NBA Rumors: Sixers Head Coach Not Remorseful For Telling The Truth On Simmons

The Philadelphia 76ers continue to wait on how the Ben Simmons drama will play out although most expect a trade to happen.

Head coach Doc Rivers is one of the main characters that sparked the Aussie’s desire to be traded. This happened after the last NBA season’s run with the Sixers falling short in their Eastern Conference semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks.

Simmons’s performance was well-documented in that series. He was criticized for not wanting to take big shots and that ultimately compounded his controversial shooting woes.

Rivers did not mince words about Simmons, and neither did Joel Embiid. But for both, it was nothing personal.

The one-time NBA coach shed more light on that issue and stressed that he just wanted Simmons to do well. Rivers said his piece when he spoke to the Bucks County Courier Times.

“We need people to tell us the truth,” Rivers said. “Unfortunately as a coach in the NBA, I have to do it a lot. I’ve accepted it as a coach over the years. Some handle it well (and) some don’t. Sometimes I don’t deliver it well, even though I try. I’m not perfect, either.”

For some critics, Simmons should have played this season and proved himself rather than opt to sit out and seek a trade. Through it all, the former top pick is doing damage to himself rather than aligning himself among the greats.

Former NBA player Paul Mokeski gave his take on Simmons when he appeared on the Sports For All PH podcast last Jan. 28.

“Ben Simmons could be big as a house right now. He hasn’t played in months. Ben Simmons, for whatever reasons is sitting at home losing tens of millions of dollars every month. That makes no sense to me,” the former player who had stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors told this writer.

“He hurt himself, he is holding out so his value went down. Then he went to Philly for about a week and acted like a jerk and then his value went more down so they can’t trade him more. If he had just went and been normal… Daryl Morey, who I know a little bit, would have traded him after two weeks,” Mokeski added.