In hindsight that looks BRUTAL.

LMAO I guess, but Harden is the biggest choker in the entire league. Combine that with his demeanor and Philadelphia would eventually run his ass out too.

it could have been huge because they wouldn't have to play embiid a million minutes. Dwight Howard is fine as a backup but Howard and Simmons together is a black hole for the offense.

I’d venture 100% (of rational) a Philly fans would rather have that than this.

Didn't the Simmons/Harden deal fall though because of Houston? Philly thought they had a deal but Houston was just using them to get the best offer out of Brooklyn, and never had any intention of trading him to Philly because they were butthurt about Morey.

Ok you lot have talked enough about my team..let me give you the real story about Simmons. Firstly there is no doubting his talent..great defendee, gets rebounds, incredible in transition and is an assist machine etc etc. However the writing was on the wall from his rookie season..if you watch him play you quickly notice he does most things RIGHT handed except when he shoots..he shoots left handed but passes, dribbles, dunks, blocks mainly with his right hand...so from the start that was a weird thing to see and when asked about it he admitted he is right handed but his dad encouraged him to shoot lefty (why the hell he did that is anyones guess considering the man was a pro).

Anyway his rookie year was impressive obviously and he'd actually take midrange lefty jumpers and make them...he was around 60% with his free throws aswell so we figured he would improve on that as he develops. We won our last 13 regular season games without Embiid and Ben really flourished at that time but still never took three pointers...that was fine as long as he took those mudrange jumpers and made his three throws though. We got to the playoffs..beat Miami 4-1 and then met the enamy that are the Celtics...they had a young squad at the time and big free agent signings Kyrie and Gordon were out...however Boston conpletely exposed Ben by sagging off and daring him to shoot..he refused to and in one game got ONE single point. We lost that series 4-1 and afterwards Ben promised he would work on his shooting and improve etc.

That offseason videos emerged online showing Ben in the gym sinking jumpers left, right and center..the whole fambase is excited because we know how great he could be with a consistent jumper..however preseason games came and there wasn't any jumpers. But in the vert last game before the season started he finally tried a three and made one..again we were all hyped. The season started and game after game went by with him not even taking midrange junpers anymore let alone a three. Our coach Brett Brown and GM Elton Brand knew we wasn't going to win whilst Ben was having these issues so they bit the bullet and traded for Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler. With them two 20 ppg guys on board we had a great starting five and Ben could blend into the background whilst Tobi, Jimmy, Joel and JJ did most of the heavy scoring. And also Ben was 16 ppg and 7 assist pg so he was contributing but his shooting just became non existent.

We went into the playoffs with confidence because our starting five was legit..but once again teams used the Celtics strategy of sagging off and daring him to shoot..so Brett Brown decided to take Ben off the ball and let Butler handle it..Ben didn't like it because he was just put in the dunker spot and didn't contribute much on offense. That playoff run ended in heartbreak as Kawhi beat us with a last season buzzer beater to win the Rapters the series 4-3.

Once again Ben promised he'd improve his shooting and we saw more videos of him sinking jumpers in the gym..but that year things had changed. Jimmy and JJ left so the ball was going to be In Ben's hands again and with our best shooter gone we needed more from him. The regular season started and he was trying fade away jumpers here and there from midrange and his free throw percentage had improved too. Then low and behold he started to take threes and made a few...Brett Brown said publucally that he wanted Ben to take one or two a game..but did Ben listen? No..he never took another three again after those comments. It was as if he proved he could make one and then shut it down.

The virus then hit the world and the nba obviously closed down..but when the our guys returned reports came out that Ben would be switching to a point forward role and Shake Milton, our backup PG, would be handling the ball more. They went with that plan in the bubble but Ben was still his same self not shooting. Then he got injured and that was his year and our playoff run done as the Celtics swept us in the first round.

Ben for the millionth time promised to improve his shooting and this time he had a new shooting coach who would post videos of Ben shooting...and hype up us fans with comments. But then Doc Rivers got hired as coach and he insisted that he's not gonna pressure Ben to shoot..we get into the season and before every game since his rookie year we'd see Ben taking threes in warm-up but never do it in a game..all of this stuff was getting old now. In the regular season he's do the same thing..make a three then never try one again for the next two months..and midrange stuff was off the table.

We got to the playoffs and Washington..noticing how bad his free throw percentage had become that year..decided to do "hack a Ben" and kept putting him on the line..his confidence slowly started to crumble to the point where he was hiding from the ball late in games. We won that series 4-1 but when asked about Ben Doc was defending him against all comers..fans, media etc

We finally get into the Atlanta series and yall saw what happened..he wasn't scoring points and he couldn't make a free throw...Doc had to take him off the floor late because he was so bad at the line..and that contributed to us giving away big leads over and over..him refusing an open dunk out of fear of being fouled was the last straw.

So NO!!..this is not about anyone throwing Ben under the bus..it's about him shooting with the wrong hand which makes him umcomfortable shooting and it's effected him mentally...that's the reality imo. There were reports out after we lost to Atlanta that he was considering changing his shooting hand but he's still too stubburn to do it so good riddings..I'm over it..let's get the best deal we can and give Joel the team he deserves FFS.

Most of that shit everyone already knows, dude. Those videos of Simmons practicing his shitty jumpsuit in podunk gyms are memes at this point.

Bottom line is yes, Doc Rivers absolutely did throw Simmons under the bus after game 7, deservedly so, but after you make those types of comments it's time to move on. Morey ****ed himself by not taking the best deal available when it's been apparent this relationship is shattered beyond repair.

They're desperately trying damage control now to salvage what they can with Rivers going on a media blitz trying to blame the media for misconstruing what he said. I guess at this point you may as well try every avenue possible but you're still most likely selling a toxic asset for pennies on the dollar unless some other organization royally ****s up too.

76ers ALMOST had it, though. Stay pat for Tatum instead of trading up for Fultz in 2017 and they're pretty damn close to being a home grown perennial dynasty.

The reason why we went for Fultz is because they knew Ben couldn't shoot..but surprise surprise we took him and he couldn't shoot either ROFL ..Boston were never gonna give us the number one pick if we intended to take Tatum imo. Anyway we may have struck gold with Tyrese Maxey who we got with the pick from when we traded Fultz to the Magic so we'll see.

Not really their fault either. Never has been confirmed but it seems pretty obvious his nerve issues that ****ed up his shooting so bad came from a motorcycle accident he didn't disclose.

The main rumor is Tillman put an end to it out of spite because of Morey.

Sounds like things are going lovely for the Pelicans and Zion so far.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This was posted on tiger droppings anonymously by someone and let&#39;s just say I can&#39;t refute any of it <a href="https://t.co/NfwMrpzjJ8">pic.twitter.com/NfwMrpzjJ8</a></p>&mdash; Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) <a href="https://twitter.com/FearTheBrown/status/1440731935442030599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Love Maxey, but Tatum was the pick at 1. Once the trade was made, it didn't really matter who they "intended" to take.

Embiid finally letting some truth out about how he really feels


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Embiid on Ben, partial: &quot;Our teams have always been built around his needs. So it&#39;s just kind of surprising to see. Even going back to, the reason we signed Al, we got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake, just to make sure he needed the ball in his hands.&quot;</p>&mdash; Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) <a href="https://twitter.com/KyleNeubeck/status/1443635495012114440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAjbnv6W...png&name=large

I just can't imagine they're going to get much in trade. He's a defensive 4 who can handle, pass, and guard multiple positions. That's worth something, but I don't know how much you get when the other team has to take on that contract as well.

I have one that makes all the sense in the world, but won’t happen. Kyrie. He said he’ll retire if traded, but as it stands now he won’t be able to play in home games. Don’t know if it makes the nets better, but that makes for a long, versatile defense. And they don’t need the shooting. Philly obviously improves, you just can’t count on the guy

Edit: after a quick search, I see this isn’t quite an original idea. And KD nixed a potential trade. Guess I’m out of the loop haha

LMAO Simmons saga is amazing.

What now? I've paid no attention.

And I agree. Even now I don't know how the hell this happened.

LOVE the depth of the Hawks roster. They should be really good this season.

Just so predictable. What leverage did Morey think he was possibly going to have in this situation? Should have traded him months ago.

Rivers threw him out of practice because he wouldn't enter the drills and just generally didn't give a shit. Simmons is going the James Harden route now of showing up and doing the bare minimum to force a trade.

I can't wait to see fat Simmons ROFL

76ers point guard Ben Simmons received a one-game suspension for "conduct detrimental to the team," Philadelphia announced, and will miss the season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Simmons was kicked out of practice Tuesday due to a lack of engagement, sources told The Athletic.

"I didn't think he wanted to do what everyone else was doing," coach Doc Rivers told reporters after the team announced Simmons' suspension.

Sources tell The Athletic that Rivers asked Simmons to join a defensive drill at practice and the point guard refused. Rivers asked again and Simmons said no again. Rivers then told Simmons he should go home, and the 25-year-old dropped the ball and left, according to sources.

"I'm not here to babysit," center Joel Embiid said when asked if he's considered trying to get Simmons to buy back into the team.

Added Embiid: "At this point, I don't care about that man, honestly. He does whatever he wants. That's not my job. ... I'm only focused on trying to make the team better, win some games, play hard every night and try to lead the guys that we have here."

LMAO

Sounds like a bit of a spin on the Jimmy Butler method.

In Simmons’ first meeting with team personnel last week, a meeting that included Rivers, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and general manager Elton Brand, sources said Simmons reiterated that he was not mentally ready to rejoin the team after the past several months.

The 76ers are not trying to move Simmons and have made clear that they will not deal him at this time, according to sources. The franchise wants Simmons to show up to practices and games, to be engaged and to perform to his capabilities. Simmons is not against playing, but he is not mentally ready yet, sources insist.

Victor may not be a bust but no way he ever lives up to hype. Chet and Zion were much better prospects IMO

Lebron cursed all these future prospects. What Lebron was able to do by living up to the enormous hype he brought with him to the league directly from high school won’t ever be done again. We continue to hype up all of these players as the “next Lebron” and the more and more they fail the more impressive Lebron’s legacy becomes. It’s pretty incredible that he was able to shoulder all of those expectations and live up to all the hype.

KCC hack this dudes account?

If Zion stayed healthy he would have lived up to it..IF

If only there were things Zion could have done to keep his body in shape. Like working out and avoiding buffets.

The fact that Zion is the first person who comes to your mind who even came CLOSE to living up to the hype and he’s obviously already a flop 5 years into his career says so much about how hard it is to live up to the hype. You can’t argue that Lebron didn’t. It’s incredible that he was able to have the career he did after all the ESPN hype following him around when he was in high school.

What is Wemby is just Bol Bol? Bol Bol was a 5-star. KU didnt even recruit him and hes from Olathe. But then he goes to Oregon and avg 21.6 ppg, 56% FG, 52% 3FG. I know it was like 8 games but everyone was just like...sucks. Cool affluent french guy with a fun name bias?

Maybe give the guy more than a single summer league game?

And it's not like he didn't flash.

Cason Wallace is so good. Chet is a monster as well, of course. Who was the clown on here who didn’t like the Wallace pick?

The foot speed just isn't there. He will br a solid player but never a superstar.

I don't hate Cason Wallace. I think he is a good player and an elite defender. I just think that OKC is in a position to win now and he is kind of a redundant player. Lou Dort is locked up until 2027. Isaiah Joe also on a 3-year deal and now they signed Micic to a 3-year deal. 4/5 of the starting line up is locked in as Giddey, SGA, J Dub, and Chet.

I was hoping for a shooter or a defensive big with some muscle. However, very impressed with his shooting performance today. If he can be a lethal 3-point shooter that would be amazing. John Calipari really makes his college guards look bad sometimes. It is just one game though, but I expect him to be a quality NBA player. Hopefully a Jrue Holliday type.

Wemby sure did look a lot better in his second game:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2-jw...ature=youtu.be

...and just like that Pops signs a 5 yr extension...

If I were him I would as well. This kid is the real deal.

Maybe judging someone on one bad SL game (which is terrible basketball full of guys just selfishly jacking up terrible shots to try to get a look in the league) wasn't the best idea.