God this sounds like it was written by a politician.

Colangelo doesn’t even attempt to address the report about Simmons’ January 23 MRI showing that his foot wasn’t fully healed, this despite the Sixers outright lying about it on their website the next day, saying Simmons’ scan was “clean.”

I don’t get it. Truly, I’m baffled. If the Sixers want to tank and grab another high lottery pick– fine. They obviously can’t come out and say YEP WE’RE DOING IT AGAIN, but there is nothing stopping them from being forthcoming about injuries or their needlessly prolonged recovery periods. I’m not a big they owe it to the fans guy. Sports are a business, too. But Jesus Christ, after 3+ years of tanking, the least they could do is not string us along for what seems to be the sole purprose of selling more tickets. That is taking such a short-term view on things– it’s almost laughable that career business guys would think it’s a good idea. They did it with Andrew Bynum. They did it with Joel Emiid. And now they’re doing it with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. There’s no other explanation. It’s flat-out shitty. It’s strategic. It pervades the entire organization, right on down to the high-pressure and super annoying sales guys. Here’s but yet another anecdote of their shittiness:

That was in response to my Tweet following up on our post from yesterday in which we explained that season ticket holders with seats in the risers behind the basket were told their tickets were going up 300% next season as their sections were being turned into a VIP area. That was for current season ticket holders. But last night, a reader emailed me and told me that, last week, he bought season tickets in the risers for next season at the advertised rate of $75 per ticket, paid his first of 12 installments, and then received a phone call in which the Sixers basically told him sorry:

I already purchased my Risers (section 108) season tickets last week for next years full season. Received a call today that the price was going up to 130% per ticket per game over what I agreed on and paid for. My options are either give them the difference or move to difference seats….

That’s screwed up. It’s one thing to displace current season ticket holders by making a change in seating layout, but it’s another to advertise and sell packages and then change your mind once you realize you can extract more money from the section. It seems to me that the Sixers had decided upon season ticket rates, began selling packages, and then at some point over the last month realized that demand was soaring and hastily added a VIP section, putting out the average fan who had already begun paying for the seats (!!!).

I reached out to a Sixers spokesperson yesterday seeking an explanation or clarification. I was told they’d call later in the day. As of this morning, I haven’t heard back. Rather, all anyone has gotten from the Sixers was that statement from Colangelo, which sucks.