Miami Isn’t Going Anywhere, Ben

Everything is not sunny in Philadelphia. This reportedly matters a lot to Ben Simmons. As reported by Stephen A Smith on “First Take”, Simmons decided to stay behind in Miami for an extra night while his teammates flew back to Philly. This perfectly highlights what makes Simmons such a polarizing figure. He’s clearly one on his way to being the best talents this game has ever seen, but seems to be too immature to lead this team to where it should be. This moves sums up how this team just doesn’t understand optics.

So far this has been a massively disappointing season for the Sixers, as they seem to follow up every quality win with a string of embarrassing losses. If they want to turn this thing around, they can’t have their All-Star point guard not traveling with the team so he can have one more night in Miami to do God knows what. I’m not saying Ben Simmons can’t have fun. I can only imagine how fun Miami can be for a 23 year old multi-millionaire. We would all go to the Super Bowl. We would all date models if we could. But, for a team that is being questioned about their desire to win, this is yet another bad look.

Here is a perfect example of someone who understands public perception and the order of responsibilities: Patrick Mahomes. Before he was a Super Bowl champ, you didn’t hear or see much of Mahomes off the field. He appeared on social media, but mainly just to hype up teammates or the Chiefs in general. SINCE winning, he’s been celebrating non-stop. Chugging beers at the parade, going crazy at the Post Malone concert. But, that’s okay, because he put 19 weeks of effort in to reach that point while he produced on the field, and his teammates rallied around him. There are people who GET IT, they just don’t seem to play for the Sixers.

It’s going to take more than Instagram videos of you shooting 3’s in a pickup game against college kids and retired NBA vets to prove your dedication to this team and to this city. This is just terrible optics for a team coming off its 3rd straight blowout loss. Miami will still be there in the summer, Ben. For now, let’s try and focus on turning this team back into the championship contender many believed they would be.

Hopefully that report is false, because everything ESPN does journalism wise is usually half-assed and lazy, much like the Sixers defensive effort in Miami! But, it’s just another bad look in a season full of them for 76ers players.