Minnesota Sports Forum

Things are getting awk-ward.

I'm having flashbacks to the Jimmy saga. That blew up horribly, but it didn't have the long, slow tension-build that this situation has. The pressure is stepping up day by day. The league can't be happy about this. Just a tough situation all around.

Hey, Philadelphia wanted him to report to the team. They knew how badly Ben Simmons wanted out. This is what the situation was always going to look like, and now it's arguably uglier. I'm not so sure the Sixers will get anything better than they would have several weeks/months ago despite putting themselves through the extra headaches. They could have put an end to all of this and had less distractions and media spotlight plus a cohesive team with new parts in place, but alas here we are.

"At this point I don't care about that man, honestly. He does whatever he wants."

Joel Embiid on Ben Simmons today. Shout, shout! Let it all out!

Sources: Doc Rivers asked Ben Simmons to join a defensive drill today. Simmons refused. Rivers asked again. Simmons said no again.

Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and Simmons dropped the ball and left.

Per Shams

kekgeek1 wrote:Sources: Doc Rivers asked Ben Simmons to join a defensive drill today. Simmons refused. Rivers asked again. Simmons said no again.

Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and Simmons dropped the ball and left.

Per Shams

A big part of this entire situation has been Doc Rivers' attitude towards Ben Simmons. Everyone is to blame, but Rivers has only escalated the situation from the end of last season. Simmons clearly has zero respect for Rivers and I personally don't blame him. It's entertaining to see it go down this route.

Camden wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Sources: Doc Rivers asked Ben Simmons to join a defensive drill today. Simmons refused. Rivers asked again. Simmons said no again.

Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and Simmons dropped the ball and left.

Per Shams

A big part of this entire situation has been Doc Rivers' attitude towards Ben Simmons. Everyone is to blame, but Rivers has only escalated the situation from the end of last season. Simmons clearly has zero respect for Rivers and I personally don't blame him. It's entertaining to see it go down this route.

To be fair, what should a coach do in that specific situation? Doc could have been more circumspect in his comments after last season, and I really didn't like how he was mischaracterizing what he said to Stephen A. about a month ago. But setting that aside, if Shams is right here that Simmons was refusing to participate, it doesn't exactly leave a coach with any good choices.

God, I just hope Morey finds a trade he can live with and we can all just move on.

Camden0916 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Sources: Doc Rivers asked Ben Simmons to join a defensive drill today. Simmons refused. Rivers asked again. Simmons said no again.

Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and Simmons dropped the ball and left.

Per Shams

A big part of this entire situation has been Doc Rivers' attitude towards Ben Simmons. Everyone is to blame, but Rivers has only escalated the situation from the end of last season. Simmons clearly has zero respect for Rivers and I personally don't blame him. It's entertaining to see it go down this route.

I really don't know what Doc's legacy is going to be as a coach. He's a career winner, but it always seemed to me that he wasn't a great situational coach. His ego sure seems to be imprinted on many of the teams he coaches. It's like he wants to be a star as much as the players which I personally think is detrimental.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:

Camden wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Sources: Doc Rivers asked Ben Simmons to join a defensive drill today. Simmons refused. Rivers asked again. Simmons said no again.

Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and Simmons dropped the ball and left.

Per Shams

A big part of this entire situation has been Doc Rivers' attitude towards Ben Simmons. Everyone is to blame, but Rivers has only escalated the situation from the end of last season. Simmons clearly has zero respect for Rivers and I personally don't blame him. It's entertaining to see it go down this route.

To be fair, what should a coach do in that specific situation? Doc could have been more circumspect in his comments after last season, and I really didn't like how he was mischaracterizing what he said to Stephen A. about a month ago. But setting that aside, if Shams is right here that Simmons was refusing to participate, it doesn't exactly leave a coach with any good choices.

God, I just hope Morey finds a trade he can live with and we can all just move on.

This is the result of all of the Sixers' mismanagement, especially Doc Rivers. Remember, recently there was a meeting with Ben Simmons, Doc Rivers, and others at Rich Paul's house where at one point Rivers reportedly yelled at Simmons that he had to show up because "it's in your fucking contract." While technically true that he had to report, in what world is acting like that going to solve the issue here? Simmons reported. That didn't mean he had to give effort or care whatsoever. Philadelphia has been dead to him. Rivers was probably right to dismiss him from practice, but why was Simmons even there in the first place? It's because the Sixers thought they could fix this enough to where they'd trade him for more, but yet they've done everything wrong in trying to fix the situation. This is their fault at this point. They had the entire off-season to find a trade for him with Simmons quiet for most of it.

Simmons got kicked out of practice for a team he doesn't want to play for? Unbelievable who could have ever seen that coming?

thedoper wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Sources: Doc Rivers asked Ben Simmons to join a defensive drill today. Simmons refused. Rivers asked again. Simmons said no again.

Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and Simmons dropped the ball and left.

Per Shams

A big part of this entire situation has been Doc Rivers' attitude towards Ben Simmons. Everyone is to blame, but Rivers has only escalated the situation from the end of last season. Simmons clearly has zero respect for Rivers and I personally don't blame him. It's entertaining to see it go down this route.

I really don't know what Doc's legacy is going to be as a coach. He's a career winner, but it always seemed to me that he wasn't a great situational coach. His ego sure seems to be imprinted on many of the teams he coaches. It's like he wants to be a star as much as the players which I personally think is detrimental.

He's only ever impressed me for a season in Los Angeles after Chris Paul was traded. The Clippers were unexpectedly good and very tough-nosed. Outside of that one year, Doc Rivers has always needed to be carried by star players. He couldn't do shit in Boston with Paul Pierce until they created the big three with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. That team was so good that not even Ryan Saunders could mess it up.