Four years of interviews with team and league sources indicate he’s telling the truth. Rather, several seasons of displeasure led to their trade-deadline divorce Feb 10. Simmons claimed last week, when he landed in Brooklyn, that it was more than just last year’s postseason drama that soured him on the Sixers. Now, he’s gone, replaced by James Harden. He skipped the first 54 games, unexcused absences that accrued almost $21 million in fines, citing undisclosed, unverified mental issues. Finally, after a playoff meltdown last June, Simmons decided he no longer could survive in Philadelphia. Simmons expected to be the focal point of The Process, but as the franchise shifted ever more toward Joel Embiid, he felt marginalized. Over the past four years, with greater surety over the past week, several league sources have painted a picture of a paranoid, jealous, entitled young man: frustrated at his own shortcomings, angry that his limited style of play drew criticism, and so stubborn that his refusal to accept coaching led to debilitating anxieties entirely of his own making. That’s why Ben Simmons quit on the 76ers.Īs he testified last week, Simmons left Philadelphia after years of perceived betrayal. “A lot of things, internally, that had happened over time.” “It just piled up, a bunch of things that have gone on over the years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |