When Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons suffered a Jones fracture in his right foot during training camp in late September, his surgery provided a return timetable of just three to four months. Following that timeline, the promising LSU standout should have been ready to make his NBA debut at some point in February at the latest.
Ben Simmons’ injury update proves how the 76ers misled the public, again
With Simmons now out for the season, new Philadelphia management has deceived the public for months.
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
But now just four days from March, the Sixers announced Simmons will be out the remainder of the season, according The Intelligencer’s Tom Moore. They said a scan on his foot revealed it has yet to fully heal.
This latest development on Simmons’ injury status is part of GM Bryan Colangelo’s murky web of deception that has misled the public regarding the return of a point forward considered to be the closest thing to LeBron James since LeBron James.
A deceiving act, considering the Colangelos were hired, at least in part, for their promises of transparency with reporters missing from previous general manager Sam Hinkie’s tenure.
In late January, the Sixers told reporters Simmons’ next scan would be his last.
After the scan, they told reporters Simmons’ foot had healed completely.
ESPN.com’s Chris Haynes reported the Sixers’ rookie had fully healed from his foot surgery and was expected to make his return shortly after the All-Star break.
Barring a setback in his recovery, sources say the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft has a chance to take the hardwood near March.
During training camp, Simmons, 20, fractured the fifth metatarsal bone of his right foot and was ruled out indefinitely following surgery. His foot has completely healed, sources said.
The team also told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey that Simmons’ scan showed no setbacks in late January.
But that wasn’t his last foot scan.
The Intelligencer’s Tom Moore found out the January scan wasn’t Simmons’ last. The rookie had another scheduled for February.
The team later announced Simmons’ long-term health remained the primary concern, scheduling another scan for Feb. 23.
Now he’s out for the rest of the season.
In reality, Simmons’ return was unnecessary. The Sixers (21-35) are six games behind the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed and entered the season without playoff aspirations.
Rushing their point forward back from injury undoubtedly would have done more harm than good, as seen with both Cameron Payne and Kevin Durant, each of whom suffered setbacks after returning early from similar injuries.
But it was also unnecessary for Sixers president Bryan Colangelo to permeate false hope throughout the Philadelphia fan base by claiming Simmons’ January foot scan would be his last.
The deception with Simmons is not an isolated case.
Sixers rookie Joel Embiid called the team out on Friday for mishandling his recent injury that has kept him out of 14 of the team’s last 15 games.
Embiid suffered a minor tear in his meniscus on Jan. 27 against the Houston Rockets, but the team did not announce the severity of his injury until after Derek Bodner reported it. The team initially reported his injury to the media as a knee bruise, listing him as day-to-day, but that was not what they told their promising big man.
“I wasn’t happy with how it was kind of handled before,” Embiid said, according to Matt Lombardo of NJ Advanced Media. “As far as the day-to-day. I was told that I was going to miss like three or four weeks. So, I wasn’t happy with the way it was handled.”
Deception isn’t a good way to win over a fan base that is enduring its sixth consecutive losing season and 12th straight year failing to eclipse a .500 record. Instead of talking, maybe it’s time for some action.
The Sixers dealt Nerlens Noel and Ersan Ilyasova at the trade deadline in deals that returned Justin Anderson, Tiago Splitter, a lottery-protected first-round pick from Dallas (22-34, and future draft considerations.
Maybe the Sixers should focus their deception efforts on trying to convince opposing general managers to offer more than pennies on the dollar for their players in trade discussions.
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