If anybody cares, here’s actor Kevin Hart coming to Ben Simmons’ defense on the All the Smoke podcast:

Hart, in part:

“I’ll say this on record; Ben Simmons is a fucking star. Philadelphia, man, we’re a different city. A friend of mine, he’s had this joke, where he was at a football game, and at halftime, the guy’s got a frisbee and he’s just throwing it. The dog is supposed to be catching the frisbee. The dog dropped it a couple times, they start booing the fucking dog. It’s a dog! Philadelphia is just a different city, man. You gotta let players play like they play. He got there by playing how he plays. Granted, this a three (point) shooting time in the NBA. That ain’t Ben. He’s not that guy. He’s not that guy. Now, because of the media and how they, you know, position things, well somehow we forgot about all the good that he did. Wasn’t he an All-Star? Wasn’t he all-defensive team? What are we talking about?”

“I don’t like that in this time today we forget so fast. We forget so fast. That’s what this generation prides itself on.”

How many stereotypes and cop outs can Hart lean on in one answer? He’s talking about Philadelphia and booing. He’s blaming the media. He’s saying people don’t give credit where it’s due. People allegedly have short memories.

It should drive you crazy. Most media members in this town, not named Howard Eskin, bent over backward to be fair and point out all of the great things Ben Simmons did over the years. Passing, defending, running the floor, etc. And nobody forgets about “all the good” he did, fans just wanted to see him take the next step offensively, because he’s the same player now that he was in 2017, and that makes him a half court liability in these crucial, late game sets.

Ben Simmons decided not to show up to camp this year. He decided he wants out. Nobody forced him to do that. This has been on him from day one, so it’s got nothing to do with fans booing, or the media controlling the narrative, or anything like that.