadelphia thread. Man did some peoples takes age like milk.

So true. Jahlil Okafor was so overrated.

Andrew Wiggins was in this camp, but he has fortunately had a nice resurgence. Now Wiggins gets very little media attention while everyone seems to care about Ben Simmons.

Even Celtics fans were nervous about Simmons coming back. The guy is a good defensive player, but would stick out on the offensive end. No way they can play Simmons and Drummond/Claxton together.

I think Rich Paul and his group are doing a great job. They have a client that gets more press than freaking Steph Curry. As long as teams are willing to pay Ben Simmons, why not advise the guy not to play? They are geniuses, and the Nets/gullible ESPN viewing public are chumps.

[colincb]

43 mins ago – via Net Income @ NetsDaily

The last decision Woj and Greenie discussed was the ballooning of the Nets salary and luxury tax commitments next season. “They’re going to be approaching next year $345 and $350 million next year,” said Woj talking about the combination of salary and taxes. “That’s where Golden State is at this year: the highest salary and luxury tax payments in the league. Brooklyn is going to be in that neighborhood if they keep this team together.”

With an aging KD and a couple of POSs for their Big 3.

[celticsclay]

43 mins ago – via Net Income @ NetsDaily

The last decision Woj and Greenie discussed was the ballooning of the Nets salary and luxury tax commitments next season. “They’re going to be approaching next year $345 and $350 million next year,” said Woj talking about the combination of salary and taxes. “That’s where Golden State is at this year: the highest salary and luxury tax payments in the league. Brooklyn is going to be in that neighborhood if they keep this team together.”

With an aging KD and a couple of POSs for their Big 3.

The probably have to attach a first rounder or brown to get rid of Harris who is making 18 million. Obviously if Simmons doesn’t play his contract is a disaster (which is very possible). Aside from that though irving and Durant are on fine contracts and they don’t have much else committed. Curry is on a pretty good deal for them.

[tazzmaniac]

43 mins ago – via Net Income @ NetsDaily

The last decision Woj and Greenie discussed was the ballooning of the Nets salary and luxury tax commitments next season. “They’re going to be approaching next year $345 and $350 million next year,” said Woj talking about the combination of salary and taxes. “That’s where Golden State is at this year: the highest salary and luxury tax payments in the league. Brooklyn is going to be in that neighborhood if they keep this team together.”

With an aging KD and a couple of POSs for their Big 3.

The probably have to attach a first rounder or brown to get rid of Harris who is making 18 million. Obviously if Simmons doesn’t play his contract is a disaster (which is very possible). Aside from that though irving and Durant are on fine contracts and they don’t have much else committed. Curry is on a pretty good deal for them.

Irving has a player option.  It's Kyrie so anything is possible but he's almost certainly going to opt out to get a long-term max deal.  Brown is going to be an unrestricted free agent so he's going to get a nice salary bump.  If Kyrie and Mills opt in, they'll be at 158M for 9 players. 

[jpotter33]

https://twitter.com/Krisplashed/status/1518745006634323974

Joel Embiid is playing with a torn ligament in his thumb, Luka Doncic is playing on a strained calf, Anthony Edwards had a scary injury then returned the same game,

And then there’s this:

"Howard Beck - As others have noted, Ben Simmons is not on Nets' bench tonight. I'm told he's not at the arena, because of his ongoing back issues."

Crazy stuff. Kid is soft. Most likely didn't want to deal with hecklers and the fans.

[radiohead]

https://twitter.com/Krisplashed/status/1518745006634323974

Joel Embiid is playing with a torn ligament in his thumb, Luka Doncic is playing on a strained calf, Anthony Edwards had a scary injury then returned the same game,

And then there’s this:

"Howard Beck - As others have noted, Ben Simmons is not on Nets' bench tonight. I'm told he's not at the arena, because of his ongoing back issues."

Crazy stuff. Kid is soft. Most likely didn't want to deal with hecklers and the fans.

That’s the problem for trying to hype his return for game 4. Now he’s probably scared to face the home fans too.