Joel Embiid to 76ers fans: ‘Support Ben Simmons. He’s still our brother’
PHILADELPHIA — Star Sixers big man Joel Embiid has had a change of heart.
Days after Embiid said he “doesn’t care about” Ben Simmons and that he and his teammates aren’t paid to “babysit,” Embiid implored Sixers fans to rally behind their absent star.
“A lot has happened the last few months,” Embiid said to a sold-out crowd of Sixers fans before tipoff against the Nets on Friday. “Support us and our teammate Ben. He’s still our brother.”
The message was a stark change of tone for a player who appeared fed up with his teammate’s antics.
Simmons has effectively thrown a professional temper tantrum: He skipped training camp and preseason, showed up to practice only to be kicked out, separated himself from his team huddle and, most notably, has requested a trade from a perennial 76ers playoff team.
But after a conversation with his head coach and teammates, Simmons may be working his way back into the organization’s good graces. Despite the drama, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers still wants Simmons around the team.
“Yeah,” Rivers said, when asked if he still wants Simmons around the team ahead of Nets vs. Sixers on Friday. “He’s part of the team. I don’t know how many more times I can say that. He’s part of the team. We have certain rules, obviously, and last week or the other day, (kicking him out of practice) happened. But today was a good day.
“Most people look at problems instead of the possibilities. I think if we focus on the possibilities just in life in general, you have a pretty good chance of going to a good place. If you focus on the problems, you’re probably going to continue to have problems.”
Rivers described Simmons’ meeting with the team as “productive” and said “it’s a start.” He remained noncommittal, however, about Simmons’ odds of returning to the team full-time in the aftermath of the team meeting.
“I don’t know. I felt good, up and down, throughout,” he said. “Things do change. That still doesn’t mean that it’s going to work out perfect, or it could. But I’ve always believed that and I’ve never wavered from that. I’ve said that a hundred times, and I still stick with it.”
Simmons’ meeting with the team came on the heels of concerning comments from star center Joel Embiid, who dismissed Simmons’ presence after the guard separated himself from a team huddle in his first practice with the team. In the following practice, Rivers kicked Simmons out after he declined to participate in defensive drills with the team.
“At this point, I don’t care about that man,” Embiid said. “Honestly, he does whatever he wants.
“At the end of the day, our job is not to babysit somebody. You know, we get paid [to]... go out, play hard, win some games... We don’t get paid to come out here and try to babysit somebody.”
Co-star Sixers forward Tobias Harris tweeted his support of Simmons, who said he is mentally unable to play in a game at the moment.
“We’ll respect his privacy and space during this time,” Harris tweeted. “When he’s ready, we will embrace our brother with love and handle our business on the court. That’s it, that’s all.”
