He’s becoming a huge issue for the Nets now. It’s painfully clear that Ben Simmons return to the NBA has gone worse than imagined as he’s already fouled out of two games and has less than 6 points/game, making him a huge liability on the court.
If you ever wanted to see what a broken NBA player looks like, all you have to do is tune into a Brooklyn Nets game and watch #10. I can’t believe how shattered the once all-star and future of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise has become as he’s not only been horrific on offense, but he’s also been very poor on defense.
In my opinion, it’s honestly more shocking how bad Simmons has become on defense given the fact that he was on the All-Defensive First Team as a point guard for 2019/20 and the 2020/21 seasons, which clearly shows that the guy is a talented defender. Or was a talented defender, at the very least.
Nowadays, the only thing Ben Simmons is good as is either fouling out or riding the bench when Steve Nash pulls him because he’s gotten into foul trouble. Now, I get fouling out occasionally as emotions and the nature of the game sometimes makes it inevitable to rack up six fouls, but doing it in 2/3 opening games of the season is excessive.
Sure, there were some bad fouls called against him, such as the one on Ja Morant that got him kicked out of the Nets-Grizzlies game, but it honestly looks like he’s either extremely undisciplined or is doing it on purpose. Whenever you see the guy out on defense, he almost always is fouling someone needlessly.
And, what’s worse is the fact that the only reason he is still starting at point guard for the Nets is because he’s ‘great’ defensively. Otherwise, he contributes nothing to the Nets offense.
Ben Simmons unbelievable aversion to even driving to the rim, let alone shooting the ball, has become so obvious and sad that he’s getting memed by even his own teammates. In the game against the Grizzlies, Kyrie Irving had just lost the ball as he drove to the basket, and it feel to the feet of Simmons.
Instead of putting up an easy layup, Simmons chucked the ball back to the arc, where Kevin Durant hit a difficult jumpshot.
Yet, what makes this play so funny is the fact that Kyrie’s annoyed “SHOOT THE BALL, BEN” yell was picked up by the broadcast mics and was heard in every household that was watching the game. If KD was such a great shooter, then that play would have been so much worse given the fact that Simmons passed up an easy chance for a bucket in order to KD to hit a much harder jump shot for the same number of points.
In fact, Simmons is lucky that KD hit the shot as Kyrie was coming for his head on the ensuing defensive possession otherwise.
Nonetheless, even if Ben Simmons turns into an all-star caliber defender again (which I highly doubt), the Nets would still not make the playoffs. With the Grizzlies loss, they are now 1-3 and are an abomination to watch.
If KD or Kyrie Irving ever got hurt, then this team would be lucky to even have 10 wins by the end of the season. That’s how much the rest of the Nets roster and managing/coaching staff relies on these two to do EVERYTHING for them.
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