Latest / The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊 / The comeback of #BenSimmons. Is his story not over yet?

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The comeback of #BenSimmons. Is his story not over yet? · The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊

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  In life, everybody loves a good with dumps story.
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  Everyone wants to see the person who was once written off and
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  drawn to the side find a way to redeem themselves and
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  essentially have like a second chance at life.
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  But many have ultimately tried that comeback route.
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  They may have succeeded, while others unfortunately tried but
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  completely fell on their face. But in the case of now a former
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  NBA now making a comeback. NBA player who was the former
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  number one pick several years ago, whose career looked like to
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  be a Hall of Fame arc, only to be derailed by injuries.
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  An infamous moment, mounting criticisms about his game, his
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  mentality and attitude, and a year away from the sport that
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  many thought that he didn't really put much love into.
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  This is how Ben Simmons is making not only a comeback this
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  year after a year off, but how he could have an opportunity to
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  rewrite the narrative that was already written after a series
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  of his own mishaps, but has an opportunity to rewrite his own
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  story. Ben Simmons, of course, was
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  supposed to be among the next group of players when he came
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  out in 2016 as the number one award pick by Philadelphia.
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  Many wrote this upside. Some compare them to LeBron.
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  Some compare them to even generations prior a Magic
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  Johnson because of his ability to be a triple threat force,
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  getting triple double S, making right plays and seemingly
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  getting his teammates involved and work.
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  His first couple years, it looked like he was actually
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  going to be on that Hall of Fame mark 3 All Star selections in
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  the All NBA nominee several times.
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  Couple times, for instance, the Defensive Player of the year
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  voting in the top three, and it just seemed like the road to
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  possibility for Simmons was going to be magnificent.
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  But like with any young player coming into their own in the
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  NBA, at least those who try to establish themselves pretty
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  early, you're going to have your share of criticism.
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  Every athlete who eventually became great, and Simmons was
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  going to be no exception. One of the problems that Simmons
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  had even before he came into the league was that some people
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  questioned his jump shot. Many had encouraged him even
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  when he got into the NBA to work on his shooting more knowingly,
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  just develop a mid range game that they felt that was one of
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  his biggest areas of weaknesses, that he could just improve over
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  time and at least be a capable shooting track.
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  Even the great Stephen A Smith said a couple times that Ben
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  Simmons had his siblings of a jump shot.
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  He could be the next LeBron James.
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  Even Kobe Bryant, God bless his soul, had his own concerns that
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  if Simmons didn't work on his game as far as shooting, he
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  didn't think he was going to have a long career.
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  Now, that's kind of, in a way, a teaser for what's ahead.
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  But the other thing that ultimately was another problem
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  that people questioned about Simmons was his commitment to
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  the game and his passion. You see, even when he was at
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  LSU, he had a pension, if you will, for not necessarily
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  getting up for every game. And look, I get it.
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  You know, when you have goals to essentially make it to the
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  professional level in sports, you don't really go all in on
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  college, you know, whether it's in class or even at times
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  against stiff competition. But it's kind of like in this
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  sense, he would get up for, you know, the important games more
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  or less like the conference games per SE.
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  But when they would go up against kind of like lots of
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  competition, it's just like, I see no reason really to kind of
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  get motivated. But regardless, though, people
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  could not pass up on this upside in potential.
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  And for the Philadelphia 76ers, who were still going through the
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  Trust the Process error, they needed somebody to be the
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  centerpiece of it all. Now they had drafted Joe Allenby
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  2 years earlier with the 3rd pick, but at that point he was
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  about to miss his second straight season because of knee
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  problems that he had while in Kansas.
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  So the Sixers, while NB was still recovering, looked to him
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  to be the guy along with NB for the future.
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  Now granted Simmons as the number one pick, you would think
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  that he had it all, that his first couple years he had
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  established himself as a player with not only what he
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  accomplished, but you would say that his career was, as I
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  mentioned, at the top Hall of Fame art type, right?
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  Let's Fast forward to game seven in the 2021 Eastern Conference
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  Semifinals, where one mishap of decision making changed
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  everything. It was game seven in
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  Philadelphia. The young, aggressive Atlanta
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  Hawks, led by superstar Trey Young, had forced the 7th game
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  in Philadelphia against the Sixers team that many thought
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  was probably the best team of that trust the Process ever.
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  It was late in the game in the fourth quarter when Philadelphia
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  had an opportunity to tie the game.
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  Ben Simmons was driving to the basket and it looked like when
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  Daniel Gallinari was defending him, Simmons had a clear cut
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  laying to the basket and you thought, OK, you're easy, layup
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  or dunk, right? And then came the next second,
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  Trey Young came in as the health defender and instead of Simmons
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  laying in or Duncan 'cause he had like a couple inch height
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  difference over Young, he decided to pass it over to
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  Matisse Dybo who immediately got fouled, sending Dybo to the free
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  throw line. That one laps moment in decision
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  essentially became the crux of Ben Simmons as a player and
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  ultimately in the big picture at Len was able to not only hold on
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  for the game seven win, but they advanced the Eastern Conference
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  finals against Milwaukee and they sent Philadelphia once
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  again home in the second round. Now everyone remembers how that
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  one my fog of Simmons decision. People look at that as the
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  reason why Philadelphia lost that game.
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  And even though a couple years have passed by since then, there
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  were a lot of things that went wrong for Philadelphia in that
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  entire game that didn't just necessarily fall on Simon's lap
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  moment. You see Doc Rivers and if you
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  know me, I have never been a fan of his because of his post
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  season, you know, failures after weaving Boston.
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  He essentially got out coached by Nick McMillan.
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  See, whatever Rivers tried to do, McMillan immediately made
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  adjustments. Joel and B had a really poor
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  shooting, right? Tobias Harris, I don't even was
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  there at the time. I don't think he even made one
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  single basket that whole game. And of course, you know, other
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  players didn't do their part as well.
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  But my only question was as far as the preliminaries of that
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  game, even with MB struggles and turning the ball over, you know,
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  like crucial moments, why didn't Doc Rivers call for MB to get
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  the ball a little more? Why didn't MB ask for it?
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  Why couldn't the 76ers had timely shots against that win?
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  See, everybody wants to, and maybe rightfully so, point to
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  Simmons. You know, Gaff at that moment as
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  the turning point, which I'll get into in a second of his
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  career of that game. But to me, there was so many
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  things that went wrong for Philadelphia that it never
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  should have came down to that one lapse moment for Simmons.
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  That if that was really Philadelphia's best team from
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  top to bottom, they should have won that game against Atlanta.
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  And who knows what could have happened if they had went up
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  against Milwaukee in the conference.
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  Fine. And this is where the real crux
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  of everything as far as this topic starts to take shape.
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  And it was the century beginning at the end of not only Ben
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  Simmons time in Philadelphia, but also of his career.
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  Immediately after the game, Rivers and B point the finger at
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  Simmons. They essentially drew him under
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  the bus, saying he could have been more aggressive in that
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  moment and could've at least had an opportunity to score when it
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  was right there for him. To me, when you had two people
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  that had just as large of a part, if not more of why they
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  lost that game. But instead of piling on someone
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  else, what do you think that actually says about, you know,
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  the true aforementioned? And then, of course, you know,
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  the media onslaught that followed for weeks and months
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  after was swelling. Many accused Simmons of not
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  stepping up in the moment. Many said that he was too scared
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  to be aggressive. And many a century said that he
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  didn't have what it takes to essentially be the guy when
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  Philadelphia needed to be. I mean, for weeks and months on,
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  then it just seemed like it was endless scrutiny on to this guy.
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  And then of course, you know, the offseason that followed and
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  going to train camp the next year didn't make things any
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  better. After essentially in an off
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  season of fashion and criticism, Simmons did not report to
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  Philadelphia's training camp when it rolled around around mid
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  to late September that he was dealing with mental health
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  issues. And I again, I want to be clear
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  on this part as someone who has dealt with serious mental health
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  issues as the main people, I want to be clear, if you are
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  really suffering from seriousness of it, please go get
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  help today. But as far as Ben Simmons, many
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  people saw him use that really as an excuse to not really own
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  up to what happened on his end against that land of the year
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  before. Now, whether or not that was a
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  fair criticism of him, you know, a couple years away, I can
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  actually now say it depends on who you really ask.
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  But maybe he was kind of overwhelmed by the criticism and
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  the scrutiny that he was getting, which I can understand
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  in some ways. What I will not have sympathy
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  for as far as him was the fact that if it was true he was using
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  that as an excuse, then there's nothing to talk about.
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  So as a resolve all that. Simmons did not report to train
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  camp, at least initially. He did not want any part of
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  Philadelphia because he felt in his mind that the organization
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  turned on him and so he was getting fined until he decided
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  to come back one day and essentially became at this point
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  of roof. He didn't talk to any of his
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  teammates, then talk to Doc Rivers or Dale Moore, who was
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  there at the time as AGM. One thing led to another and at
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  a certain point it just became too unbearable to wear.
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  When the opportunity came around for him, the for Delmore, I'm
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  sorry to trade Simmons out of Philadelphia, he saw the first
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  opening he was able to take. The problem was his trade value
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  because of all the things I mentioned weren't really at a
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  high point that any team, at least, you know, the top teams
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  were gonna be interested. Fortunately, the Brooklyn Nets
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  stepped in and were willing to take Simmons off Philadelphia's
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  hands, and they ended up training for him and giving up
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  James Harden in the process. So you would think that Simmons
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  time in Philadelphia was a that you know, what looked like to be
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  promising and you know, as far as a potential Hall of Fame arc
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  and everything that came after, you would think that that would
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  be the end, right, that he would be in Brooklyn.
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  You know, like I say, rebuilding team that he can kind of fit the
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  mold with Everything would be fine, right, Rock in Brooklyn.
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  Let's just say it didn't really quite work out again, whether it
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  was do the injuries again supposedly with his back or
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  again some people still holding on to what led to his time in
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  Philadelphia coming to the end and obviously the unwillingness
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  to further develop his game even further.
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  As far as shooting wise, Simmons rarely saw the floor, but of
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  course, his 10 year with the Nets is only defined when he
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  went back to Philadelphia for one game.
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  There, a ball the basketball had rolled out of bounds onto the
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  Brooklyn Nets side. And guess where the ball just
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  happened to land on? You guessed.
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  And of course, the fans in Philadelphia, you know how
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  passionate they are, boy. And it was only for a few
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  seconds, but still, you know how that if you hadn't seen it
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  already. So Long story short, Simmons
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  time with Brooklyn pretty much amount to nothing.
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  And then of course, he tried one more, I guess opportunity with
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  the Clippers or Portland. It was one of the two teams, but
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  pretty much the same thing as Brooklyn.
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  Nothing really materialized. And this past season when no
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  team picked him up, he why I initially thought was a
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  retirement. He walked away, you know, and
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  why I initially thought it was a retirement because he probably
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  thought to himself, you know, I really don't need basketball
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  anymore. I already got my money.
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  Nothing else really matters to me.
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  So I'm just going to kind of disappear and do whatever I
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  want. And that's why I initially
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  thought, you know, this past season when no team picked them
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  up as like, well, maybe that is unfortunately how Benson's
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  career will end. And then of course, came this
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  morning. So from Sean Suraya of ESPN, at
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  first I had to click on the ESPN app just to even make sure this
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  was with Jed. But when I found out that Ben
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  Simmons is not only coming back to the NBA, but it's plain to
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  sign a one year deal with Sacramento, I was actually
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  surprised. Because not only for the fact
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  that any team would actually want to take a flyer on him at
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  this point, but it's the fact that even after a year off
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  whatever supposedly time he needed to re evaluate things, it
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  apparently worked. Because after a year away, he is
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  now back in the NBA with a possibility.
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  Of maybe rewriting a career that many had a century written of
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  him when he didn't play last season.
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  And look for all of the negative things, the criticism, scrutiny
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  and mounting level of disappointment that Simmons had
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  when his subsequent career was starting to decline after that
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  infamous moment against that when a couple years ago he did
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  deserve the criticism. I mean, let's just be real
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  honest here, OK? But you know what?
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  We all love a good redemption org in the redemption story
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  period. So you know what?
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  I could easily continue to bash, you know how Simmons career, you
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  know, it's more of like a what if.
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  But you know what, based on this news today from shops, I'm not
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  ready to go there yet because you know what, let's just show
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  this out. If this is in fact, you know,
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  Ben Simmons, why not come back and try a century, not only
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  really trying to not prove anything to anybody, but to
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  prove to himself that, you know what?
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  Could I have handled things differently, you know, at the
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  end of my time in Philadelphia? Or were there a lot of things
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  that, you know, I was too immature, stubborn and not
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  willing to acknowledge really about my whole career and even
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  my mind selling things. I'm sure those were probably the
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  two most important things that was at the forefront for him
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  when he was probably thinking, should I even consider coming
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  back? But you know what, if he stays
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  on with Sacramento the whole season and maybe he not even
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  having to be a All Star caliber player, if he could just show
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  something to a century, be a competitive person once again
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  and maybe help A-Team that's going through a rebuild win
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  their share of games, I will be more than happy for him.
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  And look, I think pretty much in a sports society we are quick to
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  write off those who never amount to anything or have promise at
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  one point of actually being something like Hall of Fame
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  asks. But whether it was do the
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  injuries, off the field issues or the mentality, it never came
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  to suffice for many of them. I am sincerely hoping that for
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  Ben Simmons, this is not the end.
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  And look, whether or not this comeback arc with Sacramento is
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  going to amount to anything, to be quite honest with you, I
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  cannot sit here and say if it will, but I think it shows a
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  level of humidity, honesty within himself and really
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  self-awareness that he's willing to at least give it one more
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  shot. In that part I can actually
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  respect because as I mentioned, it's so easy for a rising
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  athlete to essentially fall, you know, when it looked like they
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  were on their way. But then a lot of things happen.
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  I'm hoping that Ben Simmons has not only learned the error of
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  how he could have handled things more differently, but now I
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  guess in the 2nd chapter that the book's not closed on him,
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  that he can still have a great career in his second go around
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  and that maybe it's not over for him.
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  I am definitely ruling for him in that regard.