Ben Simmons tightens the rope: maximum pressure on the Sixers

The beginning of the training camp in the NBA and Ben Simmons’ situation with the Sixers is just as tangled as it was weeks ago … or even longer. The Australian does not want to play in Philadelphia another game and met with owner (Josh Harris), president (Daryl Morey) and coach (Doc Rivers) to personally communicate that he had no intention of attending preseason training. The Sixers know he wants a change of scene since he ended, in the worst way, last season. And they were counting on getting a good offer for him. This has not arrived, so now they try to appear normal so as not to be forced to make a sale under very unfavorable conditions.

To Simmons He has four years left on his contract (33, 35.4, 37.8 and 40.3 million) so the Sixers can afford to turn a deaf ear to player pressure. But at the same time they needed to maximize the years of Joel Embiid’s splendor, avoid falling into the hierarchies of the East and save, as far as possible, the farce that would be to start training camp without Simmons: fines, rumors, constant media focus, daily questions to Rivers and the players …

But if someone thought that the days without offers and without a transfer looking close would make both parties were forced to smooth things over, they were wrong. At least as far as Ben Simmons is concerned. The journalist from ESPN Brian windhorst has made it clear that nothing has changed and that he does not intend to report to work with the team. In fact, he assures that the Sixers have to be clear that they will not find collaboration on their part: “One of the messages he has sent to the Sixers is that his job is not to help improve their market value, that he does not have to dedicate himself to redirecting things or putting the Sixers in a better situation in the face of a negotiation. That is something that is not on the menu of the day for him. Has no interest in going back and reversing the situation”.

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Simmons is a three times all star that in 2020 he entered the Third Quintet of the season and in the last two seasons he has been in the Best Defensive Quintet. In the past he averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists. His shot has not improved at all, in fact it has been getting worse, but it is one of the NBA’s elite defenders and a player with a tremendous instinct to pass and a great ability to play in rapid transition. But all of that right now weighs less than those terrible scoring problems, his lack of shooting from middle (let’s not say long) distance, errors on free throws and the disconnect that all that produced in the last elimination in the playoffs, against the Hawks. Windhorst adds another piece of information that favors the player’s position in case the Sixers think of convincing him with fines: “Because of the way your contract is structured, you will receive half of your salary before October 1. Of the 33 million for next season, he will have 16.5 by that date. So he’ll have pocketed some hearty loot before the Sixers were able to take the first penny from him with a fine.”.

It’s all bad news for a Sixers who keep trying to get the most out of a player who is only 25 years old. But the market, for now, is not responding. Jon Krawczynski covers the Timberwolves, one of those who would a priori be interested in a possible transfer, and made it clear on his podcast that the requests of the Philadelphia team do not find an echo in the rest of the NBA: “The market for Ben Simmons right now is a lot. There are teams that have been interested, but it is certainly not the frenzy that Morey expected when it was known that he wanted to leave. No bid has been launched for it”.

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