NFL
By: Greg Rector
Brooklyn Nets continue to make a lot of noise for their off-court issues. Those have been well documented and I am going to focus on the on-court performance instead. Particularly that of one Ben Simmons.
Defensive Stalwart
In his NBA career, all you heard about was how great Simmons was on defense and early on you bet he was often tremendous at defending the 1 through the 5. Many a night Simmons would make stops on consecutive trips and start the Sixers off to easy transition baskets. he would block shots, get steals and disrupt passes. Everything you want a defender to do. The issues though arose as the Sixers had playoff failure after playoff failure. Ben Simmons best efforts defensively weren’t enough. Much of the criticism was undeserved as there’s only so much one player can do. Staying away from Simmons worked to the opponents’ advantage time and again. That’s on the rest of the Sixers’ roster. After all his issues in his time away from the game and his trade to the Nets, Simmons sits currently with a defensive rating of 110.8 nowhere near his numbers from prior seasons. Rudy Gay leads the league with a rating of 93.6 currently. For me, the basis of good defense begins with your legs and feet. It’s clear that Simmons doesn’t move the same as he did in his earlier seasons. That could certainly be due in part to the back issues he’s had. The time away from the game didn’t help matters. It was an absolutely brutal start defensively for him as well. Early in November, he was actually the second-worst player in the league, so with more games under his belt, it’s improved but remains a work in progress. When Giannis, Luka, and others have had over 40 points a game against the Nets, Simmons has not been the defensive stopper the Nets need him to be.
The Offensive Bugaboos Remain
In his career, Simmons has averaged 15.6 per game. This season he sits at 5.8 points per game. Certainly playing a new position in the Nets’ system has been a challenge for Simmons. Let’s face it though when in ten games you’ve managed 58 points when Joel Embid has had a 59-point game, it’s a glaring problem. This is where the criticism of Simmons explodes of course. We all know his other major issue was being a decent scorer in the regular season, only to become a complete liability during the playoffs. We all remember his passing up easy opportunities as his woes caused him to have the basketball version of the yips. How bad has it become? Simmons finally scored in double digits for the first time since June 14th, 2021. Now we are seeing stories of the frustration within the Nets organization about Simmons for both his lack of availability and level of play. The Nets’ system offensively isn’t asking him to do things that he is truly poor at (14% career from three) and he is closer to the basket which should lead to at least some easy baskets. it’s simply not happening. He can’t play 36 minutes a night currently he’s around 27 minutes a night. We all know the stories about his time away from the league and his issues with his mental health. What we got were the obligatory workout videos of Ben shooting. “Look ma, I’m trying.” It was a ruse and most of us who follow the game said so.
No Passion
Whether it was a Sixer and even more so now, it’s the apparent lack of passion for the game that angers basketball fans. For all, he could do for a team defensively it’s the playoffs where greatness is given/anointed upon players. When every stat is below your averages and not just by a small amount, passion and basketball IQ will come into question. Playoff basketball is of course a different animal from the regular season and the majority of players will see their numbers below their regular season output. You’re facing better teams and defenders. Greatness though comes when you give the best effort possible and it’s simply clear that isn’t the playoff career of Ben Simmons. I don’t believe it ever will be either. This is truly a case of a “rising star,” crashing and burning before our eyes. Of course, fans will be angry seeing a player who is being paid $35.4 million a season underperform. Tough luck Ben this comes with the territory. You’ve had the Naomi Osaka-like mental health break, sure you’ve been injured as well, but when you are on the court currently it’s obvious the passion just isn’t there. None of either Brett Brown, Doc Rivers, Steve Nash, or in a small sample size Jaque Vaughn have been able to change Simmons. I will say it clearly Ben Simmons is a bust. The Brooklyn Nets as a franchise clearly lost the trade for him and GM Sean Marks has to be held accountable for the outcome of that decision.
As always find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
