Just one season ago, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ biggest question revolved around what the post-Ben Simmons era would look like in the City of Brotherly Love. Simmons was in the midst of a holdout that ultimately culminated in his trade away to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for James Harden. For all of his disinterested temperament and unwillingness to shoot, Simmons was still a former No. 1 pick and All-NBA player.
But one player helped allay Sixers fans’ fears over a drop in production in the post-Simmons era: Tyrese Maxey. Maxey is everything Simmons was not: humble, warm with teammates, and unafraid to make (and learn from) mistakes. With Simmons gone, Maxey stepped into the starting lineup, grabbed the spot by the horns, and never looked back.
And after Simmons returned to Philadelphia for the first time since the trade, he spoke at length about his former teammate, urging him to be more of a ballhandler.
“For me, when I see him play, I love seeing him with the ball. I think he should definitely handle the ball a lot more now than he is, but he’s growing. He’s young, and I can’t wait to see him in the future.”
Is Simmons Being Hypocritical About Maxey?
For Simmons to offer some tips to Maxey is borderline comedic. For years, the Sixers begged Simmons to add another level to his game: shooting. Because for all of Simmons’ excellence in playmaking and defense, he was a liability on offense, with opposing defenses able to shade off of him when the ball wasn’t in his hands. As a result, the Sixers essentially played 4-on-5 on offense, with Joel Embiid often bearing the brunt of double-teams.
Another double-digit night for Ben Simmons:
14 PTS
6 AST
3 STL
2 BLK
7-9 FG
5 straight games with 10+ PTS and 50+ FG%.
Simmons’ perceived unwillingness to improve was maddeningly frustrating to those enamored with his otherworldly talent. According to one Hall of Famer, Simmons simply didn’t want to take his game to another level.
“Brett Brown, who I became friends with, he asked me to [work with Ben Simmons] one day and I said, ‘I will, but you’ve got to ask Ben Simmons.’ And he never got back to me. So, obviously Ben is the type of guy who doesn’t really want to improve,” said Hall of Famer Herb Magee, nicknamed the “shot guru,” in February.
Simmons wasn’t the only one to open up after the Sixers game. His Nets teammate Kevin Durant spoke about Simmons’ return to Philadelphia earlier in the week.
Durant Sounds Off on Sixers Fans After Loss
Durant knew the stakes heading into the Sixers game.
“It’s a lot of emotion, a lot of you just want to play well,” Durant told reporters. “You know the fans are going to be involved and be excited, not excited but bring their best. That’s with every arena. Everybody wants to see our team fail, nobody likes Ben [Simmons], nobody likes Ky [Kyrie Irving], nobody likes myself, so it might be like that at every road arena, you know what I’m saying? So, it’s just something that we have to deal with. I thought he did a great job of just handling it and playing his game and we had a chance to win, and we just didn’t.”
PHILLY SPOILS BEN SIMMONS HOMECOMING 😬
It’s questionable whether Durant really can claim the “no one likes us” card. After all, the NBA world is rightfully upset at Irving after he circulated an anti-Semitic video on social media and Simmons has shown a general unwillingness to live up to his astronomic potential.
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Ben Simmons Issues Challenge to Sixers Star Tyrese Maxey