Ben Simmons should receive a tribute video during Thursday’s Sixers-Nets game, Doc Rivers says

If Ben Simmons is in attendance for Thursday’s much-anticipated game between the 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, Doc Rivers believes he should be the subject of a tribute video.

“Yeah, I do, actually,” the Sixers coach said when asked about it after Monday’s win over the Chicago Bulls. “Ben did a lot of good things here, you know? It didn’t end well, right? Just like marriages and all kinds of other things don’t end well. …

“I don’t know if we are [giving him one] or not. But if we did, I’d have no issues with it.”

Tribute videos have become commonplace when a former player returns to that team’s home arena for the first time since departing in a trade or via free agency. But Simmons’ situation is far from common, of course.

The former first-overall draft pick was a three-time All-Star and last season’s runner-up for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Yet the messy aftermath following Simmons’ refusal to shoot during the playoffs’ fourth quarters — which culminated with him passing up a wide-open layup late in Game 7 of the Sixers’ Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the Atlanta Hawks — prompted him to demand a trade last summer.

He never played for the Sixers this season, saying through his camp that he was not mentally fit to return, then was dealt with Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets at the Feb. 10 trade deadline for perennial All-Star James Harden and veteran big man Paul Millsap.

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That months-long saga made Simmons the source of vitriol for a passionate Sixers fan base.

Simmons has not yet played for Nets, recently citing back soreness as what has held him back from ramping up physically and practicing with his new teammates. But The Athletic reported Monday that Simmons plans to travel with his team for Thursday’s game.

When asked about the reception Simmons could receive at the Wells Fargo Center, Rivers quipped, “Our fans are so silent, so I can’t imagine anything happening.”

Minutes after the Wells Fargo Center bowl cleared following Monday’s Sixers win over the Chicago Bulls, Harden emerged to run the stairs. It was his way of getting extra conditioning, to make sure “I’m back to how I normally would feel” as the Sixers make their push toward the playoffs.

Given Harden’s impact in his first five games with the Sixers, it is easy to forget that he missed more than three weeks last month to nurse a hamstring injury that occurred a few days before the blockbuster trade that brought him to Philly.

Harden did not play in Saturday’s loss at Miami, with the team, citing injury management. That rest game had been scheduled since he returned to the court, Harden said, because it was on the second night of a back-to-back.

After the game, Harden said he hopes that absence was an isolated event. That matched Rivers’ pregame comments that it was a “one-game thing.” The Sixers have three more back-to-backs in the regular season: March 20 and 21 at home against Toronto and Miami, April 2 at 3 at home against Charlotte and at Cleveland, and April 9 and 10 at home against Indiana and Detroit.

“We put together a very, very great plan, and we’re executing that plan very well,” Harden said. “Credit to the training staff and the team for just all being on the same page. That was scheduled from the time I got back. Hopefully, with these games coming up, I won’t miss another game.

“But that was scheduled, just because it was so early. I’m just now really getting back. … I’m just trying to make sure that we’re smart about this thing and we’re all healthy going into the postseason.”

Matisse Thybulle, the Sixers’ perimeter defensive stalwart, acknowledged that “everyone knew” Harden’s less-than-stellar reputation as a defender. But since joining the Sixers, Thybulle said Harden has “taken a lot of pride in trying to shed those [labels] and be a solid defender and someone that’s reliable.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen many problems,” Thybulle said of Harden’s defense. “Nothing more than what anyone else does.”

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Thybulle appreciates Harden’s knack for anticipating what the offense is trying to do, which allows him to be disruptive and force turnovers. Harden collected five steals in a Feb. 27 win in New York. And Thybulle highlighted a second-quarter play Monday, when Harden “jumped” an attempted screen by Ayo Dosunmu for Zach LaVine at the top of the key and LaVine dribbled it off his foot and out of bounds.

“His offensive savviness goes to the defensive end as well,” Thybulle said. “He’s able to get these really easy steals and jump out and make reads that really weren’t in the scouting report or weren’t what we were going to do but are very effective. …

“It’s just learning how to play off of that kind of stuff, because usually it’s guys trying to read me when I try to do something a little out of the norm. It’s kind of fun to have someone else doing that as well.”