Danny Green does a podcast/web show with Harrison Sanford called Inside the Green Room. It airs on NBC Sports Philadelphia before landing on other platforms.

On the most recent episode, the pair talked about holdout teammate Ben Simmons, and Sanford asked Green if he felt like the Sixers needed to replicate Ben’s skill set in a possible trade, or if they could continue to play in this current fashion.

Green:

“Well the original approach was to try to get him to buy in. We saw him as a brother and as family and wanted him to still be a part of the team, and (say that we) feel like we have a really good chance of winning with him. That was the first approach, like ‘why do you want to be traded?’ And if he came to us that way and we tried to do everything we could to change his mind, but he still didn’t change his mind, then as family, as brothers, as friends, we would be like ‘we’re gonna find you the best scenario, where you can succeed, and it makes sense for both parties.'”

“Obviously those things never happened. Those conversations never happened. So these are all what ifs. But if that happened and we could find him a situation, we would look for something in return that can replicate what he brings to the floor and this team, which is really hard to find. He’s special. He’s a unicorn. He’s a very special player. People get on him and rag him and say ‘he was this, and this, and this,’ and (talk about) how bad he is. He’s a very good player and hard to replicate. There aren’t a lot of players in this league that can do what he does. That’s a tough situation and tough scenario and that’s why the higher ups have their hands full, and have hard decisions to make. It’s hard to find someone to replace him.” 

I spot no lies there. Ben’s skill set is unique. Uniquely frustrating but uniquely rewarding when he’s on his game. That’s always been the rub, right? You see so much potential in the guy as a 6’10” ball handler who can do so many great things. But the static non-growth of his offensive game was aggravating to experience, now here we are, on December 16th, halfway through another holdout month.

God willing, Daryl Morey does the deal, and soon.