On one hand, they are trying to argue he's so good he's worth trading Lillard for. On the other, they are saying he's such a piece of shit they have to fine him for not coming to practice. Nothing boosts a guy's trade value like the team trading him publicly fining him for not wanting to be on the team.
This is an insanely bad look for the Sixers organization. Who is going to be excited to come to a team where if things go wrong you'll get treated like Simmons? This kind of shit should be handled behind closed doors. I'd be enraged if I were a Sixers fan at how badly they've managed this. Did they hire that producer from Jeopardy to give them personnel advice?
Simmons is clearly a prima donna. But there are smart ways and dumb ways to handle prima donnas. This isn't the smart way.
As for Simmons, he should keep doing everything he can to throw the Sixers under the bus. Show up for practice and just stand there or play with his phone or lift weights, because hey, $308k is no joke. They own his time, but not his attitude. The worse he tanks his value, the less talent he'll be traded for and the more talent he'll have to work with on his new team. You don't worry about the bridge you just burned while looking for the next bridge.
Sixers training camp starts September 28. I have a hard time believing they really think it'll be a positive thing for Simmons to be there. And I don't think they actually want to follow through with fining him. But they also don't want to be seen as going back on their threat at this point, or they look like even bigger idiots.
Intentionally or not, I wonder if Morey has effectively started a countdown timer to a trade.
