The ongoing Ben Simmons drama, including a suspension, has sucked some of the energy out of the Sixers’ opener, coach Doc Rivers admitted to Brian Windhorst of ESPN and other media members. Simmons was suspended for the opener after refusing to participate in a practice drill.
“It’s a predicament that we’re in and that part is no fun. It really isn’t,” Rivers said. “We get to play right now and Ben is not. I want Ben to be playing. That’s his job.”
Simmons will be fined $330K for missing Wednesday’s game, increasing his fines for missed games — including the preseason — to more than $1.7MM.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, who had been sidelined due to a positive COVID-19 test, will be in the starting lineup against the Knicks tonight, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. Brown said he experienced “some mild symptoms for the most part” and used meditation to recover from the virus. He’ll have an inhaler at the ready if he has any breathing issues. Al Horford, who also recently contracted COVID-19, remains sidelined to start the season, though head coach Ime Udoka said the veteran center is doing well physically.
- Celtics guard Josh Richardson will not play in the opener due to a migraine, the team’s PR department tweets. Richardson was acquired in a trade with Dallas in late July.
- New York native Kemba Walker is thrilled to be playing for his hometown team at last, Bontemps writes in a separate story. He’s hoping to prove the knee issues that plagued him with Boston won’t be a major factor with the Knicks. “Perfect timing. [I’m] really motivated,” he said. “Super excited that these guys have belief in me. I just need somebody to believe in me.”
Ben Simmons is a Clown Show
Send him Bye Byes!
Easier said than done.
I know
Trade him for Kyrie
Would tbe Nets do it
Would he be allowed to play in Philly
“The ongoing Ben Simmons drama, including a suspension, has sucked some of the energy out of the Sixers’ opener, coach Doc Rivers admits to Brian Windhorst of ESPN and other media members. ”
And Sixers management deserves it 100%, as it was 100% avoidable. If Morey doesn’t get a haul for Simmons now—which he won’t—he’s going to look like a complete fool for dragging this out for so long after the games he’s play with prior negotiations. Not that Simmons is blameless in all of this, of course.
Sixers fans and the players deserve better.
If Doc just shuts his mouth after the playoff loss and supports his 2nd best player, whether he believes that he’s the PG to carry them to a title or not, none of this happens.
Or..or…if Ben wasn’t so soft and used that as a motivational challenge we wouldn’t be here? #lightskinnedBen
No need to be racist my friend, Ben’s skin color is irrelevant, white, brown, black, yellow… who cares, dude!
@ElDon
Calling him “light skinned” has nothing to do with his race. Among, African Americans, which I am, it’s a way of saying he’s too sensitive. He’s like Drake. Emotional. But for this forum, I won’t use that term again but it has nothing to do with his race.
@KFCF… fair enough, didn’t know that, I am Hispanic myself, not African American, so didn’t know that, in this case it is up to me to apologise for my lack of knowledge about it & jumping the gun!
Sorry & I hope they ain’t bad feelings, I always try to be as respectful as I can so I don’t offend anyone, again sorry my friend, will do better next time!
Did you mean? #thinskinnedBen
It’s unbelievable how so many people are saying that this situation is entirely the fault of Doc Rivers. Whenever anything goes wrong with a sports team, most fans’ first reaction is “fire the coach”. smh
i cant believe anyone says it has anything to do with it. to suggest Ben didnt know what the team thought of him and vice versa is absurd. Doc’s tried to control the damage this whole time, even if it reallt shouldnt be his job and gets trashed for it. highly unfair.
I believe Kemba’s knees are the reason most folks no longer have belief in him. Good luck with turning back time bro.
According to this article
Simmons has sucked some of the energy out of the Sixers
According to me
Mosquito has sucked some of the blood from the dinosaurs
Dino DNA
Isn’t that where they got the DNA used in Jurassic Park/World?
I’m siding with Ben.
All hoops fans are with Ben, you ain’t alone!
Hasn’t hurt Rivers’ energy for serve up his self serving narratives to the media.
#FreeBenSimmons
The team, players, fans, media and whole damn city publicly say Simmons is trash and that they don’t want him, so he asks to be traded and they say no, cos he’s worth more. He’s being unprofessional now out of spite, but seriously wtf is wrong with you Philadelphia. Just trade him you morons. You knew he didn’t shoot jumpers. It’s not his fault you lost. You lost cos your team wasn’t good enough. He’s part of the reason you got that far.
@Ballsin
Newsflash!!! They have to actually get value back in return. This isn’t mlb or nfl where there are no trade restrictions that demand you must take back matching salary. So if you have the combination of teams not wanting to trade an all-star talent for Ben + Sixers must accept some combo of salary in the range of $32 mil. If the trade partner isn’t giving up a all-star talent in return that means either a bad contract will be involved like Love or Wall or a collection of role players. Why would Morey accept that? I mean Wall is not a horrible player but his lack of outside shooting and questionable health isn’t that attractive. I LOVE me some Collin Sexton but apparently others are not so high on him (and I’m hoping the Cavs aren’t that stupid). Love, Sexton and a 1st was a trade suggestion. Hoping it doesn’t happen.