Nets’ Ben Simmons regarded as one of the NBA’s most ‘confusing’ players
Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons has been one of the most interesting players in the NBA for the past few seasons for a variety of reasons. Ever since Simmons had his issues during his days as a Philadelphia 76er, he has been more polarizing than anything else in the NBA space.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report, Zach Buckley named Simmons as one of the most confusing players in the league. Buckley writes in the beginning of his piece that confusing for the purpose of the article is to say that a player has established what they are on the floor, but there is something about them that has fans and pundits unsure of what’s going to happen next.
Simmons is in an unique place within the NBA conversation as he has been hurt, ineffective, or both for the past few seasons due to a combination of bad injury luck and lacking self-confidence. Simmons will be going into 2023-24 healthy, but the NBA space seems to be split on what can be expected from Simmons at this point of his career, which makes him a confusing player in Buckley’s eyes.
Here’s some of what Buckley had to say about Simmons being on this list:
“While the NBA typically travels at warp speeds, it was still staggering to see just how quickly Ben Simmons fell from grace. It felt like a single playoff run saw him switch from a rising star to a fading one, and at this point, his place in the NBA seems completely unsettled.
There were long concerns with his jump shot and overall assertiveness as a scorer, but those were typically glossed over to admire his defensive versatility, playmaking ability (especially for a 6’10”, 240-pounder) and transition attacking.
But those concerns hit a fever pitch during the 2021 playoffs—when he essentially refused to even look at the basket—and his career has been off-track ever since.”
