What Bryant was suggesting, according to those in attendance, was that someone as gifted as Simmons shouldn’t leave anything on the table through ego and laziness.

Bryant was tragically killed in a helicopter accident alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna in California last year — but his words ring true today, as they often do.

At 25, Simmons has enough time to turn into the championship player many expect the former No.1 draft pick to be, but his self-immolation at 76ers practice this week really has been something to behold.

So, too, the candidness of his coach, Doc Rivers, who suspended Simmons this week, and teammate Joel Embiid, who gave him the proverbial backhander.

“At this point, I don’t care about that man, honestly,” Embiid told reporters. “He does whatever he wants … I’m not here to babysit. I would be willing to babysit if somebody wants to listen, but that’s not my job.”

Clearly, Simmons’ indifference since popping up at practice on the eve of the NBA season is a negotiation tactic as his agent, Rich Paul, wrestles with the 76ers over a trade.

It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. As NBA commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN: “There’s been storied players over many decades who’ve held out of contracts, didn’t go to the team that drafted them, held out of training camp, so I don’t really see it as being the modern-day issue people are painting it to be.”

But at what cost to Simmons’ reputation, his brand, and his ultimate market value?

This latest suspension will cost him $330,000, bringing to $1.7m the total he has been fined since failing to front pre-season practice.

That might seem like ashtray change when you’re on a $200m deal over five years, but it will start to disappear if he doesn’t start suiting up soon.

Much like Nick Kyrgios, to whom he’s been compared this week, Simmons has no obligation to fulfil his potential. He owes us nothing.

If Ben Simmons doesn’t become the best version of Ben Simmons that he can possibly be, I’m sure we’ll all survive.

But you hope he does: for his sake, the 76ers and, eventually, the sake of the Boomers, who he brushed earlier this year on the eve of the Tokyo Olympics.

Unsurprisingly, as the Simmons theatrics were being played out in Philadelphia, Patty Mills was in Milwaukee making his debut for the Brooklyn Nets, dropping three-pointers at will.

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There’s a player squeezing every bit of ability out of himself, although talent has only taken even the greatest athletes so far. There were few harder grafters off the court than Bryant, such was the “Mamba Mentality”

The problem with Simmons is that he prefers the NBA lifestyle ahead of potential NBA greatness.

A month before Bryant made his appearance in Melbourne, Simmons played in his first All-Stars game in Charlotte, coming off the bench for Team LeBron.

The after party was a heaving mass of the NBA’s biggest names. Simmons was there, too, with his girlfriend at the time, the Instagram famous Kendall Jenner.

All-Star players are given five days off before they must re-join their respective teams.

Simmons was faced with a choice: head back to Philadelphia and work on his jump shot, as those in his inner sanctum that night urged — or head to the Bahamas with Jenner for a couple of days of beach time and endless Instagram posts.

At 3am, Simmons was seen leaving the party, with Jenner on his arm, ready to catch a private jet.

The aqua blue water of the Caribbean was calling. The hardwood floors of the practice court could wait.

Don’t tar whole of NRL with Burgess brush

The NRL Integrity Unit expects to interview Sam Burgess via Zoom in comings days after NSW Police said it wouldn’t take action against him following accusations of domestic violence and drug abuse from his former wife Phoebe.

The former South Sydney captain is in Bangkok with the club’s owner, Russell Crowe, who is shooting a new movie.

The first concern for the NRL is whether Souths “covered up” any misbehaviour from one of its biggest names during an alleged drug-fuelled bender in which Burgess, according to Phoebe, squeezed her pregnant body.

On this count, Souths are confident they have done nothing wrong. We’ll see soon enough.

The broader issue for the game’s powerbrokers is whether a “culture of misogyny, lies and cover-ups” exists within rugby league as per Phoebe’s extraordinary interview with The Weekend Australian last Saturday.

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It was another raw piece that depicted the game in an ugly light; a hotbed of players fuelled on cocaine sleeping with whomever comes into the field of view, with their clubs turning a blind eye as long as they keep playing their guts out on the weekend.

In some ways, in some circumstances, the cliché is right: the game has long failed to take responsibility for the men they create.

For most of his career, almost nobody said “no” to Jarryd Hayne, almost everyone needing something from him. He’s presently serving three years, eight months in a NSW prison after he was found guilty of rape.

In many respects, however, the reverse is true; the game has saved countless players who would’ve slipped through the cracks if not for the structure of a football club or the belief of his coach.

Phoebe has painted her ex-husband in appalling light — and blamed the game for not “changing” him — but it would be wrong to categorise his alleged behaviour as “normal” within the game.

There’s also something quite yucky with the way both Sam and Phoebe Burgess have used their respective Instagram accounts, reality TV programs and lengthy tell-all interviews as they fight for custody of their two children.

Ancient wisdom

The Clovelly Hotel in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has been a preferred watering hole for many sporting types over many decades.

Our spies report a conga line of NRL stars past and present have been trundling through the doors since lockdown ended. Good luck to them.

Yet there’s still a corner of the pub where shrewd operators of a certain vintage with a wealth of knowledge slowly drink their schooners, stroke their chins and dispense nuggets of gold about all manner of things.

The topic last Monday was next year’s NRL premiership and who would win it. One seasoned campaigner dropped the line of the year.

“I’m not sure about you,” he said, “but I’m pretty sure St George will win the over-35s comp.”

Thank you and goodnight.

THE QUOTE
”I’ve owned you all my f---ing life! I own you. I still own you.” — Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers barks at Chicago Bears fans after scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown and spying a woman in the front row flipping him the double-bird. The 37-year-old holds a 22-5 record against the Bears and won 11 out of 14 games at Soldier Field.

THUMBS UP
James McDonald rode Nature Strip to perfection in The Everest, beating home Tommy Berry on Masked Crusader by a Tally-Ho paper. Actually, the margin between first and second was a head, which is only a lazy $3.9m difference in prizemoney.

THUMBS DOWN
Novak Djokovic is in two minds about coming to Melbourne to defend his Australian Open title in January because he doesn’t want to reveal his vaccination status. Honestly, these people …

It’s a big weekend for … David Warner, who we expect will play in Australia’s opening T20 World Cup match against South Africa on Saturday. He’s made three runs from 14 balls in four T20 innings since April. Showtime!

It’s an even bigger weekend for … Verry Elleegant, the so-called forgotten horse of the Cox Plate following one poor run last start in the Turnbull. Can’t dismiss a horse that’s won nine group 1s, as they say in the classics. Do they say that in the classics?