Ben Simmons’ growing pains with the Brooklyn Nets after some 16 months on the sidelines has been a hot talking point early this season – particularly in the US media.
Simmons has had issues at both ends of the floor, most notably offensively, where he’s been passive and has looked a shell of his former All-Star self.
Through four games, Simmons has scored 21 points in total. By comparison, other players have already put up 21 points in a single game 191 times including 29 occasions when players have tallied 21 points in a half and four instances when players have registered 21 points in a quarter.
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While the former Pick 1 has still averaged 7.5 assists per contest as Brooklyn’s primary ball handler, he’s well down on his normal scoring production, having averaged 15.8 points across his career prior to this season.
And with the 1-3 Nets stumbling out of the gates this season with the league’s 22nd best offensive rating (110.6) despite Simmons rounding out a big three with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Aussie’s play at the attacking end of the floor has been more heavily scrutinised.
“We understand right now he lacks confidence and aggressiveness. OK, we’re going to be patient with him while he tries to find his way through that,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler said.
“The problem is when this is your primary ball handler, and you don’t have a threat at the initial action up the floor and everyone defensively knows it, to me this is just wasted time.
“As long as they continue to insist this is your point guard, it is going to continue to be talked about. Because it’s not about beating up Ben Simmons or picking on Ben Simmons. What it’s about is that it is not the way the position is normally played in the NBA – that typically is somebody that is going to put pressure on you defensively.
“It doesn’t mean he’s got to take 10 to 15 shots a night – that’s not his thing. But you can at least be involved in early action to put pressure on defenses with your length, speed and passing ability the way he did at his best in Philly. He is so far removed from that.”
Following the Nets’ loss to Milwaukee on Thursday (all times AEDT), Irving fiercely defended Simmons and called for patience, saying: “He hasn’t played in two years. Give him af***ing chance.”
However former NBA player Vince Carter said Simmons doesn’t even necessarily need to be scoring, but getting in better attacking positions to open up the game.
Simmons receives foul in Nets loss 01:16
“Every now and then you need Ben Simmons to eat up that space if the big is going to sit that big in the paint and they’re going to sit that deep with the (other) big, now you have two (opposition) bigs in the paint,” Carter said on ESPN.
“Eat up the space, be aggressive. If he eats up some of that space, now you have to respect a driving NBA player at some point.
“Now you guys get easy baskets that way and he doesn’t have to shoot. Or sometimes when you’re aggressive you work your way to an easy layup and you don’t have to worry about the mental thoughts of shooting the jump shot.
“Those are ways he can play his way back into his confidence by being aggressive and attacking the point with sometimes the notions of I’m going to get a layup, or I’m going to play bully boy or I’m going to create an open shot for some guys on my team.”
SI’s Rohan Nadkarni posed whether Nets coach Steve Nash needed to experiment with Simmons in different line-ups with more shooting given the pairing of Simmons with center Nic Claxton has a minus-18.7 net rating, while Simmons and backup big Day’Ron Sharpe has a minus-38.6 net rating.
Kyrie howls at Simmons for not shooting 00:32
“It’s not hard to see why these pairings fail. The Nets’ spacing is tighter than a pair of jeans on Thanksgiving when Simmons shares the floor with another non-shooter, creating obstacles even too difficult for halfcourt maestros Durant and Irving to overcome,” Nadkari wrote.
“It’s surprising to see Nash play Simmons with another non-shooter as often as he does. Simmons has played 117 minutes so far this season, 102 of which have come next to either Claxton or Sharpe. That means he’s played only 15 as the lone non-shooter/big/center, and he probably deserves a longer look in that scenario.”
Simmons has been in several attacking positions but passed up open shots including Irving yelling, “shoot it Ben!” while he was free in the lane against the Bucks.
ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst revealed scouts who’ve watched Simmons closely this season believe the reason he hasn’t been aggressive enough is because he’s “afraid of being fouled” – not necessarily about missing the shot.
This would likely be because Simmons has long struggled at the charity swipe throughout his career where he’s gone at a 59.6 percent clip.
“You look at Kyrie telling him to shoot, he was in a position there where he was very likely to be fouled,” Windhorst said.
“The other thing that has bothered scouts who have watched Ben Simmons play is his reaction to being in foul trouble. They believe he almost looks like he’s relieved to be coming out of the game at times.
“I can understand why his teammates want to be protective of him, but the thing that stands out for me is the big worry point for the Nets. Durant, Irving and Simmons have played 77 minutes together so far this season. They’ve been outscored in those 77 minutes by 30 points.”
“That’s their big three and that’s really worrisome in addition to what Simmons is doing individually.”
Meanwhile former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins had less sympathy for Simmons coming off last season’s trade standoff with the Sixers where he sat out the campaign.
“Kyrie said to have patience with him – Kyrie and the Brooklyn Nets can have patience with Ben Simmons,” Perkins told ESPN.
“But us as fans and in the media, why do we have to have patience with a guy who was traded the No. 1 Pick overall, a guy who chose to quit on his team last season, a guy who basically at one point wanted to give Philly the option to pick between him and (Joel) Embiid who was going to be the franchise guy.
“I’m not going to keep beating on this drum about Ben Simmons’ offense – at this point he’s shown us who he is and that’s who he is – I don’t think there’s any coming back from it.
“He’s not going to look at the basket, forget shooting the basketball and a handful of times he’s set the screen and could’ve rolled to the basket, but he was afraid of getting the ball to finish for a layup.”
Soft call = Simmons OUT, Nash blows the lid! | 01:16
It’s the other end of the floor where the Nets have had even bigger problems, with the league’s second-worst defensive rating (119.8).
Simmons – a two-time All-Defensive First Team member and one of the most versatile stoppers in the league – hasn’t been assertive on the defensive end either, including racking up 18 fouls in his four matches and fouling out in two of them.
And so Perkins called for Simmons to get more aggressive defensively too, pointing to how Brooklyn had no answers for Giannis Antetokounmpo during his monster 43-point outing on Thursday.
“Let’s talk about the defensive side of things. Giannis was imposing his will, old school daddy ball on the low block – I hadn’t seen that many drop steps since Shaquille O’Neal,” he said.
“Ben Simmons is 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, I didn’t see him going in and trying to check him up. Forget the offensive end, impact on the defensive end.
“They didn’t trade James Harden to get Ben Simmons in to be a below average player or average player. They brought him in to be an All-Defensive type of player and an All-Star caliber player.”
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