The Sixers looked good last night. Like a team that couldn’t careless that Ben wasn’t there. Actually the vibes were off the charts from warm up through the entire beat down they handed out to Detroit. But today we are basically tossed right back into the Ben Simmons drama. Will he show up? Will he talk? When will he be traded? What happens from here?
On Monday’s Mike Missanelli show (yes I know but hear me out) Mike gave a break down of what the CBA says will happen if Ben keeps up this non-sense.
So basically what we’re heading for is a situation where either Ben doesn’t show up and gets fined or he does and the Sixers remove him from practice again. In no way do I see a scenario that he shows up to practice and actually is engaged. It’s just not going to happen, the relationship is way too far gone at this point. So let’s say Ben shows up to practice and again isn’t engaging and Doc removes him. The NBA at that time would step in and take over the process of suspensions/penalties. That isn’t good for Ben. The NBA isn’t going to keep playing cat and mouse every day, suspending him one game here and seeing if he’ll show the next day. They are going to hand down a suspension of minimum 5 games in my opinion. And if he continues his behavior, they’ll probably make the next one 10 or 15 games and so on and so on.
Meaning, ask Mike said, his money is going to keep disappearing. At that point, if the Sixers can’t find a deal that makes sense, Ben will have to make a tough decision. Fall in line or don’t get paid. And understand something too, the Sixers in no way, shape or form have to deal Ben. Especially for next to nothing. The NBA can’t force a deal and the Ben supporters saying just get him out of town need to take a step back and look at this through the eyes of the organization. Ben Simmons has done this team no favors during this entire ordeal and to be frank, he is the only reason all this is happening. He cost Philadelphia a chance to make a run at the title last season because of his poor play and STILL the city, fans and team embraced him. So why in the world would they take a lose on him just to make him happy.
This is some amazing NBA drama and my only wish was that it was happening to any other team.