{"id":135870,"date":"2021-09-28T08:20:46","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T08:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=135870"},"modified":"2021-09-28T12:00:39","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T12:00:39","slug":"76ers-coach-fires-up-over-simmons-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=135870","title":{"rendered":"76ers coach fires up over Simmons question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> coach Doc Rivers was involved in a testy exchange with a reporter as the team turned up for its annual media day with Ben Simmons<\/a> missing.<\/p>\n

In the latest episode of a drawn out saga that shows no signs of coming to a close<\/a>, Rivers was flanked by Sixers executive Daryl Morey as the pair fielded questions from local reporters regarding Simmons' absence.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 76ers ready to start season without Simmons<\/a><\/p>\n

One such question was based around Rivers' now-infamous quote immediately after the Sixers' Game 7 loss to Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semi-finals last season.<\/p>\n

Rivers was once again probed about his answer, where he responded with "I don't know" when asked if a team could win a title with Simmons as its point guard.<\/p>\n

The 59-year-old denied that his answer, which went viral immediately after his press conference, was the reason that Simmons had refused to turn up to training camp.<\/p>\n

\"Doc<\/p>\n

"It was because I wasn't answering the question," he said.<\/p>\n

"Listen, we can go back and forth all you want or all anybody else wants on intent, but I've never had a problem owning what I said.<\/p>\n

"No, I'm going to finish. I'm in charge here, I'm going to finish all right?".<\/p>\n

He continued.<\/p>\n

"What I said, and I'll say it over and over again, when you watch it there's sometimes called intent when you talk. And clearly, clearly what I said was, 'guys, I'm not answering that, I don't know right now'.<\/p>\n

"I wasn't answering any question. I was talking about [the fact that] we just finished a Game 7 and that question was asked. I just wasn't talking about it, I wasn't answering that.<\/p>\n

"All year, who do you think defended Ben more? I still think the world of him as a player.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Just because he doesn't do certain things [reporters] want him to do, it doesn't mean he's a bad player. He made the All-Star team and he almost won the Defensive Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n

"So, to me, sometimes I wish instead of just going with what you want, listen to my intent, that's all I'm saying."<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Gallen's warning to NRL stars amid new scandal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>David Warner dropped by IPL team<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The veteran coach also clarified that he had discussed the press conference with Simmons the next day when he realised his comments had been taken the wrong way.<\/p>\n

Morey confirmed Simmons' representatives asked Philadelphia for a trade shortly after the end of the season during the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, but said "there's a lot of hope" the franchise can mend fences with the disgruntled Aussie.<\/p>\n

"Every team goes through its own journey," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

"Ben is a very good player, a big part of this team, we're disappointed he's not here.<\/p>\n

"We're making our choices, but we're excited about the players that are here and we're going to focus on them. In terms of trades or non-trades, I only have one focus: to do what gives us the best chance to win a championship."<\/p>\n

When questioned about whether he knew exactly why Simmons had asked out of Philadelphia, Rivers admitted he didn't have the answers.<\/p>\n

"That's a good question and it's a tough answer because it wasn't clear as we probably would've wanted," he said.<\/p>\n

"Wanting to change places for whatever reason. It's tough to play here. Ben didn't say that, but you've got to assume that it's probably a part of it.<\/p>\n

"I've been in a lot of losing rooms and I've been in some winning rooms, and it's amazing the impact [a loss] has.<\/p>\n

"This has happened more than you know, it just hasn't happened to this extent, especially the day after a loss or a week after a loss. Unfortunately, this has not changed so far."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers was involved in a testy exchange with a reporter as the team turned up for its annual media day with […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135870"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135872,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135870\/revisions\/135872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}