To be fair, Doc Rivers faced every question. He knew Media Day was going to be a circus, and loaded with speculation on the status of the Sixers’ frayed relationship with All-Star Ben Simmons. And yet he was only too willing to address anything and everything scribes threw at him. In fact, he proved so bent on explaining the situation that, at one point, he told a reporter, “I’m gonna finish. I’m in charge here.” He wasn’t necessarily being onion-skinned; he simply felt he needed to get his points across.
The bottom line, Rivers argued, is that the Sixers want Simmons back. That was never at issue, he said, not even in the aftermath of an embarrassing exit at the hands of the underdog Hawks in the second round of the 2021 Playoffs. At the time, scrutiny focused on the starting point guard’s paltry offensive output, especially in the crunch. And, with wounds still festering and the pain yet to subside, the head coach waffled. “I don’t know,” he disclosed in response to a query on whether the back-to-back All-Defensive First Team selection could be the point guard of a championship team.
The other day, Rivers didn’t so much as walk back on his comments as point out the erroneous context in which they were taken. And, depending on perspective, he came across as either persuasively sincere or protesting too much. In any case, Simmons has made clear that he isn’t biting; he even turned away a contingent of players who wanted to trek cross-country by jet to his California residence in order to make him change his mind. He wants out, and has no plans to report to training camp, the prospect of lost wages notwithstanding.
By all accounts, the Sixers haven’t stopped wooing Simmons. Media Day was filled with quotes of “We want him back” in varying degrees. Then again, they also haven’t stopped entertaining offers for him. And were they inclined to budge from their prohibitive asking price, he may well be plying his trade in a different jersey by now. It’s not exactly a good start for the 2021-2022 season, and they’re not without blame on the matter.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
