As we had explained when seeing the pictures, Ben Simmons did not seem very involved during the exercises. This Tuesday, same behavior on his part, and according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Doc Rivers has completely excluded him from training! According to The Athletic, Simmons refused to participate in a defensive exercise. Rivers asked him several times, and as his player was not complying, he asked him to leave the room.
As a result of this incident, the Australian leader received a suspension match for his attitude harmful to the group, and he will not be dressed tomorrow night for the first match against the Pelicans. Another consequence, he will not address the press, as was initially planned.
Emblem: « Our job is not to play babysitters«
“I’m going to give Ben every chance to be part of the team, but as a coach, I must first protect the team” Rivers said. “Today I felt he was disturbing the group, and I asked him to leave. I had the feeling that he didn’t want to be like the others. My job is to get the players to buy into what I do. He will be welcome at the next training session. “
As for Joel Embiid, he simply said he didn’t care… ” I haven’t spoken to him, and at this point, I don’t care about him. He does what he wants… What interests me is that the team is improving. Our job is not to play babysitters. If anyone wants to listen to me, I can babysit, but that’s not my job. »
This is just one more episode in a soap opera that began several weeks ago, and once again, and despite the fine speeches of his coach and some teammates, we do not see how the two parties could be reconciled.
| Ben Simmons | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2017-18 | PHL | 81 | 34 | 54.5 | 0.0 | 56.0 | 1.8 | 6.4 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 15.8 |
| 2018-19 | PHL | 79 | 34 | 56.2 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 2.2 | 6.7 | 8.8 | 7.7 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 16.9 |
| 2019-20 | PHL | 57 | 35 | 58.0 | 28.6 | 62.1 | 2.0 | 5.8 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 0.6 | 16.4 |
| 2020-21 | PHL | 58 | 32 | 55.7 | 30.0 | 61.3 | 1.6 | 5.6 | 7.2 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 14.3 |
| Total | 275 | 34 | 56.0 | 14.7 | 59.7 | 1.9 | 6.2 | 8.1 | 7.7 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 0.7 | 15.9 | |
