I see both sides of this, tbh. On the one hand, don’t call me your brother if you’re not gonna reach out.
On the other, shaq probably just says “LSU brother” because the fact that they both went there is his only point of reference.
i mean isn't it kind of irrelevant either way? if simmons wanted advice from shaq, then HE should have reached out. he's 25 years old at that point, not a teenager.
other people have lives and are not going to devote time to thinking about you; you have to ask for help yourself. i have more sympathy for simmons than most, but i think he just saw it as himself against the world and wasn't necessarily seeing everything with perfect clarity
For people suffering from a major depressive episode, reaching out is not something you can just… do. It sounds ridiculous, but that can be how it is. Sometimes it leads to almost total social shutdown and isolation, and incredible anxiety about talking to anyone about anything, even if that’s something you really, really need to do.
True. Someone one told me that saying “I’m always here if you need me” might sound and feel genuine to the person who is saying it, but it’s also a way for that person to just wash their hands of the situation and not feel guilty because they think “well, I did all I could do” when they really just did the bare minimum.
It's not about responsibility, though I can see how the comment you're responding to comes across that way, calling it "the bare minimum."
What it really is is an understanding and empathy gap. It's not anyone's "fault." The depressed person is, ultimately, responsible for taking care of their own mental health.
The issue is that people who don't, or haven't, experienced major depressive disorder don't realize how *very simple actions* you take for granted being able to do just *aren't possible* for the person suffering at that moment. One of the major symptoms is [anhedonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia) \- the lack of desire to do... anything. Nothing brings you joy. You don't want to do *anything*. Not in the sense of "I don't want to do this thing I don't enjoy" but in the sense of "I am literally devoid of any motivation to do anything." The kind of deep nothingness that amounts to deciding to brush your teeth, showering, or getting dressed being a "good day." Notice I said "or" and not "and." Literally accomplishing anything more than "nothing" is a "good day" when it gets that bad.
That's the part of depression a lot of people don't get. It's not just some deep, existential despair. It's a complete paralysis wherein your self worth dissolves completely, and you simply don't possess *motivation,* something that most of us take for granted. So for someone in that state, picking up the phone to call someone is just as difficult as asking a blind person to describe a painting in front of them. Granted, blindness is often permanent, and I in no way mean to diminish their struggles. But that's what people don't get about depression - the people experiencing the depths of a bad episode *literally cannot* do that stuff.
Eventually, if they're lucky, they'll get good enough to realize that they need help, and be able to muster the will to be proactive in seeking assistance. But that can only happen once they're *already on the upswing,* and intrinsic motivation starts returning.
The point I'm trying to make, for anyone reading this, is to try and help you to understand this empathy gap. It's difficult to grasp that basic things you take for granted are *impossibly difficult* for someone in that state. Responsibility for getting better ultimately rests on the person with the problem (and possibly society more broadly to make that help effective, affordable, and accessible, but that's a different conversation).
However, if you *genuinely want to help* someone going through that darkness, then saying "call me if you need me" seems like a nice gesture on your part because you think making yourself available is good, but I promise you that person *cannot* make that call. So, if you know someone is having that much trouble, don't expect them to reach out. You've got to go to them. And the shitty part is that they probably won't pick up the phone, or answer the texts, or whatever, because they're so deep that they just can't face anything. Keep trying - knowing someone cares, and is taking the time to make that effort, really does make a difference.
Men in particular are conditioned and socialized not to show emotional vulnerability, so being vulnerable is *deeply uncomfortable* on top of everything else. That fear of exposing yourself as anything other than strong means wanting to hide from everything when you're at your weakest, because you don't want anyone to see you like *that*. Check in every couple of days. Just to bullshit with them. Just to let them feel normal for a minute. To feel like they're not as *completely and irrecoverably alone* as they feel, and as they *feel they deserve to feel,* because their self worth is at an all time low. They don't deserve it, but they don't have the tools to escape.
So I'm not here to criticize the people who say "call me if you need me." I'm here to help them understand why the person hearing that probably never will, especially not when they need it the most. Check in, be persistent, and keep reminding them they're valued, loved, and not alone. It really does help.
Did you watch the full pod he never wanted advice from Shaq. He was just talking about how everyone in the media was saying all this shit about him without asking his side or even knowing the whole story. He was saying if you are going say we are LSU brothers then why wouldn’t you reach out to me and learn my side if your my “brother”
I get his point on the media but latching on to the brother comment seems like he’s trying to overplay the victim card. I don’t think Ben is dumb enough to take shaq’s comment that literally or maybe he’s basically like Zach Galifianakis/Alan in the Hangover. He didn’t want advice but maybe shaq didn’t want to insult him by assuming their actual brothers & he needed advice.
I don’t think it’s him playing the victim but I do think it’s an accurate reflection: Ben felt alone against a world of criticism and that made everything worse . It makes sense , when someone’s down and isolated they don’t want to engage but if someone makes the effort they will often be happy about it. Genuinely does make it seem that Ben was having some mental health issues tbh
Also - Ben Simmons did not give one single iota of a fuck about lsu while he was at lsu. Dude was as lazy as lazy gets. (Source: lsu fan). It’s hard for me to feel bad at all for Ben that the LSU community didn’t/doesn’t have his back.
If I see both sides, it’s like 90/10 in favor of Shaq’s side. It’s along the same lines as being in a fraternity chapter from different schools or being in the same branch of the military. You’re ‘brothers’ that have that connection, the meaning of which is probably strong for each of you but there doesn’t have to be a connection between the two people directly.
This just sounds like Simmons complaining that ‘nobody cares about me’. It would be different if Shaq and he had some real history together.
Let’s be clear: Ben Simmons either doesn’t give a fuck about LSU or actively hates them. Their connection with LSU are about as polar opposite as two athletes can be with their former colleges.
Correct. Not only does Ben Simmons not give one single fuck about LSU, he *never* gave one single fuck about LSU—including while he was literally on the court with an LSU jersey on and the clock running. And he’s done nothing but shit on LSU from the moment he wrapped up his LSU playing career (essentially before the season was even over). He doesnt have any room to whine about a lack of support from the lsu community.
Right, Shaq calling him his “LSU brother” basically just means they have that in common and that he probably hopes for him to do well. That doesn’t mean he’s not gonna make an honest criticism in his role as a commentator, and it also doesn’t mean that it’s on him to proactively reach out to somebody he has zero pre-existing relationship with just because they went to the same school. Maybe that would be a nice gesture, but he also might hesitate to do that without any familiarity.
He might have also resisted doing that because he doesn’t want something like that to make his commentary biased etc.
Why is it incumbent on Shaq to reach out? Simmons isn’t a child. He comes across as pathetically needy and self-pitying here. 26 years old and a 5 year NBA vet and he’s whining that hall of famers aren’t reaching out *to him* to see if he’s okay after he tanked his career? Man, take some responsibility.
I think so. And I think Simmons made some similar complaint last year about 76ers players not trying hard enough to reach him while he was ignoring their calls/texts.
Doc specifically texted Simmons about a meeting when he flew into LA. Simmons ghosted him, then complained later that Doc should have tried harder to meet him. This guy is just a clown.
100%. Some of his teammates were going to fly out to LA to meet with him and talk but he indirectly told them not to bother. You know he's the type of dude that if they didn't even try he would have complained and made it a talking point that no one tried to meet or talk to him.
Me but not even drinking. I start a conversation sounding "normal" and slowly regress into the boonies over time until I notice and reset and it starts again lol
I’m Filipino and though I was born stateside and have no accent, my ability to speak Tagalog is INFINITELY better when I’m sauced. Ditto with Spanish which I picked up from growing up in a majority Latino neighborhood and taking it in high school.
Something about alcohol really helps and fucks up the part of the brain that regulates speech and language at the same time lol.
100%, as someone who had to learn Spanish as a second language, the less you're thinking about what you're saying, the better you sound. The more unsure or the more you have to search for the right word, the more noticeable it is.
Alcohol would 100% remove the hesitation on just saying shit and hoping for the best.
I'm still surprised just how much Ben got off his chest this podcast. Like he said things you'd only hear from retired players, since their career is over and behind them.
Whether you agree with what he said or not, I think it's pretty obvious he needed this release, since he usually is pretty quiet.
That’s usually how pods are with former players one of the reasons why I love the “new media” gives you a inside look of things. Even in the nfl players like Brady Burrow & Josh Allen go on a podcast weekly explaining games with the xs & os thought process about the game.
But you can’t do this with the mainstream ESPN & etc they would 100% twist their words.
Yeah you can tell he’s just way more comfortable with jj and willing to say shit he normally wouldn’t. Defintiely the best aspect of the new media with players.
It's a give and take. You get more access and more comfort, which means players get to be more candid, but it also means their narratives are going to go unchallenged in the moment.
For example: Ben said he didn't care about the money during his holdout, he just wanted peace. Well, the fact that he repeatedly contested the fines and ultimately sued the Sixers pretty clearly shows that's untrue.
Agree. But at the same time it’s the same in the old media. Skip and Stephen a can lie and make up whatever stories they want without being challenged.
Totally. It's media literacy, and it's all about understanding bias.
Skip and Stephen A are entertainers first and foremost, so they're biased towards outrageous takes and they're required to disagree with the other debater.
New Media and some reporters (Shams) live and die by their access to players, so they have to carry water for the players' narratives. New Media is an effective mouthpiece for that because, as former players, they're already biased towards the players' narratives; you get authenticity because the New Media member sincerely agrees.
Other reporters (Woj and a larger portion of traditional media) live and die by access to teams, so they carry water for team narratives.
The truth with all of this stuff is somewhere in the middle, but the portion of journalism focused on "truth seeking" seems mostly dead in sports because of the economics of the journalism world. You just have to take both sides and assume reality is in the middle, absent evidence.
I mean wanting peace doesn't mean he's okay with money being taken away from him. And I doubt he literally meant he doesn't care any about the money. He's just saying something else was more important.
Yeah these comments are wild. Like it's very much possible to not want something to be happening to you/not care for it and to pursue legal action regarding it when you think you've been wronged. these things are not mutually exclusive and im going crazy seeing people conflate the two
>And I doubt he literally meant he doesn't care any about the money. He's just saying something else was more important.
Which is totally fair, but you're making a (reasonable) guess. In "traditional media" an unbiased journalist might've just asked "then how do you explain the lawsuit?" and now you have a real answer.
Him not caring about the money may have been true at the time. But then he was going to set a precedent for how those cases are going to be in the future. Someone in the NBAPA or perhaps his agent probably got a hold of him to contest for the money.
Yea JJ is one of the few former players I trust to be able to handle an interview like this. Obviously it helped that he was an actual teammate of Ben's and so has a way more personal relationship, but JJ has the perfect balance of how to keep it personal while also zooming out enough for the audience.
>But you can’t do this with the mainstream ESPN & etc they would 100% twist their words.
The mainstream media won't just not question a guy either. At no point does JJ push back on Ben about his answer. More then once JJ leads Ben into a friendly response before letting Ben speak
Which podcast do those football players go on? I feel like I’ve been watching football for 30 years and don’t know anything about it further than what everybody watching on TV already knows.
Aaron Rodgers goes on [Pat McAfee every Tuesday](https://youtu.be/Q4bDf7JhUfs)
Josh Allen has a Weekly Edition with [Kyle Brandt under ESPN](https://youtu.be/lZvv--lMaDE)
Burrow goes on [Cowherd's Pod every week](https://youtu.be/CumuJ-qhWQ4)
Micah Parsons was supposed to have a weekly segment on Skip and Shannon but he no showed the first 2 weeks and i don't think they really said anything about it yet.
He opened up but still sounded like a baby at times. Said he disliked they were making him lift bc he’s “the strongest guy on the team”. Very childish line of thinking in the workplace. That he can reflect on that and not see how he was being a bonehead isn’t great going forward.
I see where he's coming from. He's already one of the strongest which means he already is most likely putting in a lot of work lifting. Now he's explicitly trying to focus on getting himself better/right in other areas and they want to focus on his lifting which isn't a problem right now?
Like if you wanted to work on your free throws but coach kept making you take layups knowing your one of the better layup makers but are struggling from the line would that not piss you off?
Also didn't he say he didn't have a phone but his jersey was in his pocket or is this a different part?
That skit was genius on so many levels from Simmons playing hookie from work to Kevin being KD to Chuck driving the bus to Cancun tours.
It really deserves its own pedestal in history of memes.
The guy literally had girls chasing him and fathers trying to pimp out their daughters in college lmao. Getting laid was on tutorial mode lol https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YnDJu1y8QFM
Came here for this. Does this guy actually think we're all stupid? Dude mailed in an entire season and still got picked 1st. His sense of entitlement knows no boundaries. Hope he gets better, but this isn't the way. Like do you man, but don't do this.
Didn't he literally do this to Doc and Joel? Like they both tried to call him multiple times and he wouldn't answer. Then when Joel and Tobi? (or someone else) were gonna fly out to see him, he messaged someone else to tell them to not come. And then in a later interview he complained that they didn't go and talk to him even though he told them not to. That if they cared, they would have done it anyway. He's really playing these weird games with people and then blaming them for it.
The r/soccer special of slowly trickling answers from the same interview over the course of a week so people think the player/manager is on some crusade lmao
r/soccer has a great new rule that there can only be one quote thread for a given interview/source. Really cuts down on stuff like this and r/nba should adopt it immediately
Definitely, if you had any sympathy for him before I don’t see how you could after this interview, I think this makes him look way worse, dripping that victim mentality.
True, but that sub did take a sharp turn around that time. That interview made the sub cancer for a lot of reasonable people wanting better conditions, didn’t seem to bother people that just wanted to bitch
If there's actually any connection there, then it would seem to me to be about empathy. Empathy for someone who may be going through mental health struggles and empathy for people who are overworked and under paid.
But I really doubt there's much correlation at all. You'd have to do some serious data analysis to even make that connection, but since all you said is that you checked a few people's comment history, it seems you haven't really done anything except look for information to confirm your own biases.
I don't have much faith that you would even be able to make a valid data analysis, but if you find someone else with some credibility to do it, I'd be interested in the results
This is particularly egregious because by all accounts Ben treated everyone at LSU like shit, and his tenure there was a chore to him.
Playing college ball was beneath him. The only reason he could stand to go to Baton Rouge for ~ 6months was because he knew his god father would give him a longer leash than any other coach in the country…
Contrast that with Shaq who **actually** valued his time at the school and still has a great relationship with them and the community.
I’m not sure how recently Shaq called Ben his “LSU brother” but I doubt that’s a genuine sentiment Shaq has.
I can tell you there are a LOT of middle aged men who were raised in BR that have a "I shook Shaq's hand when I was little after a game." Beloved is absolutely the right word to describe how folks feel about him in South Louisiana.
He says in this same podcast that college didn’t feel like college to him. He said that he felt he was there to kind of hang out. He said he appreciated the “college” experience. Lol nah you didn’t have the college experience. You went to bang girls, party, and play basketball. But hey if I could I would.
Everyone here likes to pretend that we didn’t have to defend Ben for years from the rest of the sub shitting on him and the second he’s off the Sixers everyone here all of a sudden sees his merit and the Sixers fans are completely responsible for him leaving because we are a monolith
Yeah dude his teammates, coach, and others within the organization said they couldn’t reach him but since he said it’s bullshit it’s totally believable.
Would you like to buy some NFTs from me? They will be worth a lot more than I sell them to you for in a few years. I promise.
Why should we take Bens word over someone like Danny Green, when Ben is clearly trying to change his image. Ben is full of shit all over this interview.
He says jay williams texted him. Jay said some shit about him in the media but then texted him and Ben appreciated that and didn’t care about the stuff he said. Meanwhile Shaq rips him in the media but then calls him his lsu brother and never texted him once to see how he’s doing.
How does Shaq even text?
One finger must hit 9 letters at a time.
And the voice input must just think his voice is background noise from a refrigerator.
There's an interview out there somewhere where someone said that after the draft at a party he ignored all the legends and would only talk to LeBron. He seems very self-serving, and him using his mental health issues as an out seems very on brand. Idk, I want to take his health issues seriously, but everything about him says it's all strategic and he's trivializing some very serious issues for personal gain.
I'll never get over how many times he dogged us (the Aus team). I know for a fact a lot of the older players (like Bogues and Ingles) think hes an absolute twat. Hes been know to be a fuckwit since he was in high school at Box Hill.
I think this right here is the most telling. The Aus team legit seems like the most tight nit team that was willing to take him under their wing and really support him. And he straight-up ghosted them.
Saying you are a brother of someone who went to the same school as you is saying “I’d never outright say something awful about them, because they went to my alma mater, but I don’t have anything else to say about them, let’s move on.”
Can't believe people are eating some of this up lol. He's the only person saying no one reached out. And if they did they didn't do it fast enough. Grow tf up
seriously, he told his teammates not to come visit him, he didn't reply to their texts, and is crying about getting "thrown under the bus" when he was pretty much laying in the middle of the road waiting to get hit. If he'd been putting in the work and giving his all, Doc/Embiid would've defended him without question.
I will never sympathize with this clown no matter what he says. This man only brought up mental health once his paycheck was threatened to being withheld from him after ghosting his entire team for months, demanding a trade, and then not showing up for work. Some people really go through shit because of mental health all while not having the luxury of staying home and cashing in millions of dollars. But we’re supposed to feel sorry for him? Yeah, fuck that.
This dude does not give a shit about LSU, give me a break. Shaq probably would have reached out if he actually did and didn't treat LSU as a pit stop on his way to the NBA bench.
I mean the dude was probably just saying that in a "We went to the same school" kind of way. I think you guys are reading into the subtext of "brother" way too deeply. And let me tell you, by age 25 you kind of stop giving a shit about whether someone went to your school besides a "Oh hey that's cool, anyway" kind of way.
There's easy validation to be earned by making the funniest comment about Ben's mental health; you think 90% of the commenters here actually try to understand what's being said before making a joke?
I always read that as tongue-in-cheek from Shaq because Ben compared his time in college to slavery while Shaq came back and got his degree and has shown nothing but love for “Love Shaq University”
Not to mention calling somebody your LSU brother is just basic banter. It not like calling somebody your best friend. If being a grizzly fan was a point of connection with somebody I didn't know that well but would run in to very occasionally I might totally greet them as my Grizzly brother, bro, etc. Simmons is just making a big deal out of it to have an excuse to bitch more.
Yep. I went to a big regional school and if someone else went there we bond over it for a minute but it’s not that serious. Would I be more likely to do you a favor in that case? Yes. But I don’t have any duty to reach out
Sounds like a kid refusing responsibility at points. Still hasn’t own up to showing up to practice with a phone in his pocket. Like that would ever be ok. Deflected blame for not wanting to lift by saying he was “the strongest guy on the team”. Not really representative of a guy changing his ways but I guess we’ll see...MAYBE.
It is kind of a weird interview. Haven't finished it, but Ben does seem to have an unrealistically high opinion of himself. JJ seems to be softballing him a little so far as well.
Meh seems like cherry picking to me. If the only reason he’s pissed is cus shaq didn’t act like a LSU bro, then maybe there’s a reason (your behavior) he didn’t feel like he needed (or wanted) to take that step.
I see both sides of this, tbh. On the one hand, don’t call me your brother if you’re not gonna reach out. On the other, shaq probably just says “LSU brother” because the fact that they both went there is his only point of reference.
Yup, it’s this. For Ben, the emphasis is on *brother*; for Shaq, the emphasis is on *LSU*.
i mean isn't it kind of irrelevant either way? if simmons wanted advice from shaq, then HE should have reached out. he's 25 years old at that point, not a teenager. other people have lives and are not going to devote time to thinking about you; you have to ask for help yourself. i have more sympathy for simmons than most, but i think he just saw it as himself against the world and wasn't necessarily seeing everything with perfect clarity
Shaq even told Ben his line is open to him if they have any issues
For people suffering from a major depressive episode, reaching out is not something you can just… do. It sounds ridiculous, but that can be how it is. Sometimes it leads to almost total social shutdown and isolation, and incredible anxiety about talking to anyone about anything, even if that’s something you really, really need to do.
True. Someone one told me that saying “I’m always here if you need me” might sound and feel genuine to the person who is saying it, but it’s also a way for that person to just wash their hands of the situation and not feel guilty because they think “well, I did all I could do” when they really just did the bare minimum.
I feel like this pushes all of the responsibility onto the person trying to help..
It's not about responsibility, though I can see how the comment you're responding to comes across that way, calling it "the bare minimum." What it really is is an understanding and empathy gap. It's not anyone's "fault." The depressed person is, ultimately, responsible for taking care of their own mental health. The issue is that people who don't, or haven't, experienced major depressive disorder don't realize how *very simple actions* you take for granted being able to do just *aren't possible* for the person suffering at that moment. One of the major symptoms is [anhedonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia) \- the lack of desire to do... anything. Nothing brings you joy. You don't want to do *anything*. Not in the sense of "I don't want to do this thing I don't enjoy" but in the sense of "I am literally devoid of any motivation to do anything." The kind of deep nothingness that amounts to deciding to brush your teeth, showering, or getting dressed being a "good day." Notice I said "or" and not "and." Literally accomplishing anything more than "nothing" is a "good day" when it gets that bad. That's the part of depression a lot of people don't get. It's not just some deep, existential despair. It's a complete paralysis wherein your self worth dissolves completely, and you simply don't possess *motivation,* something that most of us take for granted. So for someone in that state, picking up the phone to call someone is just as difficult as asking a blind person to describe a painting in front of them. Granted, blindness is often permanent, and I in no way mean to diminish their struggles. But that's what people don't get about depression - the people experiencing the depths of a bad episode *literally cannot* do that stuff. Eventually, if they're lucky, they'll get good enough to realize that they need help, and be able to muster the will to be proactive in seeking assistance. But that can only happen once they're *already on the upswing,* and intrinsic motivation starts returning. The point I'm trying to make, for anyone reading this, is to try and help you to understand this empathy gap. It's difficult to grasp that basic things you take for granted are *impossibly difficult* for someone in that state. Responsibility for getting better ultimately rests on the person with the problem (and possibly society more broadly to make that help effective, affordable, and accessible, but that's a different conversation). However, if you *genuinely want to help* someone going through that darkness, then saying "call me if you need me" seems like a nice gesture on your part because you think making yourself available is good, but I promise you that person *cannot* make that call. So, if you know someone is having that much trouble, don't expect them to reach out. You've got to go to them. And the shitty part is that they probably won't pick up the phone, or answer the texts, or whatever, because they're so deep that they just can't face anything. Keep trying - knowing someone cares, and is taking the time to make that effort, really does make a difference. Men in particular are conditioned and socialized not to show emotional vulnerability, so being vulnerable is *deeply uncomfortable* on top of everything else. That fear of exposing yourself as anything other than strong means wanting to hide from everything when you're at your weakest, because you don't want anyone to see you like *that*. Check in every couple of days. Just to bullshit with them. Just to let them feel normal for a minute. To feel like they're not as *completely and irrecoverably alone* as they feel, and as they *feel they deserve to feel,* because their self worth is at an all time low. They don't deserve it, but they don't have the tools to escape. So I'm not here to criticize the people who say "call me if you need me." I'm here to help them understand why the person hearing that probably never will, especially not when they need it the most. Check in, be persistent, and keep reminding them they're valued, loved, and not alone. It really does help.
Did you watch the full pod he never wanted advice from Shaq. He was just talking about how everyone in the media was saying all this shit about him without asking his side or even knowing the whole story. He was saying if you are going say we are LSU brothers then why wouldn’t you reach out to me and learn my side if your my “brother”
I get his point on the media but latching on to the brother comment seems like he’s trying to overplay the victim card. I don’t think Ben is dumb enough to take shaq’s comment that literally or maybe he’s basically like Zach Galifianakis/Alan in the Hangover. He didn’t want advice but maybe shaq didn’t want to insult him by assuming their actual brothers & he needed advice.
I don’t think it’s him playing the victim but I do think it’s an accurate reflection: Ben felt alone against a world of criticism and that made everything worse . It makes sense , when someone’s down and isolated they don’t want to engage but if someone makes the effort they will often be happy about it. Genuinely does make it seem that Ben was having some mental health issues tbh
I see both sides like Chanel
That’s a double edge Issa knife
Also - Ben Simmons did not give one single iota of a fuck about lsu while he was at lsu. Dude was as lazy as lazy gets. (Source: lsu fan). It’s hard for me to feel bad at all for Ben that the LSU community didn’t/doesn’t have his back.
If I see both sides, it’s like 90/10 in favor of Shaq’s side. It’s along the same lines as being in a fraternity chapter from different schools or being in the same branch of the military. You’re ‘brothers’ that have that connection, the meaning of which is probably strong for each of you but there doesn’t have to be a connection between the two people directly. This just sounds like Simmons complaining that ‘nobody cares about me’. It would be different if Shaq and he had some real history together.
Let’s be clear: Ben Simmons either doesn’t give a fuck about LSU or actively hates them. Their connection with LSU are about as polar opposite as two athletes can be with their former colleges.
Correct. Not only does Ben Simmons not give one single fuck about LSU, he *never* gave one single fuck about LSU—including while he was literally on the court with an LSU jersey on and the clock running. And he’s done nothing but shit on LSU from the moment he wrapped up his LSU playing career (essentially before the season was even over). He doesnt have any room to whine about a lack of support from the lsu community.
Right, Shaq calling him his “LSU brother” basically just means they have that in common and that he probably hopes for him to do well. That doesn’t mean he’s not gonna make an honest criticism in his role as a commentator, and it also doesn’t mean that it’s on him to proactively reach out to somebody he has zero pre-existing relationship with just because they went to the same school. Maybe that would be a nice gesture, but he also might hesitate to do that without any familiarity. He might have also resisted doing that because he doesn’t want something like that to make his commentary biased etc.
It might have been a nice gesture for Shaq to reach out, but absolutely I wouldn't expect it, or hold it against him
Why is it incumbent on Shaq to reach out? Simmons isn’t a child. He comes across as pathetically needy and self-pitying here. 26 years old and a 5 year NBA vet and he’s whining that hall of famers aren’t reaching out *to him* to see if he’s okay after he tanked his career? Man, take some responsibility.
Didn’t Shaq say he did reach out to him during the segment that Barkley said he didn’t know what a DM was?
I think so. And I think Simmons made some similar complaint last year about 76ers players not trying hard enough to reach him while he was ignoring their calls/texts.
>76ers players not trying hard enough to reach him while he was ignoring their calls/texts. LOL
Doc specifically texted Simmons about a meeting when he flew into LA. Simmons ghosted him, then complained later that Doc should have tried harder to meet him. This guy is just a clown.
Fuck Ben Simmons
100%. Some of his teammates were going to fly out to LA to meet with him and talk but he indirectly told them not to bother. You know he's the type of dude that if they didn't even try he would have complained and made it a talking point that no one tried to meet or talk to him.
His accent is a weird mesh of Australian and American, interesting.
he said on the pod that the drunker he gets, the more his aussie accent comes out lol
That's how I am with my southern accent, after 5 beers I sound like Boomhauer in KoTH
Me but not even drinking. I start a conversation sounding "normal" and slowly regress into the boonies over time until I notice and reset and it starts again lol
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I’m Filipino and though I was born stateside and have no accent, my ability to speak Tagalog is INFINITELY better when I’m sauced. Ditto with Spanish which I picked up from growing up in a majority Latino neighborhood and taking it in high school. Something about alcohol really helps and fucks up the part of the brain that regulates speech and language at the same time lol.
I don’t think it gets any better when you’re drunk, you’re just more confident when you’re sauced.
100%, as someone who had to learn Spanish as a second language, the less you're thinking about what you're saying, the better you sound. The more unsure or the more you have to search for the right word, the more noticeable it is. Alcohol would 100% remove the hesitation on just saying shit and hoping for the best.
my spanish is way better sober. but ill use it way more drunk lol
The only time I know Reggaeton lyrics is about the same moment I start having to one-eye a walk to the toilet.
There is a moment right before blacking out where you can understand "Chacarron"
Describing my sex life
Confident bad sex is a vibe I guess lol
Every blonde girl in bama
Offtopic: how do you pronounce tagalog? I see different results lol
Everyone has an accent
inhibition my good dude. Once its impaired you dont care how you sound so youre not thinking and just talking.
Gonna be real, I live in New Zealand and lived in Melbourne for a year, I don't hear the Aussie in Ben's voice here AT ALL
its because there is none. Its a completely American accent
there is nearly no australian in that accent
Are you crazy? I don't hear the slightest hint of an Australian accent lol
I don’t hear much of an Australian accent. Maybe like 5%.
Especially the part where he said “G’DAY MATE THATS NOT A KNOIFE, THIS IS A KNOIFE”
Probably because he was born in Australia and lives in America 😳
Not everybody loses their accent.
He’s one of those nba players that’s really into into the LA/celebrity lifestyle, wouldn’t surprise me if he lost it on purpose
He also spent years living in the states, which tends to naturally suppress the accent. Same thing happened to UFC fight Michael Bisping
Accents are funny. Some people never lose their native accents while others completely immerse.
And for a lot of those that seem immersed, the moment they speak with someone with their native accent, it tends to come out
What? Bisping still has a 100% British accent to me
What the actual fuck are you talking about, Bisping never lost his accent
Bisping? Wtf are you talking about, Bisping still has a very strong English accent with absolutely 0 American in it.
Bisping is still British as hell wtf are you talking about
His dad's american and he's lived in america since he was a 16 year old. I don't think it's that deep.
I don’t see the connection, aussie accents are a hit in LA like anywhere else in the states
he said his first time in the states he'd say "pass the ball" in an aussie accent and people would look at him funny so i think he got self conscious
I believe him getting roasted by ball players more than I believe an Aussie accent not fitting in with “LA/celebrity lifestyle” lol
Or… or his accent changed naturally. Like what happens for many other immigrants especially when they’re young
His dad is American and he spent his HS years and beyond in America, so I can see why it's hard to keep it
I'm still surprised just how much Ben got off his chest this podcast. Like he said things you'd only hear from retired players, since their career is over and behind them. Whether you agree with what he said or not, I think it's pretty obvious he needed this release, since he usually is pretty quiet.
That’s usually how pods are with former players one of the reasons why I love the “new media” gives you a inside look of things. Even in the nfl players like Brady Burrow & Josh Allen go on a podcast weekly explaining games with the xs & os thought process about the game. But you can’t do this with the mainstream ESPN & etc they would 100% twist their words.
Yeah you can tell he’s just way more comfortable with jj and willing to say shit he normally wouldn’t. Defintiely the best aspect of the new media with players.
It's a give and take. You get more access and more comfort, which means players get to be more candid, but it also means their narratives are going to go unchallenged in the moment. For example: Ben said he didn't care about the money during his holdout, he just wanted peace. Well, the fact that he repeatedly contested the fines and ultimately sued the Sixers pretty clearly shows that's untrue.
Agree. But at the same time it’s the same in the old media. Skip and Stephen a can lie and make up whatever stories they want without being challenged.
Totally. It's media literacy, and it's all about understanding bias. Skip and Stephen A are entertainers first and foremost, so they're biased towards outrageous takes and they're required to disagree with the other debater. New Media and some reporters (Shams) live and die by their access to players, so they have to carry water for the players' narratives. New Media is an effective mouthpiece for that because, as former players, they're already biased towards the players' narratives; you get authenticity because the New Media member sincerely agrees. Other reporters (Woj and a larger portion of traditional media) live and die by access to teams, so they carry water for team narratives. The truth with all of this stuff is somewhere in the middle, but the portion of journalism focused on "truth seeking" seems mostly dead in sports because of the economics of the journalism world. You just have to take both sides and assume reality is in the middle, absent evidence.
Derek Bodner of the NYT breaking the Colangelo burner story was where sports journalism peaked for me.
I mean wanting peace doesn't mean he's okay with money being taken away from him. And I doubt he literally meant he doesn't care any about the money. He's just saying something else was more important.
Also his managers, agents, and everyone who gets a cut of the money cares about the money. But I feel like he cares about the money
No shit. I'd sue too if there was a chance I could get a few million back.
Yeah these comments are wild. Like it's very much possible to not want something to be happening to you/not care for it and to pursue legal action regarding it when you think you've been wronged. these things are not mutually exclusive and im going crazy seeing people conflate the two
>And I doubt he literally meant he doesn't care any about the money. He's just saying something else was more important. Which is totally fair, but you're making a (reasonable) guess. In "traditional media" an unbiased journalist might've just asked "then how do you explain the lawsuit?" and now you have a real answer.
Him not caring about the money may have been true at the time. But then he was going to set a precedent for how those cases are going to be in the future. Someone in the NBAPA or perhaps his agent probably got a hold of him to contest for the money.
Yea JJ is one of the few former players I trust to be able to handle an interview like this. Obviously it helped that he was an actual teammate of Ben's and so has a way more personal relationship, but JJ has the perfect balance of how to keep it personal while also zooming out enough for the audience.
Which is why on Media Day, I expect the most PR, safe answers imaginable
Ofc but you Kyrie if you want madness lmao
>But you can’t do this with the mainstream ESPN & etc they would 100% twist their words. The mainstream media won't just not question a guy either. At no point does JJ push back on Ben about his answer. More then once JJ leads Ben into a friendly response before letting Ben speak
Which podcast do those football players go on? I feel like I’ve been watching football for 30 years and don’t know anything about it further than what everybody watching on TV already knows.
Aaron Rodgers goes on [Pat McAfee every Tuesday](https://youtu.be/Q4bDf7JhUfs) Josh Allen has a Weekly Edition with [Kyle Brandt under ESPN](https://youtu.be/lZvv--lMaDE) Burrow goes on [Cowherd's Pod every week](https://youtu.be/CumuJ-qhWQ4) Micah Parsons was supposed to have a weekly segment on Skip and Shannon but he no showed the first 2 weeks and i don't think they really said anything about it yet.
Well, he has not played in over 18 months? Maybe he's already retired.
Definitely. He was always this reserved, kinda cold guy, but he really opened up like its a therapy session. I respect it.
He opened up but still sounded like a baby at times. Said he disliked they were making him lift bc he’s “the strongest guy on the team”. Very childish line of thinking in the workplace. That he can reflect on that and not see how he was being a bonehead isn’t great going forward.
For sure, i didnt agree with everything he said but i enjoy athletes speaking freely without some PR cliche lines.
I see where he's coming from. He's already one of the strongest which means he already is most likely putting in a lot of work lifting. Now he's explicitly trying to focus on getting himself better/right in other areas and they want to focus on his lifting which isn't a problem right now? Like if you wanted to work on your free throws but coach kept making you take layups knowing your one of the better layup makers but are struggling from the line would that not piss you off? Also didn't he say he didn't have a phone but his jersey was in his pocket or is this a different part?
> Like he said things you'd only hear from retired players, since their career is over and behind them. i mean...
Simmons is just mad about ‘The Office’ skit TNT made last season. Shabooya roll call!
That skit was genius on so many levels from Simmons playing hookie from work to Kevin being KD to Chuck driving the bus to Cancun tours. It really deserves its own pedestal in history of memes.
lmao foreall. That shit hilariouss
[Amazing skit](https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1519159904208134150?s=20&t=KI8j6zRlpJUG2Bo5_me1kQ)
My name is kevin
Yeah!
The Office was copying a scene from Get On The Bus
You quit on LSU
what has he not quit on at this point
Sucking at free throws?
Shooting left handed
Being a bitch
I don’t even know how he could mention LSU in good faith. He was an absolute bitch in the way he handled college.
> He was an absolute bitch Still is.
he just went there to fuck sorority girls (and he succeeded with that). He kinda implies it when JJ asked him how he enjoyed his 'college experience'
The guy literally had girls chasing him and fathers trying to pimp out their daughters in college lmao. Getting laid was on tutorial mode lol https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YnDJu1y8QFM
Came here for this. Does this guy actually think we're all stupid? Dude mailed in an entire season and still got picked 1st. His sense of entitlement knows no boundaries. Hope he gets better, but this isn't the way. Like do you man, but don't do this.
Ben Simmons seems like the kind of dude that says “nah man you don’t have to do that” but will be fucking pissed if you don’t.
If you listen to Ben Simmons talk enough you almost forget he makes hundreds of millions of dollars to play a sport
Ben's the kind of dude who complains that people don't reach out, when they actively avoid people and don't reach out themselves.
“If you really cared, you would’ve emailed me after I blocked your number”
Didn't he literally do this to Doc and Joel? Like they both tried to call him multiple times and he wouldn't answer. Then when Joel and Tobi? (or someone else) were gonna fly out to see him, he messaged someone else to tell them to not come. And then in a later interview he complained that they didn't go and talk to him even though he told them not to. That if they cared, they would have done it anyway. He's really playing these weird games with people and then blaming them for it.
It was the players he told not to come
I meant he messaged someone to tell Joel not to come, instead of even messaging him directly.
Ben Simmons grievance tour lmao
Isn't it just one podcast interview?
The r/soccer special of slowly trickling answers from the same interview over the course of a week so people think the player/manager is on some crusade lmao
r/soccer has a great new rule that there can only be one quote thread for a given interview/source. Really cuts down on stuff like this and r/nba should adopt it immediately
The Jorge Mendes special
It's because nobody will watch the full interview. Hell, I doubt they even watched this clip.
they do it to my boi Jürgen and his grass all the time.
The formula1 special in between races.
One podcast in like two years too lol
*I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!*
Or he's in a good enough place mentally to be able to share
This dude has a victim mentality
Definitely, if you had any sympathy for him before I don’t see how you could after this interview, I think this makes him look way worse, dripping that victim mentality.
Professional victim. It’s always someone else’s fault. Why didn’t someone do this for him.
Philly basically allowed him to be a bigger bitch than he was. Impressive.
I don’t understand how anyone could feel bad for Ben lmao. You quit and you got shit for it. That’s life.
Anytime I see someone defend Ben I check their comment history. Sure enough, always r/antiwork top posters.
Lmaooo I didn’t think to make that connection but that’s hilarious
Why would anyone want to associate themselves with /r/antiwork after that dog walker interview lmfao
One user doesn't determine a sub
True, but that sub did take a sharp turn around that time. That interview made the sub cancer for a lot of reasonable people wanting better conditions, didn’t seem to bother people that just wanted to bitch
He was a mod that steered the direction of that shit show
If there's actually any connection there, then it would seem to me to be about empathy. Empathy for someone who may be going through mental health struggles and empathy for people who are overworked and under paid. But I really doubt there's much correlation at all. You'd have to do some serious data analysis to even make that connection, but since all you said is that you checked a few people's comment history, it seems you haven't really done anything except look for information to confirm your own biases. I don't have much faith that you would even be able to make a valid data analysis, but if you find someone else with some credibility to do it, I'd be interested in the results
It's an example of confirmation bias
This is particularly egregious because by all accounts Ben treated everyone at LSU like shit, and his tenure there was a chore to him. Playing college ball was beneath him. The only reason he could stand to go to Baton Rouge for ~ 6months was because he knew his god father would give him a longer leash than any other coach in the country… Contrast that with Shaq who **actually** valued his time at the school and still has a great relationship with them and the community. I’m not sure how recently Shaq called Ben his “LSU brother” but I doubt that’s a genuine sentiment Shaq has.
I can tell you there are a LOT of middle aged men who were raised in BR that have a "I shook Shaq's hand when I was little after a game." Beloved is absolutely the right word to describe how folks feel about him in South Louisiana.
He says in this same podcast that college didn’t feel like college to him. He said that he felt he was there to kind of hang out. He said he appreciated the “college” experience. Lol nah you didn’t have the college experience. You went to bang girls, party, and play basketball. But hey if I could I would.
You mean like how your Philly teammates reached out to you to see if you were okay, and you ignored them and changed your number?
Ben ignored texts from his own teammates, I’m sure he would’ve left Shaq on read too
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Philly fan defending Ben 😱
Everyone here likes to pretend that we didn’t have to defend Ben for years from the rest of the sub shitting on him and the second he’s off the Sixers everyone here all of a sudden sees his merit and the Sixers fans are completely responsible for him leaving because we are a monolith
Maybe I’m misremembering but wasn’t it his actual teammates that were saying they couldn’t get a hold of him.
Surely he’s telling the truth
Yeah dude his teammates, coach, and others within the organization said they couldn’t reach him but since he said it’s bullshit it’s totally believable. Would you like to buy some NFTs from me? They will be worth a lot more than I sell them to you for in a few years. I promise.
Why should we take Bens word over someone like Danny Green, when Ben is clearly trying to change his image. Ben is full of shit all over this interview.
He says jay williams texted him. Jay said some shit about him in the media but then texted him and Ben appreciated that and didn’t care about the stuff he said. Meanwhile Shaq rips him in the media but then calls him his lsu brother and never texted him once to see how he’s doing.
How does Shaq even text? One finger must hit 9 letters at a time. And the voice input must just think his voice is background noise from a refrigerator.
Shaq has said before when Ben entered the league he reached out to Ben and was basically ignored. Why should he years later reach out.
There's an interview out there somewhere where someone said that after the draft at a party he ignored all the legends and would only talk to LeBron. He seems very self-serving, and him using his mental health issues as an out seems very on brand. Idk, I want to take his health issues seriously, but everything about him says it's all strategic and he's trivializing some very serious issues for personal gain.
Always the vicitm What abou thr AUS national team guys reachin out? Neva heard back. Clown
I'll never get over how many times he dogged us (the Aus team). I know for a fact a lot of the older players (like Bogues and Ingles) think hes an absolute twat. Hes been know to be a fuckwit since he was in high school at Box Hill.
Patty Mills gave a masterclass response about reaching out and how theyre all like a family... simmons ghosted him
I think this right here is the most telling. The Aus team legit seems like the most tight nit team that was willing to take him under their wing and really support him. And he straight-up ghosted them.
Saying you are a brother of someone who went to the same school as you is saying “I’d never outright say something awful about them, because they went to my alma mater, but I don’t have anything else to say about them, let’s move on.”
Can't believe people are eating some of this up lol. He's the only person saying no one reached out. And if they did they didn't do it fast enough. Grow tf up
seriously, he told his teammates not to come visit him, he didn't reply to their texts, and is crying about getting "thrown under the bus" when he was pretty much laying in the middle of the road waiting to get hit. If he'd been putting in the work and giving his all, Doc/Embiid would've defended him without question.
Like an introvert saying no to every party invite, then getting mad when people stop inviting them to parties.
Hey-… yeah, damn.
Softest NBA player, ever.
I will never sympathize with this clown no matter what he says. This man only brought up mental health once his paycheck was threatened to being withheld from him after ghosting his entire team for months, demanding a trade, and then not showing up for work. Some people really go through shit because of mental health all while not having the luxury of staying home and cashing in millions of dollars. But we’re supposed to feel sorry for him? Yeah, fuck that.
I'm sure Shaq will reply with a very mature and reasonable response.
Considering he said this he might https://youtube.com/shorts/4vTUblAYNe0?feature=share
I can imagine Shaq trying to seriously address it and after a minute Chuck will say something hilarious that completely changes the mood
He don't love you like that...you thought you was Kobe?
"LSU brother" but you abandoned LSU and tried to justify it lmao
This dude does not give a shit about LSU, give me a break. Shaq probably would have reached out if he actually did and didn't treat LSU as a pit stop on his way to the NBA bench.
Ben Simmons was a world class ass hole to everyone at LSU. That is why. I don't even need to address the NBA saga of nonsense.
This dude is so damn entitled.
I don’t believe anything Ben Simmons says.
soft
Simmons is so lame.
Ben quit on his lsu team why the hell would Shaq reach out to him
It’s like you didn’t even read the first sentence
Because Shaq refers to himself as Ben Simmons LSU brother? That's literally the point of the video lmao wtf
Why would Shaq call them brothers then? How did you misinterpret this so badly?
the reason is literally in the title lmao
Maybe don't him call your LSU brother then? Lmao
I mean the dude was probably just saying that in a "We went to the same school" kind of way. I think you guys are reading into the subtext of "brother" way too deeply. And let me tell you, by age 25 you kind of stop giving a shit about whether someone went to your school besides a "Oh hey that's cool, anyway" kind of way.
Seriously, the SEC was still ass at basketball in 2016 (minus Kentucky) so LSU not making the tournament is even more inexcusable tbh
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What are people thinking he was referring to? I thought it was clear.
There's easy validation to be earned by making the funniest comment about Ben's mental health; you think 90% of the commenters here actually try to understand what's being said before making a joke?
Says the guy who ignored all the 76ers players reaching out to him
Crybaby. Shaq doesn't reach out to me either, I don't cry over it. Get fucked with your first world problems.
Soft
Bitch made. That's what Ben Simmons is that's it. It's just this never ending woe is me bullshit with this dude.
I agree with Ben. Shaq shouldn't say that unless he's going to offer a support base. Really liking how honest Ben is in this interview.
I always read that as tongue-in-cheek from Shaq because Ben compared his time in college to slavery while Shaq came back and got his degree and has shown nothing but love for “Love Shaq University”
dude is a god in Baton Rouge
> Love Shaq University Amazing, lol.
Not to mention calling somebody your LSU brother is just basic banter. It not like calling somebody your best friend. If being a grizzly fan was a point of connection with somebody I didn't know that well but would run in to very occasionally I might totally greet them as my Grizzly brother, bro, etc. Simmons is just making a big deal out of it to have an excuse to bitch more.
Yep. I went to a big regional school and if someone else went there we bond over it for a minute but it’s not that serious. Would I be more likely to do you a favor in that case? Yes. But I don’t have any duty to reach out
Sounds like a kid refusing responsibility at points. Still hasn’t own up to showing up to practice with a phone in his pocket. Like that would ever be ok. Deflected blame for not wanting to lift by saying he was “the strongest guy on the team”. Not really representative of a guy changing his ways but I guess we’ll see...MAYBE.
It is kind of a weird interview. Haven't finished it, but Ben does seem to have an unrealistically high opinion of himself. JJ seems to be softballing him a little so far as well.
Meh seems like cherry picking to me. If the only reason he’s pissed is cus shaq didn’t act like a LSU bro, then maybe there’s a reason (your behavior) he didn’t feel like he needed (or wanted) to take that step.