Opinion
Ben Simmons has been one of the most talked about basketball players not to play a game last season.
To be fair, the Australian star has been treated unfairly, traded, and then expected to play a playoff game on a team fighting for survival without bouncing a ball in anger for the franchise.
So, the question is, has he done the right thing for his career with all the drama?
He most certainly has.
Let’s go back to where it all began, when the Philadelphia 76ers lost the second-round playoff series to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2020-21 season.
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Simmons was a key player in the series. His defence was huge, as was his playmaking and rebounding. Unfortunately for the 76ers, the Hawks took advantage of the injury to Joel Embiid and took the series in a very exciting seven games.
This would have been a case of reloading and starting again except for the comments made by team superstar Joel Embiid and head coach Doc Rivers. The Rivers one was unfortunate – he was asked if Simmons could lead this team to a championship, and the coach clearly displayed that he did not believe that the Australian could.
Embiid stated to the media that he had done everything that he could, and claimed that the reason the 76ers lost was their inability to make free throws, a clear dig at Simmons.
I was watching this series as I cover the Hawks on another site and the player who turned the ball over in the seventh game when the game was on the line was none other than Embiid.
Simmons said that he would never play for the team again. This is fair enough: if the people you go to war with every night that you play don’t have you back, then what is the point of being there? However, this is when Simmons made the only wrong choice of the entire 12 months when it comes to basketball.
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
He chose not to go to Tokyo with the Australian Boomers, choosing to work on his game and his mental health on his own. Had he gone into this supportive environment he may have had a better mental state to come back to the NBA.
Still, you have to do what you see to be right by you and I believe that Simmons thought he did just that.
He refused to take part in training camp, turning up unannounced to a session before not going hard enough for the 76ers’ liking.
The only reason he turned up was that the team was fining him for every day that he was not part of the team. Still, Simmons was clearly suffering from poor mental health caused by the way he was treated by the team.
He managed to prove that he was unable to play which meant that the pressure was off him. Team brass did not like it but they managed to get the best situation for both parties.
They traded Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets, along with Seth Curry, for James Harden. Unfortunately for the Nets and Simmons, he was not in a position to play.
Then, with the Nets’ season on the line, they wanted Simmons to be available for their do-or-die first-round game against the Boston Celtics. Fortunately, Simmons did not suit up as it could have been disastrous for his mental health if he was blamed for another team’s exit, particularly as it would not have been his fault again.
Now Simmons has a full off-season to get his body and his head right so that he can re-explode in the NBA next season. He deserves to be given a second chance away from the light of the 76ers.
He also has Kyrie Irving as part of the team, and he is a walking headline. This will take some of the heat off Simmons so that he can just focus on playing basketball at the highest level again.
So, has Simmons done the right thing by his career over the last year? Absolutely he has, now he just has to concentrate on learning a new system and being the best version of himself.
Look out for a revival year for his career in the upcoming season.
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