The Dunk We Never Got

By now you may have heard the Sixers fell to the Hawks 103-96 on Sunday. Another upset in the “process.” Sixers have failed to make a conference finals since 2001. What seemed as a promising year ended abruptly, surprisingly, embarrassing & disappointment. Just like previous years the blame & finger pointing goes to familiar things. Wether it’s “the coach didn’t make the right adjustments,” or Joel dealing with an injury, blown leads, turnovers & of course “Ben Simmons won’t shoot.” As the guy who’s basically lead the Ben Simmons defense train it was disappointing to see him struggle especially when you & everyone else knows you’re the superior team.

3:30 left in the game sixers have the ball down 2 Ben spins away from Gallo & everyone watching is ready to jump out their seat & he passes up a dunk that could’ve swung momentum in the Sixers favor. In that moment no matter how u felt about Ben it hard not to believe everyone including the team gave up hope. If you were a hater you got the “I told u…” texts & calls fired up. If you were a Ben Simmons defense team member you had felt like you just wasted your last five years dying on a hill of hope.

Ben Simmons from the time he was drafted was hyped up to be the missing link. His lone season at LSU he averaged 19 12 5 & 2 steals while shooting attempting 9 free throws a game & hitting on 67% of them. They hype was real especially if you watched him in summer league you can’t help but to think magic or Lebron. First game in the NBA 18 10 & 5 3 games later a triple double 21 10 & 12. He also averaged 12 shots a game finished the season averaging 16 8 & 8. The hype only grew. Sixers would exceed expectations they finished 3rd in the east & won 52 games. That would end an 2nd round exit to the Celtics. Ben Simmons first numbers against Miami 18 10 & 9 while shooting 70% from the line. Celtics had better success against him limiting him to 14 8 & 6 he only shot 69% from the line.

The next season Ben shot attempts would drop as it did every year after that. The Sixers have been considered contenders since Ben has stepped on the floor. They have the 3rd highest games won(214-133) since he’s been there & that’s even with Embiid missing 80+ games in that time period. Most number 1 picks come in the league & they have time to make mistakes go through growing pains, learn how to win & won’t get judged through the development process. Ben Simmons was never allowed that. He’s had better team success then a lot of great players in his early career.

Just 24yrs of Age in his 5th year & it’s been championship or bust since he exceeded expectations in rookie year. No one wants to hear any excuses. Rightfully so, he has the talent even though we can point to many things like poor coaching decisions, injuries, poor draft choices or FA signings. All the blame leads back to Ben & his liability on offense. You would think subtract Ben offense flows better since he doesn’t ever look to score it’s always 4 on 5. The truth is the offense no matter who’s the coach or who’s on the roster always looks worse without him. Make that make sense!

We all know his numbers. We all know he checks every box except scoring. The frustrating part is where’s the aggression when you need it. He’s shown he can do it but somehow he shys away when we need it most. Maybe it’s mental I mean it’s has to be right? According to all reports from former & current staff Ben puts the work in during the season & off season. Why it doesn’t translate to the court is the mystery. The last staff didn’t hold him accountable this staff may not get the chance too. My theory has always been his biggest strength is his greatest weakness. He always thinking about the right play. I’ve listened to him many times when asked about shooting 3’s he’s always said “My mindset is get the best shot on this possession me taking that shot doesn’t help” not an exact quote but along those lines. That switch that the Greats have like Lebron to know when to go & get a bucket Ben may have it but doesn’t want to look bad so he’s stays passive & when your second leading scorer(Tobias) has a game where he can only get you 4 points that doesn’t help Ben at all.

Watching this just happen with the eagles & Wentz you gotta believe Ben Simmons is on his way out of Philly. Similar to Wentz Ben gets tagged with the cocky, brat, maybe he’s a star quotes. Wentz change a scenery has many thinking he got the kick in the face he needed to get back to where he was a mvp level QB. After this series you gotta think Ben can’t get any lower. This may be his wake up call he needed. Entire city matter fact I think the entire world is killing him. He can only go up the talent is there & he’s done it. People aren’t asking him to become Steph or Seth curry. They’re just asking you to be who you showed you were & turn your aggression up. Philly best option in my opinion is for him to get better. With his trade value dropping I don’t think they have too many options anyway. You’re not replacing Ben Simmons with one player, I don’t think you even have to replace him. You may need a stronger point guard & to have ben play four more but it may be the point of no return. If that’s the case, Ben played his last game Sunday and it’s truly The Dunk We Never Got!