Nets star Ben Simmons responds to critics questioning his passion
The Brooklyn Nets are currently in disarray. They are coming off one of the more embarrassing losses of the season when they fell to the Sacramento Kings 153-121 on a night where they just couldn’t get out of their own way.
A lot of Brooklyn’s frustrations has been centered on Ben Simmons. The 3-time All-Star they acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers in the James Harden trade at the deadline. Simmons has not been the same player he has shown in the past to begin the season as he is averaging just 5.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.6 assists.
Part of that is due to a knee problem he’s been dealing with and his overcoming a lot of mental challenges, but the Nets have grown frustrated as both players and coaches have been questioning his passion for the game of basketball. The Nets have been bringing Simmons off the bench and he had a relatively solid night against the Kings with 11 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
Simmons sat down with Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic and he responded to those criticisms:
“I get (the skepticism), but I think the one thing with me is that I’m a competitor. I want to win and play. So I’m gonna do what I can to get out there.”
“There’s only so much I can really do (about perception),” Simmons said. “You can’t make people believe, you know? They weren’t there when I was on the floor and couldn’t walk (because of his back). They weren’t there when I was in the ambulance getting taken to the hospital (after a Feb. 22, 2020 game at Milwaukee). People weren’t there, so they don’t know. That was the first episode I had against Milwaukee. That was the original trigger of it…right before COVID, the start of my back issues.
“But that’s a part of my journey. There’s times when I couldn’t walk. I had a dead foot. Couldn’t sleep. A lot of stuff was going on with me, physically, to where it was tough. But there’s only so much I can say for somebody to believe, you know?
One has to feel for Simmons. He has had to overcome a lot in his NBA career, but on the flip side, he has shown how talented he is in the past. He has got to find a way to dig deep and be able to show off his talent once more.
The Nets made that trade hoping that a fresh start would help him. All he would have to do is play his trademark defense as well as distribute the ball to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but there have been a ton of distractions for Brooklyn and this might be too much for Simmons to handle at the moment.
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Brooklyn Nets player grades: Nets allow 153 points in embarrassing loss
