Sixers and Ben Simmons-A marriage gone bad
Sixers and Ben Simmons-A marriage gone bad didn’t even think that this would be a issue back in 2016. This kid is going to be a great asset to the Sixers. Especially as the Sixers were just coming off the, “burn it down and build it back up ERA”, also known as, “trust the process”. I seen this guy do some amazing things in a course of a game. The season that really took rise to bringing the Sixers in the forefront of the Eastern conference was 2017 through 2018. This is where the Sixers ran a 16 game season ending winning streak. Midway through the streak, Embiid was out with injuries, but Mr. Simmons played on, especially highlighting a triple double game against the Lebron led Cavaliers, where Lebron scored 44, but Ben had a 27pt 15 assist, and 15 rebound night. Yes this is what showed me that, yes we had the tools to get the chip. You have to admit, you have a 6ft 11 inch guard, this is a very hot commodity to have and to hold in the NBA. You do everything you need to do to keep this guy. Sure, he wasn’t a good outside shooter, and yes his free throw percentage wasn’t the best; but you keep him, because he could pace the game. During this particular season, he had lights out shooters in Reddick, Belinelli, Covington and Ilaysova; bangers down low with Dario Saric, Richaun Holmes, and a hell of a back up with T. J. McConnell who by the way has become a valuable asset now with the Indiana Pacers. What was missing?
What was missing was the experience of a team being in the playoffs, from the players to the coaching of the team. This was the year that the Sixers had a 20+ point lead on the Celtics in the playoffs, and coughed it up with not taking timely time outs to stop Celtics onslaught of scoring during the Conference Semi’s. Moving on, the Sixers started to want more as they seen they were there, but they started to go down the wrong road again in trying to improve their situations. They gave up Covington, and Saric, to get a dog in the house; Jimmy Butler, and a finest player in Tobias Harris. Sure this looked pretty good on paper, and was doing well, except for that fortuitous bounce around the rim game winner by Leonard with the Raptors, that led to their elimination on the road to the Raptors. Boy this is nasty stuff, and the team went out again trying to improve their situation. Jimmy Butler had left, and we pick up Al Horford to compensate somewhat down low for all of the Embiid DNP’s. Again also trying to booster shooters again into the roster; all the time they were trying to compensate for Ben not getting up more shots to the basket and free throw shooting. The league is now starting to see the Achilles heal of the Sixers; Joel not playing all the time and Ben’s short comings. That next year of the 2019-2020 season, was a strange season, because of the Covid virus, the league shut down temporarily, and when the league came back up again during the summer, the Sixers were still fledging along, and got tossed out of the 1st round against the Celtics. We get to the 2020-2021 season, somewhat of “a hybrid”, season as the season starts around Christmas and Covid protocols are in place, so sometimes teams could barely field a team. The Sixers have a new coach in Glenn Rivers (Doc). They seemed to be playing better and they win the Eastern Conference, and get the home court seed through out. They meet up against a hot team in Atlanta, but odds are that they will finally advance to the Eastern Conference Finals this time. This particular year, they have more guard presence with the addition of Tyrese Maxie from Kentucky a rookie guard who shows no mercy going into the lane. The only problem with him, is that he is a rookie, and you know in the NBA, rookies will have some irritating short comings in the league, and that is natural, but this is a keeper. Shake Milton is available now another guard who likes to penetrate to the lane, but can take un timely shots sometime.
Sixers and Ben Simmons-A marriage gone bad
Ben is still struggling at the free throw line, but not as bad meaning he seems to be making the clutch free throws. I see this all from the confines of Southern California, and staying in touch with my family back home in Philly about the things you don’t know about through the media. During the summer you hear and see Ben shooting 3 pointers in the gym, and you hear that he is working on his free throws. Ben’s career FT percentage is about 60%. He hasn’t seen much improvement. He shot 62% the year prior, and about 61% for this past season. The issues that plague Ben is that he is not taking shots that he should be taking. He is only averaging about 12-13 attempts a game, but lets face it Magic Johnson was about the same, although his assist avg. was 11.2 per game, but Magic was hitting his free throws from day one at 81% his 1st season. Ben’s head isn’t in the game right now, and the Sixers could try to handle it with some kind of support. Well, we don’t see this, and if we did, I guess Ben would be playing right now. So what are we to expect in the future. The Sixers currently are not playing to their potential, considering that Embiid has been out for over 3 weeks(covid protocol), along with other key players not being available. It looks like the divorce needs to happen, but what teams are willing to give up assets for this possible head case? Ben needs to get back on the court with the Sixers, before anything could possibly happen with moving him. What do you think? I think he should get back out there and do what he is supposed to do and play ball, regardless of his fears, because if he doesn’t he will find himself out of the league. Sixers and Ben Simmons-A marriage gone bad.