We need to give Ben more time but if he doesn’t start attacking the basket and doing more in the half court then I’d rather give his minutes to guys like Lonnie DSJ or Watford. It really is amazing how passive he can be and it’s not like we don’t have options.
I found this to be a nicely-balanced article with lots of example vids. So far I’ve been sitting on the fence with a ‘let’s be patient for now’ position, which often has me defending Simmons. But it’s also important to acknowledge his faults.
That said, I do think the article isn’t as open-minded as it could be. For a surgery with typically an 18mo recovery period, Ben is already way ahead of where he otherwise should be, which would be finishing up rehab right about now. The author critiques him for shying away from contact, playing ‘scared,’ but this is a pretty normal sort of behavior for athletes coming back from major injuries / surgeries. I.e., they need to push the envelope slowly and not do something which might aggravate their bodies, which is almost certainly what their coaches would echo. Which is why I think it’s so important to be patient with Simmons. At least for awhile.
OTOH, if by the end of the season: 1) he isn’t more aggressive going to the rack, or 2) has more injuries crop up, then it’s going to be really hard finding any strong reason to include him in future plans. So far I’ve liked his attitude, but he’s going to be 28 next summer, and has limited time to get his body and game back in to shape.
Best thing I’ve seen Simmons do so far was a play in the Hornets game.
LaMelo was about to take a three, and even BEFORE he lets it fly, Ben yells at Dinwiddie to run down the court. He catches the rebound off the LaMelo miss (as if he knew he was gonna miss it), throws the Hail Mary to Din, and converts a bucket within 3 seconds.
That was Rondo levels of genius BBIQ. Which is why it’s frustrating when he purposely avoids scoring the ball. He knows bette. Too smart not to. He just chooses not to do it cuz he doesn’t wanna miss.
Ben’s not really an issue. We can hope he’ll continue to improve and that he’ll become more aggressive but perhaps injuries will force Ben to miss time or not play up to his full potential.
The issue is the max-contract given to Ben by the 76ers. Every player is going to sign that rookie max extension when offered it but Ben is now terrible value for money for a max contract. A triple single isn’t ever going to be enough. How many games as a Net has Ben scored over 10 points? Not many.
Simmons might play many more years in Brooklyn but I can’t see after summer 2025 that Ben will be on anything close to the money ($40 million per season) that he is earning now.
There will be a max money slot available in summer 2025 to use our cap space and Sean Marks must make best use of it because this is surely how Brooklyn makes its next significant leap in improvement.
Idk. He’s valuable to this team and we need him but he’s not playing optimized. This team truly goes another level if he attacks the rim ferociously like he used to, we don’t have that type of player. His inability to do so is preventing him from being “back”. We should trade him to a team like the Kings who have struggled out the game. He can play well off Sabonis and Fox.