The NBA world expected miracles from Ben Simmons in the opening rounds of the 2022/23 season and didn’t get them. Now the likes of Shaquille O’Neal are baying for blood.
After two consecutive years out of the NBA caused by contract wrangling, injury and mental health concerns, the 26-year-old former All-Star returned to action for the Brooklyn Nets this season.
Simmons has returned to the NBA after two years out through contract issues, back surgery and mental health concerns but he is far from his best
To say his return has been underwhelming would be an understatement. In his first three games back, Simmons had almost as many personal fouls [14] as he did total points [17].
The 208cm guard is averaging just 5.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.8 assists – a paltry return by anyone’s reckoning.
He has been lashed for lacking intensity and aggression and heavily scrutinised by analysts like O’Neal.
TNT analyst and former NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal has been a leading detractor of Simmons
‘I’m sick of watching Ben Simmons play. Five points, eight rebounds and another fouled-out game [against Memphis], way to go Ben. I’m gonna be on his a** all year,’ he said on The Big Podcast with Shaq.
While Simmons should be afforded some early season grace after such a long layoff, Nets supporters will quickly run out of patience – especially as Brooklyn has already dug themselves a 1-4 record to sit 12th in the Eastern Conference.
Daily Mail Australia runs the rule over the five biggest issues plaguing Simmons, and how they can be addressed to return the Australian superstar back to his best form.
1 – ONGOING MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
The cornerstone of Simmons issues have been mental health concerns and they don’t magically go away just by pulling on another team’s singlet.
But while a change of team is not the silver bullet to fix his mental health issues, the support mechanisms his new team provides him with might help.
‘I was in such a bad place where I was like, f***, I’m trying to get here and you guys are, like, throwing all these other things at me to where you’re not helping,’ Simmons recently told The Old Man & The Three podcast about the support he received at Philadelphia.
The fact that many online trolls believe Simmons mental health issues are not genuine would certainly exacerbate the problems, because he is a very public figure.
A source told the New York Post earlier this year that the Nets had a plan in place to provide the right levels of support to Simmons to get him back on the court.
‘To put him on the best path to both physical and mental health. We will work together with the Nets on a summer plan,’ the source said.
‘Everyone is confident.’
How Simmons is able to treat and manage his ongoing mental health concerns will be a key component in his recovery and ability to return to his best basketball with the Nets
Assuming this plan is robust and providing real support and help for Simmons, it can’t be isolated to the summer.
How the Nets and Simmons’ immediate circle handle his mental health will be key to his return to happiness and best basketball.
2 – CONFIDENCE IN HIS SHOT
A viral video of Simmons tossing up a brick at a park training session with the Nets recently highlighted two things.
Firstly, it shows that the Aussie guard still has a long way to go to discover his jump shot. Secondly, it shows that the wider basketball community will latch onto any mistake he makes and crucify him for it.
The question of ‘why won’t Ben Simmons shoot?’ has raged for years and many basketball fans are desperate to see him find his shooting rhythm.
The issue reached its nadir at the 76ers when he passed up a wide-open dunk in Game 7 of the Sixers’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
It was highlighted in this Wednesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks when Simmons had an open look but kicked the ball out beyond the three-point arc as his teammate Kyrie Irving screamed ‘shoot it Ben’.
Irving admitted after the game that finding that confidence is going to be a work in progress.
‘This is a big-picture thing. We want Ben to be aggressive every single play, we want him to get an assist every single play, we want him to rebound, we want him to play against the best player, we want him to do all the things we know he’s capable of,’ he said.
‘But at this time he’s going to have to work himself into his own confidence and feel good about himself.’
Simmons’ success largely depends on the guard finding the confidence and ability to take shots, rather than just rely on going to the rack
On that path, Simmons is going to be hammered every time he passes up a shot or tosses up an air ball. What he needs to do is shut out the outside noise.
It appears he has already adopted the right attitude there, saying after the park air ball incident: ‘Meanwhile, like 10 guys air balled multiple shots. So it’s like people will find one clip and try to make it that everything.
‘Like come on man, you think I’m just air balling every shot? It’s not true. But it comes with it, and you got to have tough skin and I realise that, but nah, I can’t take everything personally. It’s social media.
That attitude will carry him a long way toward finding his confidence.
3 – THE BACK ISSUE
The microdiscectomy surgery Simmons had on his back in May is serious – potentially career-threatening serious.
The risks associated include nerve damage, spinal fluid leakage, internal bleeding, infection and more.
Prior to the surgery, the guard was suffering from more than just a sore back. He said the entire right side collapsed one day after he tried to navigate a simple flight of stairs, leaving him completely bed-ridden.
The long recovery meant minimal time on the court focusing on his skills, so the issue is twofold.
Because the herniated disc that Simmons suffered ruled him out of last season’s playoff series loss to the Celtics, analysts and fans lined up to slam him for not sucking up the pain and taking the court anyway.
‘There’s plenty of players who we’ve seen throughout NBA history that have ended up having to have a procedure on their back – but they played. And they played, and they got injured or whatever, they still tried to play through it, and then obviously they needed a surgical procedure in the offseason,’ Stephen A. Smith said.
‘They didn’t just sit on the bench for a year and not play one second of basketball while filing grievances to get back $20 million in salary.’
When Brooklyn played the Memphis Grizzlies this season, Simmons crashed into giant Kiwi Steven Adams and got up with a grimace, clutching his back.
Simmons makes heavy contact with Adams. It was the heaviest contact he has made since returning for the Nets and was unable to have an impact for the rest of the game
He immediately left the court and when he returned, he would attempt just two more shots for the game.
Moments like that will be steps backward in his progress and only the right amount of time and medical support will get him back to 100 per cent.
‘It takes time,’ Simmons said.
‘Having back surgery and being away from the game for a year, there’s little things that your mind might tell you to go do something but your body’s not wanting to go do that.
‘But those are the habits, that’s something that I just need to continue to focus on and be aggressive regardless of the result.’
4 – FOUL TROUBLE
Simmons fouled out of two of his first three games back with the Nets.
While it is early days, he is not going to produce anything on the court if he is forced to watch from the sidelines.
The problem with getting into foul trouble regularly in the NBA is that it can become routine.
Already Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant has baited Simmons into committing his sixth and final foul and other players are going to line up to do the same.
How Simmons reacted to that incident was telling as well.
‘It wasn’t a foul. [The referee] called it a foul, made a mistake, it is what it is … it’s really frustrating … it’s not a foul, but it was bullshit,’ he said.
‘It’s frustrating because it’s late game, fourth quarter, it’s a physical, close game. It’s the NBA. It’s not college. It’s not high school. Some people are going to get hit, some people bleed; it’s basketball.’
Simmons defends Morant of the Grizzlies. Morant would win the battle, with Simmons fouling out and then launching a foul-mouthed tirade about the officials
Fired-up comments like that are likely to attract the attention of the officials as well and Simmons can expect further scrutiny.
He is going to need to tighten his discipline and zip his lip when the calls are not going his way.
5 – THE SUPPORT OF TEAMMATES
It is no secret that Simmons left Philadelphia on less than rosy terms.
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Star player Joel Embiid was the most outspoken and there was no love lost between the pair when Simmons finally departed.
‘It’s unfortunate winning was not the biggest factor,’ Embiid said of Simmons following the Sixers playoffs loss to the Hawks.
‘It’s unfortunate that for him having his own team and, I guess, being a star was more his priorities.’
Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in their time at the Philadelphia 76ers together. Embiid was never Simmons’ biggest fan and the star players struggled to gel together
Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers would routinely toss Simmons out of practice and labelled him a distraction.
Even Australian Boomer Matisse Thybulle, who once defended Simmons saying he was ‘thrown under the bus’, would later distance himself from his fellow Aussie.
Given the raft of issues that Simmons is facing to return to his best, he is going to need support.
In a league driven by ego-crazy athletes primarily concerned with themselves, that is a big ask.
However the early signs are positive that his Nets teammates are behind him.
‘You guys keep coming in here asking me like what about Ben? He hasn’t played in two years. Give him a f***ing chance,’ Irving said this week.
‘We stay on his s***. You just stay on him. But we’re here to give him positive affirmations.’
Prior to the season starting, Nets bench guard and Australian Boomer Patty Mills said the team and Simmons had spent a long time bonding.
‘Rome was never built in a day … the ability for us to create this bond between us with the adversity that comes hopefully can tie us stronger together,’ Mills said.
‘I’ve supported him from afar for a long time now,’ he said.
‘To step on the hardwood with him, I’m really looking forward to it.’
That support will now be tested with the Nets in such a precarious position so early in the season.
The likes of Irving, Kevin Durant and others will need to continue to support and keep the faith in Simmons. Any fractures could prove disastrous.
