The Philadelphia 76ers are in a tough situation when it comes to their disgruntled star, Ben Simmons. The 25-year-old had been in a holdout as he looked to force a trade, but considering he has four years left on his deal, the Sixers want him with the team.
He rejoined the team fully on Sunday and had been practicing for three days, but frustrations boiled over when he refused to participate in a defensive drill on Tuesday. Coach Doc Rivers then told him to leave practice and go home, which then led to him being suspended for Wednesday’s season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans on the road.
Sixers legend Charles Barkley gave his take on the situation. He blamed both Simmons and the franchise for what has transpired:
It’s a joke. It’s stupid and silly. First of all, it’s everybody’s fault. Ben Simmons deserves No. 1 to blame because when people ask you to be a better basketball player, and they’re paying you $35-40 million, that’s a very fair thing. The Sixers deserve some blame because they already let this guy not improve and get one coach fired. So these are some blame for that. They threw (Brett) Brown under the bus, and the third thing is Doc Rivers, last year we had him, ‘Oh, you guys want me to take Ben Simmons out the game?’ Yeah we do. If he just gonna stand around and not shoot the basketball, yes we do. So there’s plenty of blame to go around, but the No. 1 blame goes with Ben Simmons. Kenny, Shaq, your coach, your mom and dad, you should want to be a better basketball player, because that’s your profession, that’s your job, your coach is important. Your mom and dad’s important, but I wanted to be a great basketball player for myself first and foremost.
The Sixers have definitely enabled Simmons. They downplayed, at least publicly, his lack of a jump shot. They should have been on him more about making improvements in his offensive game to develop as a player, which would have allowed the Sixers to advance as a team.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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