question if you were an nba gm and your team made the playoffs what would you do if once you got there your young three-time all-star put up 11 points per game on a measly 4.5 shots shot a historically bad free throw percentage refused to shoot a three despite being a guard and was virtually unplayable in the closing moments of those big playoff games well if you were the 76ers ownership you'd hand this player a 177 million dollar contract making him the ninth highest paid player in the entire league that player being ben simmons now i'd
be lying if i said that ben simmons was the only overpaid player in the nba but ben simmons is a special case because not only has he underperformed in big moments he doesn't even care earlier this week ben simmons showed up to a 76ers practice in sweats going half speed with what appeared to be a phone in his pocket and everything other than playing basketball with the sixers on his mind this brings forcing your way out to a whole new level and the sixers suspended simmons for one game because of this which if i had
to make a guess i would say he couldn't care less about since ben chose to sit out their following game simmons went out of philadelphia by any means necessary but he isn't the first player to want out of a team back in 2018 kawhi leonard forced his way out of san antonio by just not playing suiting up for only nine of the team's 87 games that season in 2019 anthony davis forced his way out of new orleans by um just not playing last season james harden forced his way out of houston now he didn't sit
on the bench like kawaii and a.d he just played so bad that he probably should have been on the bench i mean you want to take a guess at the exact moment hardin stopped giving a damn are ben simmons actions in hopes of landing on a new team the most desperate and blatantly disrespectful we've ever seen well it's debatable a few seasons ago jimmy butler wanted out of minnesota but butler didn't get kicked out of practice for not wanting to participate he did the opposite the man whooped up on the timberwolves starters with a bunch
of third stringers while yelling you need me you can't win without me possibly the most jimmy butler thing i've ever heard back in 1997 robert dory forced his way to a trade by throwing a used towel onto his head coach's face in the middle of a game this really happened and robert was in a lakers uniform within a week but over the last few seasons the star player doing whatever it takes to get out of an organization has been trending upwards player empowerment is a good thing players should have the autonomy to dictate their future
but this is something completely different because simmons isn't kawaii leonard or james harden or anthony davis he isn't a generational talent and his organization didn't betray him in fact you could argue the exact opposite the 76ers have spent the last four seasons building a roster suited specifically for ben's exceptional but very limited skill set ben argues that with the right pieces around him he could reach his full potential right what happens when you can't shoot and everyone knows it that question is quite literal but let me broaden the question what happens when you think you're
a superstar but everyone else knows you're not now before we answer that i want to give a big shout out to today's sponsor seed geek with live events making a comeback and a new nba season upon us see geek is here to get us back in the action check this out just download the seatgeek app and use promo code jimmy to get 20 off your first order c geek makes buying tickets easier than ever with a rating system that lets you know which tickets are a good deal and which tickets are a bad deal if
it's green that's a banger you're getting a good deal there red not so much i've been using sea geek for years it's simple it's easy and it's a surefire way to get the best deal for your tickets whether it's a concert basketball game football baseball festival sea geek's got it all download the app use promo code jimmy and get 20 off your first order today the age-old case of a good player who thinks he's a superstar i'm not sure if this has ever gone well for anyone ever here's an interesting chart displaying the continuity of
every roster in the nba from season to season in other words this chart tracks how much each nba team changes its roster every season and with one of the most turbulent rosters in the entire nba is the 76ers making adjustments to their team more than nearly every other organization in the league a lot of these changes specifically made in order for ben simmons to succeed potentially leading to success for the 76ers and this plan was going relatively well until last season's playoffs simmons misses the first first time in his career he's decided well it was
on this floor in game one remember simmons misses the first ben simmons and he misses again he's missed five consecutive free throws now [Applause] simmons possession with shots and possession doc you think ben simmons can still be a point guard for a championship team like the one you guys want to become yeah david i don't know that question or the answer to that right now um must i remind y'all this man is one of the highest paid players in the nba and despite the organization standing steady beside him this guy is demanding a trade and
as selfish and unaware as ben is being to his teammates and coaches his actions could potentially hurt the entire league as a whole at this point it only seems like a matter of time before simmons finds himself shooting up with a different team which would mean that for no justifiable reason completely unwarranted a player can just decide one day he doesn't want to be on a certain team anymore and that team is held hostage with money tied up in that player in a roster situation that they are now forced to scramble and patch together this
goes beyond player empowerment resembling something more like player dictatorship conor bergen a writer for sb nation discussed potential changes to how the nba structures player contracts due to these forced demands in the modern era of player empowerment and freedom of movement franchise executives argue they need more protection from trade requests and player non-compliance team officials have recently discussed the possibility of introducing monetary repercussions for players who ask out there's got to be some kind of penalty or fine these guys sign the super max and they want to get traded the next day some gm's have
suggested a penalty totaling up to 70 percent of a player's salary which most gm's think would be a big enough fine to incentivize these players to stay put but even a massive penalty like that wouldn't change anything at all what happens when a player doesn't explicitly say he wants out but instead just plays like trash the team would have no choice but to trade that player and since he didn't demand a trade he wouldn't be penalized after decades of ownership having all the leverage in these situations players were given more power and this is what
happens when a player decides to abuse that power but just imagine if a league was able to put together a plan that would prevent star players from leaving their teams prematurely this would mean far less movement in the nba more parody less teaming up of ultra elite players and super teams this could potentially create a league like we saw in the 90s and early 2000s where every team had its star player and that star player stuck with the team through thick and thin a far-fetched but hopeful proposition but the irony in this whole ben simmons
situation is that there are players in the league that could justifiably pull a stunt like this but they don't damien lillard has given his blood sweat and tears to the portland trailblazers for the last 9 seasons and despite the franchise doing little to accommodate his greatness he remains loyal to the team a washington post article written by jerry brewer pretty much summarizes simmons antics star movement has filled a vacuum created by lack of parody it has caused personal acquisition to become as popular as the regular season and playoffs right now it seems to be a
vicious cycle of instability led by players who have assumed power without really knowing what they want on the whims of entitled 20-somethings who would rather escape the grind or who would rather go to the next shiny market than co-exist with another star every prominent player is in pursuit of a move that supposedly will change the landscape of the league and possibly the worst part simmons isn't even a superstar sure he's a good player but when the going gets tough how many people want simmons dictating the success of their team down the stretch and brewer's comments
on escaping the grind really hits the nail on the head with ben simmons this man has had no progression in four nba seasons he hasn't expanded his game he hasn't developed even a sign of a jump shot i'm not in the gym putting up shots with the man but it wouldn't be a stretch to say that ben has avoided the grind he's content with being the player that he is while deflecting his faults and shortcomings on a team that has done everything to help him think about it everything that makes ben simmons a great player
it's all god given his vision his iq his passing his size manz is getting paid 33 million dollars a year for being 610 and this is coming from someone who has been on the ben simmons bandwagon since he was a senior in high school must we not forget that kobe wanted out of la back in 2007. he wasn't happy management was at an all-time low and the lakers were doing little to meet kobe's needs so what does he do about it the man turned around and won back-to-back championships back in 1998 the chicago bulls front
office did just about everything in their power to disrespect michael jordan and even mj didn't make unrealistic demands with the organization the man just retired at the end of the day i don't see this situation going in ben's favor either ben stays on a team where trust has been completely broken or the sixers trade him to a team that can take on his massive contract and he can hit the reset button new city same old jump shot or lack thereof new team same sense of entitlement this is what happens when you can't shoot and everyone
knows it hope you all enjoyed and as always until next time
