Doc Rivers addresses Ben Simmons after the James Harden trade rumors
The Philadelphia 76ers have had a wild couple of days as they have been working through the league’s health and safety protocols, but they were also very close to making a blockbuster deal to acquire superstar James Harden from the Houston Rockets. In the end, the asking price was just a bit too high.
The main centerpiece of those deals was young All-Star Ben Simmons who is one of the more talented players in the league, but he’s certainly on the level of Harden when it comes to offensive output.
Simmons was relieved to not be traded as he wants to keep things going with Joel Embiid and coach Doc Rivers and trying to help the team win a title this season and Rivers believes his star point guard is fine.
“We talked today during shootaround, so I think we’re fine,” Rivers said bluntly.
Simmons had been involved in Harden trade rumors before and Rivers had to call his star to quiet the rumors and let him know that he will not be traded. This is the second time that he was heavily involved and Rivers believes that there is a positive to that for him rather than having him feel not valued by the team with them including him in these big deals.
“As far as your name being mentioned in trades, I just know when I was a bad player, I was never mentioned in trades and when I was a really good player I was mentioned in trades,” the coach stated. “Unfortunately, that’s part of the business. I would look at it the other way and that’s how I looked at it. The year I made the All-Star team, I was on the trading blocks that next year. That’s just the way it is. It’s our league and I looked at it that way like ‘man I played myself good enough that I mentioned in trades’.”
He’s got a point. Simmons is good enough for the Rockets to ask for him to be included in a deal for one of the game’s best players. Now that Harden has been moved to the Brooklyn Nets, the point is that he is still in Philadelphia and the team can move forward.
“You’re gonna hear a lot of things, regardless.” Rivers finished. “I think this is a d different league than it was, obviously, when I played it. What I would listen to ‘coach is try to make me a better player.’ As long as I’m here, I’m going to try to make Ben a better player. To me, that’s the most important part of the relationship.”
The Sixers get set to take on the Miami Heat on Thursday to finish up a quick two-game home series.
