Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers have been in a highly publicized standoff, which is happening due to the Simmons’ desire to leave the city. The Philadelphia 76ers have refused to trade him thus far.
The city of Philadelphia is known to have some notoriously passionate sports fans, and sometimes that passion can show in them booing their own players if they have subpar games. That has certainly happened to Ben Simmons. Simmons’ teammate Danny Green had previously stated that the fans “can’t turn” on the players “when things aren’t going well”, and perhaps there’s some truth in that statement.
However, the city of Philadelphia also generally embraces players who play well, and Philadelphia Eagles’ center Jason Kelce believes that the same could happen with Ben Simmons if he just steps up and performs at a high level.
Jason Kelce on Ben Simmons🔥🔥
"Everybody can bitch and complain about how tough this city is to play in. Just play better, man. This city will love you”
“That is because a lack of accountability. If that got corrected, you fix some free throws…none of that is happening” pic.twitter.com/9eGG9aYt9B
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) October 21, 2021
I think that’s how you control everything. You really think about it like “If I just do this better. If I go out there and ball. If I go out there and play really good, nobody is going to have any choice but to love me and appreciate me.”
What’s going on, I don’t want to crush another player. What’s going with the 76ers and Ben Simmons… all that is because a lack of accountability. A lack of owning up to mistakes… If all that got corrected, you fix some free throws…none of that is happening.
Everybody can b*tch and complain about how tough this city is to play in. Just play better, man. This city will love you.
We do not yet know if Ben Simmons will end up suiting up for the Philadelphia 76ers, or whether he will get traded without playing another game for the franchise. There are certainly a lot of fans that want to move on from him. But it seems as though Kelce believes that all it would take for Ben Simmons to regain his favor with the 76ers fanbase is improvement in his game. Jason Kelce has played for the Eagles for his entire career, as well as winning a Super Bowl with the franchise. It’s clear that he knows what is necessary to thrive in the city.
Hopefully, this situation can be resolved soon, and it’s clear that Ben Simmons views getting traded as a solution. However, it is quite possible that Kelce is right, and the 76ers’ faithful would love him once again if he were to show he worked on his flaws. We’ll see how this will continue to unfold.
