It had been previously reported that Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons wouldn't be suiting up for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, and that was made official on Monday. The Sixers youngster told Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian that he would be skipping the Olympics in order to work on “individual skill development,” according to Basketball Australia.
Boomers teammate and San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills reacted to Simmons' decision by fully backing him up:
“As a teammate, as a fan and as a supporter, we all want to see our best players putting on the green and gold and for me in particular, having that thought even to be able to share the court with Benny at some stage in the green and gold, is something I am always going to look forward to and unfortunately now is not going to be the time, and that is ok.” said Mills.
Patty Mills had much more to say about Ben Simmons:
“This place right here, and the program we have developed, and how strong our culture is, this is one place for him that is always going to be here with open arms because we are mates. We are team-mates, we are a brotherhood and to be able to represent the green and gold, that is the culture that we have.”
“The number one fact and characteristic of our group is how we support each other through the good, bad and ugly, whatever it may be, and Ben isn’t an exception to that. No matter what he does, myself and the team will continue to support him because this is a safe place – everyone needs to know and understand that now more than ever, we need to support Ben on his journey.”
These are classy comments from Patty Mills as Australia gets ready for the upcoming Olympics. Mills has starred for the Boomers for a long time and is surely disappointed that Ben Simmons won't be playing, but he understands the Sixers star is going through some rough times and could use the support.
Simmons struggled in the playoffs and took a lot of heat for it. There has already been plenty of trade speculation after the Sixers' disappointing second-round series loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Instead of participating in the Olympics, the 24-year-old is going to put in work on his game so he doesn't repeat the debacle that just happened.
Ben Simmons needs to be better at free throws and not be afraid of shooting the ball in crunch time. Even if he never develops a 3-point shot, he can become a more dangerous offensive player by improving from the foul line and becoming more willing to shoot from outside the restricted area.
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