Ahead of the new NBA season, there is a lot of negativity around the Philadelphia 76ers, something which is not ideal for them. The rumours surrounding Ben Simmons’ future and his reluctance to stay in Philly this season has been grabbing all the headlines. Off late it has been a trend for out of favour players to push out moves from their franchises. We saw the same thing with James Harden doing something similar from the Houston Rockets and now we are seeing Ben Simmons.
The Australian point guard was not up to the mark in the playoffs series against Atlanta Hawks. Hence he received a lot of backlash from the Sixers fans. Some people went very personal as they made him the scapegoat after they were knocked out by the Hawks. Keeping all the rumours and controversies aside, Simmons was not upto the mark against the Hawks hence teams are reluctant to take a gamble on him. The Sixers front office have also not made life easy for the Australian as they have demanded for crazy trade deals. Golden State Warriors were genuinely interested in him but Sixers’ over ambitious demands meant that Simmons was not joining GSW.
Some people still think that the franchise and the player can solve the difference between them and use this season as redemption for the last one. However when a player is reluctant to return to training camp and is not wholeheartedly invested in the team, one can judge the depth of the situation.
While Ben Simmons is not the sole person to be blamed. He has gone through a lot in the last few months ever since his disappointing performance against the Hawks. He was brutally trolled by fans and even chief coach Doc Rivers and star player Joel Embiid have also made statements against the young Aussie. While everyone expects to see a decision soon, Danny Green provides an update on the whole situation.
Rivers earlier confirmed that they are trying to convince Simmons to stay for the upcoming. Although the outcome can be very different, Danny Green also feels that it is worth a shot. The Lakers man feels that a heart to heart conversation with the point guard should be good enough to change his mind.
“This has nothing to do with the organization, ” Danny Green explained. “This has to do with us. We just want to meet with him on a personal level, on a human being, friend level. If he still considers us friends, we don’t know if that’s the case yet or not.”
“I know he still communicates with some of the guys,” Green added. “I haven’t been in communication with him. But I would love to meet with him and sit down and talk just to see where his head was at. Let him know that we have his back and we want him back and just give him some friendly advice. Just first and foremost as a human being, as a professional,” Green added.
It will be interesting to see if his Sixers’ teammates, including Danny Green, manage to convince him or not.
