ME
Years ago

Rumour: Ben Simmons has pulled out of exhibition games

Just when I thought things couldn't get more woeful, I'm met with the apparent news that now Ben Simmons has also pulled out of the warm up games, via a comment made by Daniel Eade on Twitter.

In reply to someone's comment on a video showing Ben shooting jump shots, Daniel said he'd just got a message saying that Ben is out for the warm up games. He didn't say who from, but he seems adamant that this is the case.

If this is true, the entire USA/Australia series is a farce. As much as any naysayer might say that we were never going to get the absolute best of the best, I don't think anyone expected a team full of Americans that no one recognizes, and a Boomers team without Ben Simmons, Thon Maker or Broekhoff.

The whole thing has turned into the biggest joke in Australian sports right now. We have 100,000 tickets sold to a game with no recognizable names playing in it. This has proven to be the ultimate in over-promising and under-delivering and the credibility of Australian basketball in the public is well and truly in danger.

The reasons as to why Ben has pulled out now could be anyone's guess. Maybe Lemanis has decided he wants to really hone on the world cup and he can't have the Ben Simmons circus? Maybe comments Bogut made about the situation being a "conundrum" has caused some sort of offense on Ben's part? Maybe Ben would rather run around playing meaningless pick up games in his off-season? Whatever the reason, the effects on the Boomers and basketball in Australia cannot be overstated.

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PerthPlanet  
Years ago

Daniel Eade knows a thing or two, but I'd doubt he’d be the source to break this news.

Reply #752498 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It's better if he doesn’t, building chemistry is more important.

Reply #752499 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Aussie fans are already a bit iffy on him after already pulling out once and pulling out of the world cup after a big public commitment. If he pulls out again he's going to quickly be one of the most hated aussie athletes for a little while. Surely he won't damage his brand and reputation by pulling out again.

Reply #752501 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

No Aussie athlete can be hated more than kyrigos. Guy is a complete muppet.

Reply #752502 | Report this post


perfwerld  
Years ago

ME, do you actually follow the NBA? because I do and I recognise every player named in the squad by Team USA. Also did you really expect to have a full Boomers contingent in a non Olympic year? You have blokes playing for their careers in the NBA (Maker and Broekhoff) and another bloke signing the largest contract ever seen by an Australian athlete in Simmons so why would they give up what is effectively their annual leave to come play exhibition games with nothing to actually gain but bragging rights, if its the Olympics different story but it's not.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

"No Aussie athlete can be hated more than kyrigos. Guy is a complete muppet."

I said he would be 'one of'. kyrgios and tomic would probably top the list lol

Reply #752504 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Talk is he wants to play for team USA

Reply #752506 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

I coud forgive Ben, if he weren't flip flopping constantly. Hard to see him having any dedication to an Olympic campaign when he has flip flopped 3 times so far over whether or not he's playing. And yeah, it's his life. His career. He can do what he likes. But don't expect me to believe him when he puts his hand up for the Olympics, or for me to like him if he does pull out of these exhibition matches. His constant changing of tune make him sound like a fuckwit. The exhibition games have turned into a joke, And a lot of people have put a lot of money into something that is not going to be anywhere near as good as advertized.

Reply #752507 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Most people here didn't want him to play the exhibition games if he wasn't going to play in the real ones so this should be seen as a good thing

Reply #752509 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Rumour has it that the Kardashians/Jenners are assembling a team of partners and exes and the bookies have already got them at shorter odds than the boomers to get a medal

Reply #752510 | Report this post


perfwerld  
Years ago

Talk that he wants to play for team USA doesn't matter since he's played for the Boomers already and there's recent precedence see Roy Hibbert being denied.

Reply #752512 | Report this post


perfwerld  
Years ago

So ME from your tone you're one of the people who bought tickets to these exhibition games?

Reply #752513 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

Yes I bought tickets. 500 bucks a pop for Kyle Kuzma.

Reply #752515 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

USA dont care they want him
All he has to is sit out rep games for another year and his in

Reply #752516 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

Yeah, look, that's bullshit. There is no evidence that Ben wants to play for Team USA. This is just trolling. Doesnt matter who wants to play where, once you've played for Australia, you're locked in.

But then again, there's decreasing evidence he wants to play for Australia right now. He's dicking Basketball Australia around because FIBA competition is not his priority, not because he wants to play for Team USA.

Reply #752517 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Yes I bought tickets. 500 bucks a pop for Kyle Kuzma.


I guess that's why they started advertising it so early in the year. No one was confirmed at that point. But made out we were getting the best players

Reply #752518 | Report this post


perfwerld  
Years ago

I feel for you but you just have to look at the previous offseasons of NBA players to know it wasn't going to be a priority. LeBron hasn't played for the national team since 2012, Steph Curry has played effectively an extra season in the past four years with playoffs and withdrew from the 2016 Olympics, Harden last played in 2014, Paul George since 2014 when he broke his leg.

Even with the Olympics you aren't getting anything close to a full Team USA so an offseason with exhibition games was never going to happen and then you have also had the biggest free agency/trade period of the last ten years happen as well

Reply #752527 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It would be bizarre if he didn't. He’s in Melbourne at the moment for at least the next few weeks. Very damaging to his brand. All he needs to do is show up and play a match one level beyond a pickup match.

Reply #752530 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Good old Aussie Ben!

Reply #752532 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Class action is looking tasty. Who is in?

Reply #752533 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

#boycottben

Reply #752535 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

FIBA want the basketball world cup to be as big as the FIFA world cup, FIFA pay $400 million in prize money, until FIBA can cough up that kind of cash, guys that earn 30 million a year aren't going to risk injury playing in that mickey mouse competition, also if they had played the world cup now, i reckon a lot more would suit up, playing it a month before the start of the NBA season has hurt the tournament also.

Reply #752536 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Daniel Eade chasing double digit retweets for the first time

Reply #752540 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I'll believe it when I see it. Pulling the pin on 100,000 fans from his hometown. The buyers of his merchandise from the country to has the most customers of LP, NBA store than any other. Not to mention the many fans beyond those attending watching and reading the media. I know that’s peanuts to his $180 mil deal but there’s gotta be some honour to his core fan base of Melbourne.

Reply #752544 | Report this post


Big Ads  
Years ago

So many masters to please! Something has to give.

I think I can understand why he has changed his mind more than once and I can also understand why people are angry about what has happened in the past few weeks, especially with the number of withdrawals from Team USA.



Reply #752549 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Who's to blame? The suckers who bought tickets? The promoters that promised the world? Or the players who pulled the pin?

Reply #752551 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Punters who bought tickets could reasonably have expected a stronger US team than what we will be seeing. Their previous WC teams have featured 2-3 top-10 guys in the league with another 5 or 6 inside the top 30. This year's squad is likely to have no top-20 players. That said, anyone who spent money on tickets without allowing for the possibility that it would be a sub-par lineup, should just learn from the mistake. It's Team USA v the Boomers on Australian soil. No matter what the lineups look like, when are we ever going to see that again?

Players who were tentative from the outset haven't said yes and then changed their minds, they've said they'll consider it and concluded it's not the right thing for them to do right now. Players who firmly, publicly committed, and then withdrew without circumstances changing from the time of their commitment, are pretty disappointing.

Promoters did their job, which was to sell tickets.

Why does someone have to be 'to blame?'

Reply #752553 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Exactly, why blame anyone, it is what it is. Let's hope Australia win and enjoy the whole experience.:):):)

Reply #752554 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

The advertising for the event still shows Durant, Harden, George, etc.

Reply #752555 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

" No matter what the lineups look like, when are we ever going to see that again?"

Possibly next year before the Olympics according to Paul Maley.

Reply #752560 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

ME, really?

Can we acknowledge the possibility that the exhibition games in Aus are a part - a small one, but part nonetheless - of the withdrawals we've seen? They are effectively spending an extra day on a plane in order to play here. I don't think USA Basketball submits players to the same treatment prior to the Olympics, though I'd be very happy to be proven wrong.

Reply #752565 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

Yeah, the advertisers did their job and sold tickets. And there was never any guarantee as to who would be in the team. But there certainly was a perception built as to the level of talent to expect. You have posters with Harden, Durant, Westbrook, etc. To casual fans, you don't even have a disclaimer to briefly explain to them that the players being advertized may not necessarily be those who suit up. There has to be a huge segment of the crowd who wont know a single player on the court and were never filled in that this could be the case.

As a ticket holder, I knew we would not see the AAA+ Dream Team. However, based on past World Cup line ups I expected a few of their top line players to come through. Literally none have.

And when you have Basketball Australia arranging for the games to be played at Marvel, the assumption simply must have been from all parties that the clout of the players was going to justify re-purposing a football field for, because the interest was meant to be that high.

Larry Kestleman is even meant to be using the rights to these games as bait to sell the NBL to a mainstream TV station.

While no promise was ever made that the games would have certain particular players, there was an image created of the type of talent we would expect to see, and that image has been defiled.

You would not sell out Marvel Stadium on the line up USA or Australia has. Stakeholders are lining their pockets and are under-delivering. The fact that it is hard to place blame doesn't mean that someone shouldn't be held accountable. Somewhere between all these decisions being made, there were multiple people who were happy to over-promise and under-deliver, and now you have people who have put down thousands of dollars to see something that is probably 1/10th as good as they were sold.

If Ben Simmons does indeed pull out it really would complete the farce of this event for me. I'll go to see the Boomers because they're my team but if I knew they were just gonna play USA's F team and be without Simmons I might have watched from home. Yes, there were some things that promoters couldn't control, but if they knew that they shouldn't have sold tickets a year out from the games and hyped them up the way they did. They ARE responsible for the disappointment of thousands and what currently stands, to me anyway, as the biggest joke in the Australian sporting world right now.

Reply #752569 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I guess I just disagree that the promoters had an obligation to say "btw, you might get Mason Plumlee." I've purchased expensive things before that haven't lived up to expectations, like tech goods and appliances that die the second the warranty expires. I've eaten expensive meals at fancy restaurants then stopped at Maccas on the way home. Advertising has one purpose: selling things.

Most of the withdrawals took place well after they would have needed to sell tickets, the only ones that were 100% predictable 12 months ago were the Warriors and Lebron.

I agree that updating advertising material now to remove players who have withdrawn would be appropriate.

Reply #752572 | Report this post


Bullets  
Years ago

In my opinion, Larry should get on the front foot and offer refunds to those who want them and play the game at a much more traditional rectangular basketball venue which will provide infinitely better atmosphere anyway... remember when the Boomers played the Tall Blacks in the lead up to the Olympics... that was great

Reply #752574 | Report this post


Hoopie  
Years ago

Will the promoters lose money? Don't they have insurance?

Would those who bought tickets using credit cards be able to cancel the transaction based on the goods not meeting their stated description?

Reply #752575 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Who the F is Daniel Eade?

Reply #752576 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It's laughable that people think they're entitled to a refunds, seen a bunch of posts on Facebook about it roo. You bought tickets to Australia vs USA and that's exactly what you're seeing. The fact the USA team is being made up of their D graders is not the fault of the promoters or ticket sellers. I don't think anyone would have seen this max exodus coming from all the star players.

Reply #752578 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

Maybe they're not entitled to refunds, but it's definitely had a negative effect on people's perception of Basketball Australia and will probably cause people to hold out on investing in anything they do in future.

Reply #752584 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Take it from a lawyer it depends if those big names were used in the advertising to give the impression they were playing

Reply #752585 | Report this post


FM  
Years ago

As long as Jingles is playing I am happy.

Reply #752667 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

From Roy Ward on Twitter;
Ben Simmons has withdrawn from all Australian Boomers games this year including the Team USA games. BA has put out a statement saying he faced "professional obligations". Bitter blow for fans, Ben and the Boomers. #FIBAWC #NBA

Reply #752668 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

What a farce, so glad I didn't buy tickets but feel sorry for families that paid a fortune for tickets to see his game.

Reply #752670 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Other countries have put a full squad with there best talent together.

U.s are missing 10 plus stars
Australia with 4 nba players out.
Canada starting to lose players.


I give credit to Greece, Lithuania, Spain, Serbia etc for fielding there best squad. Hopefully they do well.

Reply #752672 | Report this post


Jim Bert  
Years ago

Lemanis and BA are either the scapegoats here for Simmons to get out of his commitments, or they have done the dirty on their fans.

If it's the latter... I understand having him there would be a distraction to World Cup preparations, but you can not market this event as they have and charge a premium for tickets and then rule out your best and most marketable player.

Mark my words this whole saga is going to inflict heavy damage to the BA brand and basketball more broadly if it turns away potential fans.

Reply #752673 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Take it from a lawyer it depends if those big names were used in the advertising to give the impression they were playing"

There's nothing wrong with them being used though. They were advertising USA v Australia and there wasn't a huge reason to believe we would get this scenario that absolutely none of the All Stars would come. You can't guarantee in international sport who will play and who won't.

I've been to a couple of Perth Scorchers games where it's been a B grade side because a bunch of players got national call ups the week before and a few were out injured, should I get a refund because their A team wasn't playing?

Music festivals sometimes have people pull out last minute but there's no refunds for those either.

Reply #752674 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

daniel eade was on the money!

Reply #752676 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

ITA with #674. It's like 'rest' in the NBA, isn't it? If you ban teams from resting a player, they'll just sit him out because of "left knee soreness" or a sore pinky.

Does BA have a valuable brand to damage? IMO, given how much shit we see thrown at them on this forum, no. As someone who's been involved in basketball for a long time, I have no regard for BA. I already expect them to be inept, and to over-promise and under-deliver. Not sure they had anything to lose by behaving exactly like they always do.

Reply #752678 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Two words that sum up this whole farce: Bam Adebayo

Reply #752684 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Ben's Ferrari isn’t going to drive itself this offseason! Priorities people.

Reply #752687 | Report this post


Anon  
Years ago

As long as players value a NBA championship over a gold, this will happen.

Yet how is the soccer World Cup still able to attract your Messis and Ronaldos given they're being paid millions by their clubs and risk injury like NBA players? Prestige?

Reply #752691 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Priorities to the employer paying you $170 million sounds pretty smart to me.

Not like Basketball Australia not trying to profit off the use of his image.

Did Basketball Australia compensate Dante Exum the huge money he potentially has lost by doing his ACL while playing for the Boomers in a "friendly exhibition game" versus Slovenia in 2015.

We will never know if he would have developed into the All Star level player predicted if he hadn't suffered such an injury.

Ben not doing a single thing wrong here.

Reply #752692 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

What gets me is Ben committing twice before withdrawing

Reply #752696 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"What gets me is Ben committing twice before withdrawing"

This. If he had have straight up said months ago he's not playing it would be disappointing but something that could be understandable. The way he's screwing people and the country around by committing and pulling out multiple times is what gets me.

Reply #752699 | Report this post


Roofman  
Years ago

@692. Why should BA compensate Exum for getting injured in an important preparation match for Australia (no I don't work for BA, have no affiliation with them in fact)? Did USA Basketball compensate Paul George for breaking his leg in 2014? How about Lithuania's federation when Kalneitis broke his collarbone their final preparation match for the 2014 WC? Isn't it strange how we don't hear about owners whingeing about players getting injured in pick up games or other high stakes tournaments? I am sure that if the NBA had definite statistics in place about injuries suffered in FIBA comp vs NBA comp, vs summer pick up they would be use them, such is their publicity machine, but they don't. They don't make money out of this, move along nothing to see.

I will agree that Simmon's isn't obliged to play for his country, or any other player for any other national team for that matter. It is an unfortunate situation where he reports to multiple masters. At the end of the day, do you want to play against the best from every country, improve your own game, just ask people like Stevens and Popovic about this.

Reply #752700 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Whether Basketball Australia or Basketball USA compensate isn't the point.

The point is respect the player’s individual decision.

To question Ben’s character or any of the player’s who don’t play (most of who would be under extreme pressure from very rich, powerful people who are paying them a lot of money) is just comical.

Reply #752704 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Anon above is clearly Bens family (my guess is his Sister!)
Dante would be a good example, but Ben HAS already signed his deal. He gets it no matter what!
Oh, and his whole im playing not playing im playing debacle.
He deserves the heat

Reply #752707 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Why do we have to respect individual players decisions? Are we not allowed to have our own opinions. Ben is coming to Australia to work camps unless he has pulled out of them as well. Pretty piss poor effort from Ben to commit twice and then cite rubbish reasons. The guys who represent at the World champs should have first dibs at olympic team in 12 months time. A man is only as good as his word. Ben's word obviously means very little.

Reply #752708 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Yep, Simmons hokey pokey is as much the reason people are pissed as the fact that he's not playing. Don't publicly commit, take all the plaudits for that, and then expect no heat when you renege.

Reply #752709 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Anon 707. Yes he HAS signed his deal and if the employer paying him $170m doesn't want him to play what do you suggest?

You are entitled to an opinion but until you tell your boss who is paying you $170m that you aren’t going to follow their recommendation I suggest that you 'respect’ Ben’s decision.

I’m sure Ben will be fine with or without your ‘heat’.

Reply #752710 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Just spoke to the promoters demanding my 5 tickets be refunded
and they did just that!

Reply #752711 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

How do you contact the promoters?

Reply #752712 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Music festivals sometimes have people pull out last minute but there's no refunds for those either."

Do they normally have the top 13 acts pull out? I'd imagine there would be pandemonium if that were to happen

Reply #752714 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Anon: Philly cannot stop of punish Ben playing for his NT,not would they. He is their franchise guy.

He could also get hurt in these open gym 5on5 that get leaked every other day

Reply #752715 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Yet how is the soccer World Cup still able to attract your Messis and Ronaldos given they're being paid millions by their clubs and risk injury like NBA players? Prestige?"

I'm not sure Anon, but FIFA used to have some strictly enforced rules about players who chose not to make themselves available for major international games. I recall it became an issue some years ago and FIFA decided to give itself a big stick and to use it. I'm not sure what the penalties were and whether they were imposed on the players or the countries.

From what I've read, the NBA and its teams have always seen themselves as above FIBA in the world of basketball. I don't know if that's the case these days or not but recent behaviour suggests it is. Problem is, I suspect FIBA needs NBA more than NBA needs FIBA. For now.

To the poster suggesting FIBA boost the prize money on offer, consider the viewing figures for the FIBA World Cup vs FIFA World Cup (about a third, in the former's best year). FIBA does not have the cash to stump up that scale of prize money twice as often as FIFA does (every 2 years vs every 4 years).

Reply #752716 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

What's stevens reason for pulling out again?

Reply #752719 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

The Americanization of Aussie basketball continues.

Me first.

Team, a distant second.

Country, nowhere.

The Fat Controller leading the way. It starts when you're comfortable screwing over a little organization like Mt Gambier.

And it begins to reach its peak when players no longer consider their country worth the effort to play for.

Reply #752734 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Americanisation?

Issues of the best professional players being unavailable for exhibition games and the world championships has plagued FIBA for decades and is not limited to the USA and Ben Simmons.

My opinion is it's not "me" first.

It’s employer first.

Works both ways as well. There are loyal servants who make themselves available for their country for every camp, every training and every game who aren’t selected for the Olympics because players like Ben are better.

Reply #752736 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Is this the same sister who acts on instagram like shes in the nba and famous ???

Reply #752739 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

#711 who did you talk to? How many people would take refunds if they could get them??

Reply #752745 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Issues of the best professional players being unavailable for exhibition games and the world championships has plagued FIBA for decades and is not limited to the USA and Ben Simmons."

Well said. The reason for the re-branding to World Cup (from World Championships) and the change in the cycle of years was to try and increase its "prestige" but obviously it will take more time to build.

Probably 2019 was always the iffy one with 2020 being an Olympic year. Top players deciding that they don't want to commit to two years in a row of off-season international basketball is fair enough IMO. They have to balance their commitments. The NBA season is a long and tough one. And these guys aren't the best in the world without putting in a lot of work during the off-season.

Reply #752756 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

Amd the next world cup is the year before the 2024 Olympics as well. It's idiotic.

Reply #752757 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"#711 who did you talk to? How many people would take refunds if they could get them??"

X2. Interested to know how we get our refund.

Reply #752758 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Don't say you are playing if you are just going to pull out.

Exercising your ego?

Wanker. Playing with words.

Messing the poor punters about.

It's all about you, Ben.

Reply #752764 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It's always been about Ben, not how I’d like to see it done, but probably understandable though re all the money involved.

Reply #752765 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

#711 is surely just trolling, everyone else that has said they've tried to get refunds have all been knocked back

Reply #752766 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Aussie Ben! Remember he is Aussie. Justa good old Aussie (that has an American accent already)

Reply #752780 | Report this post


Senator11  
Years ago

I thought the promoters for Fyre festival went to jail...

Reply #752802 | Report this post


FSTOS  
Years ago

Imagine buying tickets to Woodstock and only Sha Na Na and Ritchie Havens turned up.

Reply #752853 | Report this post


Treaty  
Years ago

Ironically had the original Dream Team waited until 1994 to come together as the first time professionally the World Champs would have greater clout now.

Having said that though, then Jordan, Bird, Magic wouldn't have played.

Reply #752861 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

FIBA needs to time the WC for NBA lockout years

Reply #752864 | Report this post




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