Ben Simmons has drawn criticism from just about every angle since the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the playoffs, and the bad press continued on Tuesday.
Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN’s “First Take” that he received some unflattering information about Simmons from a source who is “very, very close to the situation in Philadelphia.” The person told Smith that Simmons has a poor work ethic, poor attitude and is “constantly babied.”
I received this text about Ben Simmons from somebody very close to the situation… pic.twitter.com/OVB2rF7aKw
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 22, 2021
It would be hard to imagine that information coming from someone with the 76ers, unless it was a player. Philadelphia is almost certainly going to try to trade Simmons this summer, and leaking information like that about the former No. 1 overall pick would only hurt his value.
Simmons provided virtually nothing offensively for the Sixers in the postseason. He basically refused to take a shot in Game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night, which led to Joel Embiid throwing him under the bus. Doc Rivers also had a harsh assessment of Simmons’ performance.
Simmons is an extremely athletic player who is a great defender, but he has never looked more one-dimensional than he did in the playoffs. If teams also believe he has a poor attitude, there is probably no change to his shot that he can make that would matter all that much.
