PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the first time since the Philadelphia 76ers were bounced from the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks in 2021, Ben Simmons is poised to play a basketball game against his former team at home.
The Sixers will host the Brooklyn Nets in their first regular-season meeting of the season Tuesday night. In the preseason, Simmons played against the 76ers at Barclays Center, and last season, he was in South Philadelphia when the Nets visited in March, but he didn’t play.
So, this will be the first time Sixers fans have a chance to express their feelings to Simmons in the full glory of the Wells Fargo Center.
The teams will be playing, though, without the Sixers having a bevy of its biggest stars, including Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey.
Embiid, who has been dominant lately after a sluggish start, sprained his foot Saturday night against the Timberwolves and will miss at least two games this week.
Until that injury, fans had been anticipating the first time the former cornerstone teammates squared off against one another since the drama that unfolded following the 2020-21 season.
So much promise that wasn’t delivered
Embiid and Simmons were supposed to be a tandem on the Sixers for years to come that would hopefully end the franchise’s long championship drought. While the fit between the two players on the court was questioned at times, their success in the regular season was undeniable.
2017-18: 52-30 and 3rd Seed in the East
2018-19: 51-31 and 3rd Seed in the East
2019-20: 43-30 and 6th Seed in the East
2020-21: 49-23 and 1st Seed in the East
“I think by and large, it was a good experience,” former and longtime television play-by-play voice of the Sixers, Marc Zumoff, said in an interview with KYW Newsradio. “I know there was always some talk about are these guys getting along, that kind of thing, and, quite frankly, I don't think it got to the point where there was any dissension or anything like that. I think they both realize that this was a working relationship. It didn't necessarily have to be best friends. They did what they had to do on the court, and I thought, generally speaking, things seemed to go pretty well.”
Yet, regular-season success never carried over into the playoffs. In three of those four seasons, the Sixers couldn’t get beyond the second round. In 2019, they were four Kawhi Leonard bounces on a rim and an overtime session away from moving onto the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. Instead, the Toronto Raptors went on to win the title.
The shortcomings of Simmons’ game were often exposed in the playoffs, when the regular-season All-Star would see his production dip when opposing teams had the opportunity to game-plan and pressure him further. His numbers were OK in first-round action, but underwhelming — and frankly, frustrating to Sixers fans — in the second round.
In fairness, it’s not uncommon for a star player to struggle in a postseason series. So why didn’t it work out for Simmons in Philadelphia, eventually leading to him wanting out and the Sixers seeing that through with the Harden trade?
Spike Eskin — co-host of the popular Sixers podcast “The Rights To Ricky Sanchez,” as well as the VP of programming of WFAN Sports Radio in New York, the flagship station of the Brooklyn Nets, said it’s a combination of three things — flagged three key reasons. He said Simmons struggled to be a natural basketball fit playing with a low-post center in Embiid, wilted in the face of the demanding Philadelphia fan base and refused to acknowledge he needed to create offense as a ball handler.
In other words — attempt jump shots.
“Whether he could get better or not at the things that he wasn't good at, he never acknowledged [those things] existed,” said Eskin, who used to run sister station WIP Sportsradio. “When you look at the best players in the NBA, they're consistently every offseason adding something to their game or working on a weakness or all of those things.”
Everything came to a head when the Sixers were upset by the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7 at home in the second round of the 2021 playoffs. Simmons had a brutal series — lacking aggression on offense in what reached a low point, when he infamously passed up a dunk down the stretch with the Hawks holding a slim lead. Embiid did not excel in many moments of the series either, but Simmons’ struggles became front and center.
After the game, Embiid and Rivers made postgame comments that both believed were taken out of context, but on the surface appeared to highlight Simmons’ struggles, with Embiid saying the “turning point” of the game came when they didn’t get points on an “open shot.”
It would be the last game Simmons played in a Sixers uniform.
He wanted to get in a better space mentally and requested a trade from the team that drafted him first overall in 2016. But before that happened, Simmons held out of the 2021-22 season’s training camp and was kicked out of practice by Rivers the day before opening night in New Orleans because the coach considered him a disruption.
After that practice, Embiid laid into Simmons when speaking with the media.
“I’d be willing to babysit if someone wants to listen. But that's not my job,” Embiid said at the time. “That is not in my control.”
The Sixers and Nets eventually agreed to swap disgruntled stars before the 2021-22 trade deadline — with Brooklyn sending Harden to Philadelphia and the 76ers doing the same with Simmons to the Nets.
Harden had a hot start with the Sixers before being inconsistent while not 100% healthy. Simmons didn’t make his Brooklyn debut until this season due to health issues.
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A matchup long in the making … but with less flare
What will Tuesday night be like at Wells Fargo Center?
Well, it sounds very much like Simmons will be playing. After a bumpy start to his Brooklyn debut, Simmons has played better in the last three games — finding an important role off the bench.
When asked after Sunday’s win over Memphis, in which he scored 22 points off the bench, what are his emotions heading into Tuesday’s game in South Philadelphia, he said, “Ready to play. Something going on?”
He knew he couldn’t dodge the question, so when asked if he thought there was any chance the Sixers fans would go easier on him because more time has passed since his departure, Simmons gave an “are you kidding me”-type response with a smile.
“In Philly,” he questioned. “C’mon now. I know what’s coming, but it’s a part of the game.”
Simmons then proceeded to compliment the same fan base that will likely put his name after a not-so-friendly four-letter word or before a less-harsh five-letter word: “sucks.”
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“One thing about Philly fans,” he said, “they’re incredible. They’re diehard Philly, you know, everything Philly, whatever it is. I respect that about the city. It’s a sports town.”
He said it’s an incredible opportunity and unique experience to wear a uniform that represents Philly.
Rivers, who will be coaching a very-shorthanded squad, acknowledged the atmosphere is going to be intense.
“Our fans are going to be our fans anyway,” Rivers said after Monday’s Sixers practice in Camden. “It’ll be that type of atmosphere. Ben is playing great now, so we don’t want him to play great.”
Still, how disappointing is it — from a simply a basketball fan standpoint — that we won’t get to see Embiid play against Simmons?
“I don’t worry about that,” Rivers said. “They’ll get their chance. It’ll happen at some point. But, it still has to remain at the end of the day — the 76ers want to beat the Nets, period. And maybe with him on there, you want to beat them more. I don’t know that. If I was a player, that’s how I would feel. I, unfortunately, can’t play, and you don’t want to see that.”
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