The Ben Simmons Conundrum

A polarising player on and off the court, is he still as relevant as the noise would make you believe?

Six-foot-10 point forward.

3x All-Star.

2x All-Defensive Team member.

1x All-NBA.

13th in NBA history in triple doubles (32-tied with Rajon Rondo).

If you glanced at that resume in a vacuum, that’s a very good NBA career, let alone one of a 26 year old who has only played four seasons of professional basketball.

That’s the resume of (you may have guessed by the title) Ben Simmons, one of the most polarising and critiqued professional basketball players, nay, professional athletes, of his generation.

Hyperbole? Perhaps, but vanilla leadoffs are boring.

So why do so many people make it their business to be involved in Simmons’ business?

I’m not a blind homer. I’m not going to sit here and mindlessly defend Simmons purely because he’s an Australian in the NBA, because I want him to play for the Boomers one day, and because I don’t really care for the Philadelphia 76ers organisation.

Those things may be true, but that’s not why I’m monologuing today.

Simmons’ exit from Philadelphia was acrimonious, hostile, and largely self-inflicted. Let’s not lose sight of that. After that fateful playoff series against Atlanta, including “that passed up dunk”, Simmons became, effectively, a recluse, although to be fair he wasn’t much of an extroverted personality in the media and public life to begin with.

What followed over the coming months was the sort of public image suicide that would have any self-respecting PR professional suffering endless sleepless nights, what with the broken promises to Basketball Australia and the ghosting of all contact attempts by Sixers brass, not to mention lobbing up to Wimbledon a week after decommitting from the Tokyo Olympics.

A true disasterclass in image reparation.

I get why Sixers fans hate Simmons.

I get why Australian basketball fans hate Simmons.

Well, that’s half true.

I get why Sixers fans HATED Simmons.

I get why Australian basketball fans HATED Simmons.

I don’t get why they still do, and here’s why.

Let’s start with the Philadelphia angle of this entire shemozzle, shall we? Even before that dump off to Matisse Thybulle the winds of change were swirling. This was a team with problems well rooted long before Simmons decided to not posterise Trae Young.

Simmons and star center Joel Embiid didn’t get along, at least on the court. That much has been obvious pretty much since the day Simmons made his NBA debut in 2017.

Joel Embiid is a traditional low post center with the ability to stretch the floor. While he is more than capable in pick and pop action flaring out to the three point line, as well as a traditional pick and roll, Embiid does his best work on the low or high post in isolation situations.

Last season, according to NBA.com, 15.9% of Embiid’s possessions were in isolation situations, 14th in the league for players who appeared in at least 40 games, and first among centers. The next highest center? Karl-Anthony Towns at 12.5%, 29th in the league. Embiid’s isolation rate was a hair below Trae Young, and just above…LeBron James.

As a pick and roll roll man though? 16.6% frequency, which ranks…outside the top 50. NBA.com only shows the top 50 rows but Christian Wood is 50th at 16.9% so Embiid is just outside there somewhere. A truly minute roll man rate for a starting center.

And that’s fine given Embiid’s skillset. This isn’t to highlight a deficiency in his game, rather a quirk that makes him so much harder to guard and unique to the modern day center.

But it didn’t fit with Simmons.

Simmons’ play frequency as the PNR ball handler in 2020-21 (his last season) was only 16.9%, again outside the top 50 so not a great volume, but it’s a volume that has diminished since his early days in the league as Embiid’s star burgeoned and the questions got louder.

Can Simmons and Embiid play together?

Will the Sixers front office pick one or the other?

As it turns out, the answers to those questions were “no” and “the choice was made for them.”

I don’t think there was seriously a conversation between trading Simmons OR trading Embiid. Embiid has been the face of the rebuild in Philadelphia since the day he walked in the door in 2014, even earning the moniker “The Process” in the…well, in the process. He’s an exuberant and brash personality, something the overtly passionate sports town of Philadelphia has rallied behind.

Simmons was the opposite of all that as a reserved, private individual, preferring to spend his time on Call of Duty rather than on Instagram. As Embiid’s star brightened, Simmons’ diminished. The Hawks series was the culmination of years of tension, not the catalyst to the downfall.

During Simmons’ holdout, there was worry the Sixers would have to trade him for cents on the dollar. It’s fair to say landing James Harden was probably not on the obvious radar given Simmons’ rapidly dwindling trade value, but Harden’s situation in Brooklyn wasn’t exactly rosy either and thus a deal was made.

Harden slots into Philadelphia’s isolation-heavy offense seamlessly, the Sixers fans lose a perceived malcontent, and everyone can move on.

As for fans of the Australian Boomers?

Well, to me, my confusion at the continued hatred towards Simmons has two key reasons.

Firstly, everyone connected to Basketball Australia has publicly given nothing but support, understanding and praise towards Simmons over the last year or so, stretching back to his rejection of the national team.

If Patty Mills says Simmons has his support, then that’s good enough for me. I thought Mills’ word was sacred to the Australian basketball community. I guess that’s purely pick and choose.

Ok, in all seriousness, the main reason I think Australian fans need to let it go is Australian basketball has since moved past the need to rely on Ben Simmons.

Cast your minds back a few years to when Simmons was entering the league as a fresh faced jumbo point guard out of Melbourne, via Montverde Academy and Louisiana State University. He was billed as the jewel in Australian basketball’s crown, the star piece to drive the program forward.

As it transpires, Simmons hasn’t played for the national team since the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship as a 17 year old. He has countlessly signalled his intentions to represent the program at major tournaments since, only to pull out over and over again.

The Australian national team has suffered as a result of all this posturing and-wait I’m being handed a note.

As it turns out, the national team has done the opposite of falter. It has thrived, prospered, and developed other star talents along the way.

The worry was Simmons would be needed to usher in a new era as the likes of Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes all rode off into the twilight, except the Australian production line of young talent is the strongest it’s ever been, sans Simmons.

Names like Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Jock Landale, Josh Green and Matisse Thybulle are all strong contributors for their regular NBA teams, while Dante Exum is an NBA-level talent thriving for Partizan in the Euroleague.

Closer to home, you have local stars like Xavier Cooks, Keanu Pinder, Mitch McCarron and Luke Travers dominating in the NBL, which has gone from strength to strength, whilst names like Tyrese Proctor and the Armstrong brothers are making names for themselves in college basketball.

The Australian Boomers with their mix of golden generation veterans and their new wave of elite talent willed their way to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and that wasn’t even with the likes of Giddey or Daniels on the roster, let alone Ben Simmons.

Australian basketball is the strongest it’s ever been , until next year when it’ll be stronger again as the young prospects keep coming through.

The Australian basketball pipeline is self-sustaining and profitable, all without Ben Simmons. Australian basketball doesn’t need Simmons to be good, which was once the fear.

This past offseason and preseason has only magnified to me the microscope under which Simmons is dissected.

His infamous airball on camera at Practice in the Park. Funny, yes. I won’t lie and say I didn’t chuckle and roll my eyes, but it also made me consider how many players would have that same scrutiny for a seemingly innocent, throwaway moment.

Fouling out in a preseason game? Well the reactions coming out of that would have you think he’d just passed up an open dunk in the playoffs…I’ve said too much.

Preseason games don’t mean nothing entirely, but they mean very close to nothing, and I can guarantee you fouling out in 12 minutes registered absolutely nothing to the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Preseason games aren’t empty calories. But they’re low-fat basketball, a guilt-free snack while you wait for the real thing.

I bet you didn’t know Jayson Tatum shot 20% from three this preseason on over 8 attempts a game.

I bet you didn’t know Cade Cunningham averaged 10 points a game this preseason while shooting 31% from the field and 22% from three while the Pistons went 0-4.

I bet you didn’t know Steph Curry only shot 24% from three this preseason on over 7 attempts a game.

But I bet you would explain away these statistical anomalies, these regressions, as preseason rust, and that when the real ball begins, those numbers will positively regress to the mean.

So why does one certain player fouling out in limited preseason minutes suddenly matter?

The Philadelphia 76ers are a more balanced, competitive team without Ben Simmons anymore.

The Australian Boomers have moved past the need to beg and plead for Simmons to maybe please come play for them.

It’s time to let it go.