For GQ, Philadelphia native Tyler Tynes spoke with Ben Simmons for an interesting story titled “Ben Simmons Explains Why SportsCenter Isn’t Allowed In His House, He Doesn’t Care About Scoring, and the Sixers Will Beat the Nets.”

It’s a good Q/A that covers a variety of topics, and Simmons gives some thoughtful answers. He’s come a long way from the 21-year-old rookie who would respond to media members with one sentence and/or treat the process with total indifference.

One of the best chunks of the piece is this exchange right here:

There’s a tension between the press, fans online and actual athletes who play the game. Do you find it frustrating that you see so many people outside of your team and your bubble who confidently want to tell you about yourself?

When I first came into the league, I read a lot more of it. But I’m at the stage now where I try to ignore everybody. I don’t go on Twitter. I don’t read too much into what people are saying about me. I don’t watch ESPN. I don’t watch SportsCenter, none of that. They’ll tell you, if someone puts ESPN in my house it’s going straight off.

Really?!

Yeah, I swear.

Immediately?!

There’s no SportsCenter, unless it’s a game going on or something like that. There’s no Stephen A., there’s none of that.

[An Australian man in the background begins yelling: “That’s confirmed! This is confirmation!”]

Yeah, turn that off. Turn that shit off [laughs]. That’s just how I am. It’s gone from people watching and enjoying sports and a couple of people talking, to you’re in Vegas and you see the tickers on the bottom of the screen explaining all these comments and what this guy or that guy did. Less is more, sometimes.

Can’t say I blame Simmons. There’s a lot of noise out there, and the way he plays the game has made him a lightning rod for discussion. It’s not all negative, and the talk is justified, but it doesn’t surprise me to learn that he’s attempting to tune it out. There’s very little on ESPN that you can’t find somewhere else these days, because long gone is the halcyon era of Stuart Scott just giving you the highlights without the bullshit. Now you’ve got hot takes and fake arguments on Get Up and First Take and those programs aren’t providing much of substance.

Anyway, it’s a good writeup that Sixers fans should check out. Here it is again:

https://twitter.com/TylerRickyTynes/status/1383096814371532800?s=20