In an article considered seminal by other NBA cognos sportswriter Yaron Weitzman relates an anecdote that occurred sometime during the 2018/19 season:

Jim O’Brien, a longtime NBA coach and former Sixers assistant who was serving as a special adviser to [76'ers head coach Brett] Brown, posed a question during a coaches meeting.

"Name me one area where Ben Simmons has improved," he asked his colleagues.

The room fell silent.

My instant reaction was "Why did he have to improve?" This was during Simmons' second season in the NBA. His first? Only Rookie of the Year, starting all 81 games he played in, 33.7 mins/per game, 15.8 ppg, 8.1 reb/game, 8.2 assists/game, 1.7 steals, .9 blocks.

Of course, of course, it is in the nature of competition, of playing and coaching in competition to expect, nay demand, improvement from ourselves and each other. But maybe...

The "Sixers" made the playoffs Simmons' rookie year, beat the "Heat" in five games in the first round and then lost to Boston in five in the second. Simmons was bubbly with exuberance over the future. As they walked off the court together after the Boston loss Simmons turned to fellow super Joel Embiid and held up his hand and said, "There’s gonna be a lot of rings on this before we're done." And why not? Philadelphia was 52-30 in the regular season, its best record in seventeen years and had just demonstrated their nous by winning a playoff series.

Then the champagne went flat. In exit interviews, which to my knowledge every NBA team now conducts, management handed every player, not just Simmons, a four-page form with areas they wanted the player to improve on in the offseason. On Simmons' list were 1) free-throw shooting 2) finishing at the rim 3) developing an outside shot. Okay! Fair enough. NBA players typically make their biggest jump between their first and second years. Improve. Never be satisfied. That's the nature of competition. Simmons was scheduled to work "intense time" that summer of 2019 with the team shooting coach, with whom he had worked for a year and a half when injury delayed his debut with Philadelphia.

Some time later during that summer Simmons agent informed management that Simmons was going to work with his brother instead.

It's in the nature of twenty-three year olds in their first jobs to want praise from their bosses when they've helped their companies to their best year since 2001 and won industry-wide acclaim as best new employee of the year. Your point guard is six feet ten inches tall, a superstar, a defensive demon, a distributor, a mid-teens scorer. Ben, work on the fucking foul shots, will ya?

Everything is never quite enough.

Ben Simmons will forever be defined by one play that is pathognomonic of Ben Simmons. "The Pass." After the "Sixers" game 7 upset by Atlanta ended their 2020/21 season head coach Doc Rivers was asked if Simmons could be a starting point guard on a championship team. "I don't know the answer to that right now," Rivers answered.

Now, you think you know where I'm going with this, doncha? Defend the player, blame management, blah-blah-blah. Well, I'm not. Ben Simmons' problem is not foul shooting or lack of an outside shot, Simmons' problem is that he's a coward. So? Some twenty-five year olds are cowards! Some forty-five and sixty-five year olds are cowards. 

He has not improved. Now after four years in the league his career averages are nearly identical to those of his first year: 15.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 7.7 apg, 1.7 spg, .7 bpg. He will never improve. 

My point is, accept Ben Simmons for what he is, and what he's not.  Doc Rivers doesn't know whether a 6'10" point guard who has those career averages can start for a championship team? I do!

Shaquille O'Neal couldn't shoot free throws, he looked like an awkward 16 year old who picked up a basketball for the first time every damn time he went to the line. Teams played "Hack-a-Shaq." Started for teams that won four rings.

Simmons has character issues. Yes. Yes, he does. He's a coward. So? Scottie Pippen had character issues. Scottie was a coward. Was afraid of MJ. Refused to go into a playoff game when Phil Jackson called a play for Toni Kuckoc. Starter for teams that won six rings.

Dennis Rodman is the only one of Chicago's Big Three of that era (a starter 89% of the time) who didn't have any character issues. Ahem.  And Rodman couldn't shoot the basketball to save his life. From anywhere on the court, brick, brick, brick. Yet the "Bulls" wanted him, wanted him bad and got him from Detroit. Worm and all. Tie-dyed hair, tats all over, craziest motherfucker to ever play the game. "Bulls" didn't give a shit about what he couldn't do. Five rings with Detroit and Chicago.

So that's where I'm going with this. Simmons will not go back to Philadelphia. He's afraid of the Philly fanatics. He will not improve. What you see is what you will get. Philadelphia will prove that it cannot win a championship without Ben Simmons. Simmons has to accept himself for what he is, and isn't, and whichever team gets him has to accept Simmons for what he can and cannot do. Those are the only two prerequisites for Ben Simmons being a starter on a championship team.