It seems it has teed off between Philadelphia and Aussie Ben Simmons. The under fire point guard who has requested a trade from the Sixers, was expected to attend the presser before the pre season training. Teammate Joe Embiid has since went on a verbal rant on Ben saying he is disrespectful to the team that has build everything, their tactics and all around him. Even went as far as saying they traded Jimmy Butler so that he can be the star of the team. Why does Ben Simmons want to leave Philly? How do you handle a player who wants out of a team? Does Philly still even want him?

Last season, the Sixers failed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals again after a shockingly poor Game 7 loss to the Atlanta. In one play he opted to pass the ball instead of dunking which would have resulted in a likely Philly win. Let us start there. The coach is the responsibility of the team. I blame coach Doc Rivers for failing to defend his player adequately from abuse. It all smells like he doesn't want the player anymore judging from the passive way he is going about the whole issue. Ben Simmons's wages are astonishingly high at 30 million dollars a year. That can be an albatross on any ball player's neck. Imagine the pressure to deliver. I would have lowered that and introduced a performance based contract. Simmons's free throw shooting has been subjected to a lot of jokes on social. He had a ratio of 15 to 45 in the play off game with the Hawks which is Shaq bad. Given that Shaq is considered a legend of the game whilst holding that unwanted record, makes picking on Ben ever the more unfair. Free throws can be practiced and perfected with time

So let's face it Philly doesn't want Ben because they have not created the correct environment for him to stay. What Joel did in going out there and criticizing a teammate is uncalled for and if I was coach I would definitely be all up on him now. As for Simmons he is not without reproach here. Contract says you come to training you do so regardless of whether you made a trade request or not. This unprofessional conduct deserves a FINE, I will say it as I see it. I really believe Philly needs Ben as much as the other way around. Just check out his regular season stats. Sixers finishing top of the Eastern Conference on the back of his 14.3 points and 6.9 assists per game with 55% field goal average. So tell me who needs who? It may have gone DOWN SOUTH in the playoffs but it happens, it's called basketball. Lastly psychologically, over criticism of a player can have the reverse effect to what you want to achieve as the player can go all rebel on you. Why? Because it calls for one to submit before another and we as humans don't like to be LITTLE.