Dwight Howard defends Ben Simmons on Instagram against Jason Kelce’s comments
Jason Kelce gave an epic press conference today for the Philadelphia Eagles and touched on a wide variety of topics. The most popular topic was certainly on the city of Philadelphia and what it’s like playing in a city that is often criticized on the national level.
“You look at all the players that Philadelphia holds true to them and who they respect, all the guys that came before you, and they all fit that mold of tough, hard-nosed, physical, try-hard guys.” As we all know, Ben Simmons was obviously brought up and Kelce offered his opinion.
Read More: Jason Kelce talks Philadelphia and gives his opinion on Ben Simmons >>
Kelce is obviously 100% correct. Philadelphia fandom revolves around athletes that give everything they have during their time here. Literally all you have to do is give maximum effort and you will be beloved by all. That’s the only reason why people despise Ben Simmons. He has all the talent in the world but fails to use it to its maximum potential.
Of course the national media got a hold of Kelce’s interview. ESPN posted the clip about Simmons in Instagram, and former 76ers player Dwight Howard jumped to his defense in the comments.
“Dude play football. Instead of getting on tv and talking about this young brother. He could send him a message and support him. Positive vibes only. The past is the past.”
Dwight Howard is obviously looking out for his friend and former teammate Ben Simmons and I commend him for that. I would also agree with him 100% up until this past week. Once Ben Simmons opted to not participate in practice, get told to leave, and missed his press conference, any ounce of forgiveness for Simmons left my body. He had the chance to ask for support and positive vibes. He had the choice to put the past in the past and focus on this season and helping the 76ers win.
He did not.
From there, there’s really no defending Ben Simmons anymore. I don’t want to hear from other players and I definitely don’t want to hear from other members of the media that are not in Philadelphia say that “it’s crazy 76ers fans are siding with billionaire owners and not one of their players.” Give me a fucking break. No one is siding with billionaire owners in Philadelphia. In fact, everyone in Philadelphia hates Josh Harris. “Sell The Team” was a rally cry here for years.
76ers fans just want their players to play for the city. How do you do that? You do that by taking the field, court, or ice every night and giving it everything you have because you know how important sports are in this city. You understand that a working class city like Philadelphia is hard-nosed and always expecting the best. You realize that Philadelphia fans spend their hard earned money on tickets and apparel to support their teams. Give it everything you have and you’ll be beloved for eternity. Look at players like Aaron Rowand and TJ McConnell. They weren’t amazing players, but Philly respected them both for what they did while playing here.
It’s really that simple. Ben Simmons does none of that. He doesn’t care about the city of Philadelphia and obviously didn’t care about improving his game. We waited four years and he still doesn’t shoot a damn basketball. So please, spare me the “Team Ben” nonsense.
This isn’t the first time Dwight Howard has come to Ben Simmons’ defense. On Instagram live back in June, Howard came to Simmons defense and told everyone to show Ben love rather that criticizing him all the time.
Unfortunately, I can’t side with Dwight Howard here. He knows better too. Positive vibes left when Ben Simmons returned and continued to conduct himself with zero accountability. It’s disrespectful.
[…] Howard never shied away from defending Ben Simmons, and it was actually refreshing to see a player openly go to bat for Simmons during the time of his […]