And in the finale, when he fouled out, he had attempted three shots in 13 minutes. The next game, he scored three times on five attempts.
But again, the best wines need to age before reaching their peak. He admitted three wasn’t nearly enough and that he needed to strike the right balance of looking to score himself versus getting his teammates involved. Simmons only took three shots that night against the Heat. He hasn’t played in a long time and to throw you back up in there with the game going fast - you can play pickup all you want but once you put someone in the game all that stuff goes out the window.” “I think he’s just finding his rhythm again. He knows that we all trust him, but just getting the reps under his belt, you know? There’s nothing like playing an NBA game. They know it can be bitter before it gets sweet - or as Nash has repeatedly said, it’ll be ugly before it gets pretty. His star teammates, however, were never worried. In the second preseason game against Miami, he declined - twice in one possession - to take advantage of a mismatch against the 10-inch-shorter Kyle Lowry. He didn’t look to score, let alone shoot, instead deferring to his teammates. 10 would be retired, and George Floyd statues continued to be unveiled across the country for Juneteenth.Īs expected, Simmons looked like a shell of himself in his first two preseason games.Īt times he was indecisive. The last time Simmons stepped onto an NBA court, the Giants announced Eli Manning’s No.
Of course there was going to be rust when he took the court this preseason. 10 trade deadline, a herniated disk in his lower back ultimately required surgery, preventing him from making his debut. It’s been longer than an entire calendar year since he last played a game that mattered.Īt the top of last season, he cited mental health issues as the reason for holding out of 76ers training camp with an outstanding trade request. Good wine, famously, tastes better with time. He listed two wine items - a $50 decanter and a $70 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon - in a story titled “What Ben Simmons Can’t Live Without.” He even had a glass of wine during his sitdown interview with JJ Redick on his “The Old Man and The Three” podcast. This past March, he partnered with Australian wine brand Penfolds to launch their California Collection. Simmons, by all accounts, is a wine connoisseur. “Ben is an incredible playmaker, he plays point guard, he’s incredible in transition, he’s a good screener, he’s playing out of the half roll and attacking the rim.
I’m not going to ask him to shoot,” Nash said. Simmons ties the pieces together he is the glue the Nets have been seeking. And after 470 days watching from the sidelines, he will make his official regular-season debut for the Nets against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.Īnd he’ll make his impact, more than likely, without taking a single jump shot. It’s not even a “when.” The Ben Simmons era in Brooklyn is now. Those visions, however, were all hypotheticals - “if” Simmons could push past his mental health issues “if” Simmons could push through his back ailments “if” Simmons didn’t crumble under the pressure of returning to the basketball court after being disgraced by the public following his Game 7 blunder in the second round of 2021 NBA Playoffs. The Nets needed a table-setter, and Simmons, whose first instinct has always been to make a play for his teammates, fit the bill to a tee. In fact, this is exactly what general manager Sean Marks, head coach Steve Nash and co-stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving envisioned when the Nets pulled the trigger on the blockbuster James Harden trade at the deadline last season. While Simmons’ former head coach seemed unsure whether or not the 76ers could win a championship with him at point guard, the Nets have no such uncertainties.
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