Australian MP Complains About Ben Simmons Not Being An All-Star In Parliament
Photo Credit: AFP
Australian MP Complains About Ben Simmons Not Being An All-Star In Parliament
Philadelphia 76ers rookie phenom Ben Simmons is having one of the best all-around rookie seasons in NBA history. The 21-year old Australian is averaging an impressive 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists. 1.8 steals and 0.9 blocks per game, while shooting 52.9% from the field.
Simmons is considered to be the biggest All-Star bust of the season (if he won’t be the injury replacement of Kristaps Porzingis). A lot of Sixers and Simmons fans are angry about that fact, and are now joined by Australian Labor MP Tim Watts, who made it a political affair when addressing the issue in parliament.
Watts stood up in parliament calling Simmons not being an All-Star an “outrage”.
“I rise today to express my outrage at the exclusion of Australian Ben Simmons from the NBA All Star game. In a record-breaking rookie year for the Philadelphia 76ers, Ben is currently averaging nearly 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists in a game. He’s already had five triple-doubles, and frankly no one with two brain cells to rub together would want Goran Dragic on their team over Ben.”
That wasn’t all of it. Watts was even talking about an anti-Aussie conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of the NBA.
“The fact that compatriot Jingling Joe Ingles has also been left out of the three-point competition, despite currently sitting third in the league in three-point percentage, makes me think there’s some kind of anti-Australian conspiracy going on at the league head office at the moment.”
I expressed my outrage at Aussie Superstar Ben Simmons’ omission from this year’s NBA All-Star game in Parliament today.But I also had a serious message about today’s golden generation of Australians playing in the NBA – of the nine flying the flag in the League there is an indigenous Australian man, four children of immigrants and two refugees. A perfect reflection of modern Australia – an immigrant nation and the most successful multicultural nation on earth.I paid particular tribute to South-Sudanese Australians Thon Maker and Mangok Mathiang who have not only reached the pinnacle of their profession, but did so after overcoming the challenges of arriving in Australia as refugees.After a summer when many ridiculous things have been said about African-Australians by our politicians, Thon and Mangok are shining examples of the potential of every member of this community.
Posted by Tim Watts MP on Sonntag, 4. Februar 2018
