Sixers

Dwight Howard Upset with the Things Being Said About Ben Simmons

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Nov 11th, 2021 · 8:41 AM EST

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Dwight Howard is with the Lakers this year. He actually fouled out in 11 minutes on Wednesday night, which seems like an impossible achievement.

But he played for the Sixers last year and got to know Ben Simmons, so he’s more than qualified to comment on the current hold out situation. Here’s what he had to say:

.@DwightHoward says he doesn’t like the blame that’s put on Ben Simmons in Philly 👀

(@hbomax) pic.twitter.com/V2i25HGAV2

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 10, 2021

There’s certainly a lot of truth to what Dwight is saying at the end there. In no way does Ben Simmons deserve a disproportionate share of the blame for that series loss. Tobias Harris was 8-24 in game seven. Joel Embiid had a second half earlier in the series where he couldn’t hit anything. Doc Rivers ran a 10-man rotation. There was plenty of blame to go around.

It’s interesting to hear Dwight talk about keeping things internal, that suggestion that people were going public with stuff that didn’t need to be public. That pairs with the comments made by Embiid and Rivers after game seven, which seemed to be a point of contention.

Everybody could have done a better job in that series. Ben could have participated in the second half offense. Harris could have shot the ball better. Embiid could have cut down on the turnovers. Doc could have coached better. So on and so forth.