Ben Simmons’ future still looks far from resolved. After demanding a trade from Philadelphia, Simmons has taken some extreme measures to ensure that it goes through. This includes telling the franchise he doesn’t intend to play another game for them and even telling his teammates not to fly out for a conversation with him.
As for his trade demand, it has not gone down well among fans in Philadelphia. Many feel that Simmons is not taking responsibility or accountability for his own failures, and is blaming the franchise for what went wrong. This is why he has been the subject of such harsh criticism in recent weeks.
One of the people criticizing Simmons is none other than 4-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal. In a recent interview, Shaq slammed Simmons for not doing business the right way and being unprofessional with the franchise.
On top of that, he bashed Simmons for thinking his value is high, especially how poor his shooting has been in the NBA playoffs. Shaq suggested that Simmons is overpaid, not giving his teams a return for the amount he earns.
“One, he’s not showing up. As a player, you have to be able to be real with yourself. You need to be aggressive and he definitely got exposed last year in the playoffs, he didn’t want to shoot. You have to look in the mirror and say ‘Am I as good as I can be?’ He’s going about it all wrong. He could have gone into the office, say ‘hey, my feelings are hurt. You guys didn’t stick up for me. I’d like to professionally ask for a trade.’ The question is, does anyone want him? I’m not paying $200 million for a guy who will not be aggressive and will not shoot in playoff time.”
This isn’t the first time that Shaq has given Simmons some tough love. He recently told Simmons to step up and work on improving his game going into the new NBA season.
Ben Simmons’ biggest problem is his inability to shoot the ball. Simmons has always been a poor jump shooter, but the last season even saw his free throw shooting take a hit. And this cost the 76ers big time during the playoffs, especially when he passed up a dunk in Game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks.
Simmons has had enough of playing with the 76ers, and especially being second fiddle to All-Star big man Joel Embiid. The 76ers have shown more faith in Embiid, and rightfully so, as he has been a more consistent performer for them despite his injury concerns.
