The Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons has still not featured in a game this season. The Australian forward is out of the squad and seemingly waiting for a trade. This has been ongoing for half a year, and the whole drama is hard to follow sometimes. Right now, the situation is still tense and all signs point to the fact that Simmons will not feature this season, unless he is traded.
However, upon looking it all over, it is possible that this is the last we have seen Ben Simmons in the whole league. Here are two reasons why Ben Simmons will be out of the league in two years.
Ben Simmons out of the league
Attitude and disruptiveness
The main issue of Ben Simmons is nothing else than his attitude. We can speak about his basketball ability, but more on that later. In terms of attitude, there is no worse player in the league than the Australian. If the whole situation with the Sixers is considered, it is more and more evident that the blame is completely on Simmons. To provide proper context, the whole story needs to be understood.
It all really started with completely fair criticism that Ben Simmons got due to his poor play versus the Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semis. He famously decided against an easy lay-up in a pivotal game six, and that is where a complete breakdown happened. The Hawks went on to win both games six and seven, and the Sixers were out. After the elimination, both coach Doc Rivers and star Joel Embiid put a lot of doubt on whether Ben Simmons can really lead this team in the future.
After that, it all went downhill. Simmons asked for a trade, per HoopsHype. He also made it clear that he will not report for training camp, and while he did change his mind, his attitude was incredibly toxic, even to the point of being sent home by Rivers. This toxicity and general disruptiveness is the primary reason why Simmons, if he continues with this behavior, will be out of the league in two years.
Teams value stability more than anything at this point in time. Rarely do teams decide to go for some risky characters in their locker rooms, simply because a stable team means way too much for the success of the franchise. Even if a team trades for him, Simmons will remain the type of person that he is, and that is not something that a lot of teams can afford to accommodate. If he had a coach like a Gregg Popovich, who would be trusted to get these things out of his pattern of behavior, maybe there would be a chance. However, any other case is looking like Simmons just not being contained in the right way.
Inability and/or refusal to adapt
Speaking more about basketball skills, there are a ton of reasons why a team would want Simmons on their roster. He is a gifted passer, an amazing defender, and someone that can control the pace of the game. However, Simmons has a huge gap in his game, and while most would think it is his inability to shoot outside of the three-foot range, it is actually his refusal to adapt to certain situations.
Simmons can be the difference-maker in the defensive section of the court, that is without a doubt. He has shown he can lock down opponents, use his length and athleticism to slow down someone like LeBron James. The problem is that this strength, along with his passing and facilitating, does not outweigh the clear weaknesses. The shooting is not that big of an issue, as much as his refusal to do something about it. Now, he missed a third of the season, and even if he features for the Sixers or any other team, he will still need a ton of time to get into the game.
Another issue, besides the shooting, is that Simmons plays his game and he plays it regardless of who he is playing it with, or against. Coaches need adaptive players, who can scout the competition and attack their weaknesses. That is how teams routinely beat the Sixers in the playoffs, by targetting their weak links and exposing their deficiencies. Simmons has had five summers now, and limitless time before that, to work on becoming a more complete player. However, he simply did not.
It might be tough to say that Simmons will be out of the league. A more realistic outcome is that he will probably be a role player for some team, or if any of these things change, a possible star. However, the issue is that he does not show a will to really improve and work on his issues. Of course, for the first section, some blame falls on inappropriate comments made by Embiid and Rivers, which could have been said privately, but that is only a glimmer of the blame. Most of it falls on Simmons and in the case of the second reason, the full blame is on the Australian forward. If he does not improve in these two areas, Simmons might be facing a reality of exiting the league in a couple of seasons.
