WATCH: Key Takeaways from the Ben Simmons Old Man and the Three Podcast Episode
Ben Simmons joined JJ Redick on the latest episode of The Old Man and the Three Podcast and touched on a wide variety of topics, mainly focusing on the Philadelphia 76ers, last season’s hold out, being in Brooklyn, and how he felt he was wronged by the Sixers and the media during the entire saga.
Last night, we got a clip from the interview, with Ben Simmons talking about Philadelphia and his relationship with the city. We covered that specific clip here. I’m not really going to go into that clip specifically.
The clip itself was beyond weird and Simmons answer did nothing but make me frustrated over a few different things, mainly over the fact that he, without pushback, said that he believe he’s still a part of Philadelphia.
Regardless, I was less than thrilled after that clip dropped last night and concerned with Redick and just pumping out some cookie cutter podcast episode to help Simmons repair his image. While there were definitely moments when that was the case, overall, the interview was actually pretty solid, with Ben Simmons maybe for the first time in front of a video camera, feeling and talking like a human.
Here are a handful of key moments from the hour-long podcast episode that I found interesting.
16 in a Row with Redick, Belinelli, and Ilyasova
Just 10 minutes into the interview, Simmons talks about the Philadelphia 76ers 2018 season in which they won 16 straight games to close out the regular season.
(17 if you count game one of the NBA playoffs against the Miami Heat.)
Simmons has said this before and it popped up during the “hold out” saga too, that this was the type of basketball he likes to play. What’s interesting about this clip, obviously, is the fact that Joel Embiid did not appear in any of those games.
Ben Simmons on The Process
Ben Simmons on the Raptors Playoff Series
Ben Simmons on Donovan Mitchell and Rookie of the Year
Ben Simmons on playing this season after a year off, Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are “Philly on Steroids”
Ben Simmons Group Chat Story
The Back Injury, Stephen A. Smith, Bucks Game
Ben Simmons Candy Store Viral Video
Mental Health and the Hawks Playoff Series / Lack of Support
Coming Back to Practice, Pocket Cell Phone Dilemma
Ben Simmons deserves some pushback here. According to multiple reporters who were in attendance at practice, including our very own guy Kevin McCormick, Simmons was NOT kicked out “just a minute” into practice. He was thrown out at the end of practice.
I still don’t understand how this picture shows a jersey in his pocket either.
The Atlanta Hawks Series, Being Injured, Passing Up Dunk
Questions / Pushback That Should Have Been Addressed
- Mentioning the 16-game winning streak and the fact that Joel Embiid wasn’t playing.
- Why did Ben Simmons choose to remain silent for nearly a year rather than speak on this sooner?
- Who was making the decisions in his “circle”? Klutch Sports or Ben Simmons?
- Was Simmons reaching out to teammates and they were ignoring him?
- By remaining silent, does he believe he could have done more to make things easier?
Look, anyone who knows The Liberty Line, knows the fact that I have been a long supporter of Ben Simmons. All anyone wanted last year was an explanation as to what was going on with him and why he wanted out of Philadelphia.
We never heard from Ben Simmons and were stuck with the media and Klutch Sports storylines.
Simmons himself acknowledged on several occasions that the media and the internet would just make up things out of the blue regarding what he was doing or going through last season and how he believes they were all incorrect or flat out lies, but then fails to address the fact that he never did anything to correct them.
Trust me, I’m fully aware it’s not his responsibility to explain himself to the public but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. He had the opportunity to control the narrative and didn’t take it.
Like I said above, this is the first time I have even seen Ben Simmons comfortable in front of a camera.
While it was refreshing, it certainly doesn’t change much.
The damage between Simmons and Philadelphia is far beyond repair and while it probably was always going to end this way, if he got in front of a camera after the Hawks series and at least addressed what he was going through, things could have gone much smoother.
