Ben Simmons decided not to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, and Australia went on to finish third place without him.

Simmons also decided not to participate for his club team this season, and was kicked out of Sixers practice on Tuesday. All of the drama prompted a response from Australia’s coach Brian Goorjian, who said this via Nic Savage at News.com.au:

“I’m disappointed with Ben Simmons,” Goorjian told SEN Breakfast on Thursday. “I look at it and go God, man, please fix this and let this kid blossom

“It looks unattainable right now, though I don’t know that you can do anything other than (what the 76ers) did.

“You’ve got a guy who needs to be moved, how do you move him?

“That it’s at this point is horrible and I don’t have an answer to how you deal with a situation like that.

“He’s special, and he’s a tremendous talent, and I would love and I hope that the opportunity presents itself or he gets to a situation where he can show who he is.

“He’s also a very good teammate. He’s been criticised … (but) he’s conscious of getting other people involved in the game. It’s what he does.

“It’s not my situation, but I look at the kid as being part of our family.”

Not a lot of Ben supporters left. Some holdout blue checkmarks on Twitter. Contrarian talking heads like Emmanuel Acho. Most of the people who were on Simmons’ side reluctantly gave up when he was tossed from practice the other day, and would probably admit that the situation is beyond untenable. That doesn’t mean the Sixers don’t have some culpability in this, because they certainly do, but it’s hard to defend Ben at this point.