In a recent interview with Michael Grady of YES Network (video link), Nets team president Sean Marks once again defended embattled Brooklyn guard Ben Simmons. Simmons, who missed the entire 2021/22 season due to mental health issues and a herniated disc in his lower back, had reportedly aimed to return in the first round of the playoffs, but experienced a setback.
“It’s a little bit of a testament that one, he tried to get back out there and tried to help his teammates and secondly, we have to be careful not judge people,” Marks said. “And if you’re outside that medical profession, when you’re chiming in from afar, you just have to be a bit careful of what you’re saying because you really don’t know.”
Simmons opted to treat the back injury with surgery after the Nets were officially eliminated in a 4-0 first-round sweep by the Celtics.
“Nobody wants to have surgery,” Marks said. “It’s the last resort but it’s bygone now and we’ve got to move forward on this, we’ve got to support him and so forth.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Former Timberwolves team president Gersson Rosas has an official title with the Knicks, having been named a senior basketball advisor, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Rosas was let go from Minnesota under murky circumstances and later joined the Knicks as a consultant. Begley notes that determining where Rosas slots in among the Knicks’ front office pecking order will be important during a critical 2022 offseason for New York.
- The Knicks are considering leaving 2021 draft-and-stash second-round pick Rokas Jokubaitis, currently playing for Barcelona in the EuroLeague Final Four, overseas to develop for another year, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman opines that New York could have more flexibility to sign the point guard prospect in 2023, after several short-term Knicks contracts come off the books. Jokubaitis averaged 7.2 PPG and 2.8 APG across 17 MPG in 35 EuroLeague contests this season.
- Former Celtics team president Danny Ainge, now in the Jazz front office, has enjoyed seeing the progress of his old team, writes Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. The Celtics are now trailing the Heat 1-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. “I’ve been proud of this team all year,” Ainge said. “I really liked watching guys develop when I was there, and it’s been great watching guys like Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen [Brown] and Marcus [Smart] and Rob [Williams] and all of them take another step this year. They just beat a great team, the defending champs.” Ainge drafted Tatum, Brown, Smart and Williams during his Celtics front office run.
Yes another yr is right move.
I’m still trying to understand the Ben back issue.
Celtics had their run. It’s looking like a Heat championship this yr. Heat are a better D team than Celtics. Something the west doesn’t understand.
Obviously I dont know anything, and it’s pure speculation, but a lot of times, Drs will avoid surgery if you’re able to do certain things without pain, but when it comes back, it could take a few weeks to manage it back, and if it gets worse than that, you probably dont have much choice but to have surgery…
I hurt my spine really badly a couple of weeks into the pandemic, during lockdowns, and I couldn’t do anything about it for like 7 or 8 weeks. After that, it just didnt go away, and the only thing that helped was walking. I had issues for 7 months, and then I had an unrelated surgery, and somehow the anesthesia took away the pain, and besides a few flare ups that took 1-3 weeks, I havent had much issue since then. Literally I couldn’t get on the operating bed, and then woke up perfectly fine, and had no idea what happened. I finally was able to see a neurologist afterward, and after hearing the story, the guy said, “well, I have no idea how you’re even moving around b/c you have herniated discs in 5 or 6 spots, and spinal stenosis in 4 or 5 spots…ypu definitely need surgery, but if you’re not having any pain outside of little small things, I guess we’ll leave it alone until it comes back.”
From my understanding, he hurt it a couple of years ago, so my guess is he has had little issues here and there, but has been able to avoid it being too much, until he probably tweaked something, and it kept him from being able to do certain things. That’s probably why he seemed like he might be able to play, and then all of the sudden had surgery
Again, pure speculation on my end, but that would be my guess about the situation
What I’m talking about. Is why it never came up. Till the season was over. Sixers should have known since day 1. Did they ?? Did Ben tell them ?? It’s just so last min. And Nets I hope knew when they made trade. Nets had a good shot at East. If Ben would have played from Feb 10 TD. Just so conspicuous to me lol.
So 1 game in and the Celtics are done? Ok…
Why is another year the right move?? Rokas just won the rookie of the year after shooting over fifty percent from twos and from threes. He is clearly ready for the nba. Remember euro league is way more competitive than NCAA. Imagine if a guy one freshman of the year in NCAA and telling him to stay in college another year. I can’t see any logic in keeping Rokas in Europe. He would have been the best point guard on our team Last year and is currently the best point guard we have. Why should we keep our best pg in Europe. Explain urself
Completely agree, I live in Turkey and follow Euroleague games. Rokas is definitely ready for the NBA . IQ, Deuce and Rokas all have different styles of play. If we are to truly engage in a “youth movement” then we should give the keys to these 3 young guards. There should be plenty of minutes to go around for all three players. Keep Derrick Rose as a mentor and finisher if need be.
Knicks looking at another season of missing the postseason unless they upgrade at pg. They gotta bring a vet in & there will some good 1s available. They should draft 1 with their lottery pick too. I like Burks, IQ, Deuce & Rokas but those guys clearly ain’t gonna get it
So… After 1 game where the Celtics were missing 2 of their better players in Smart and Horford and they are done? From what planet did you evolve from you ignorant troll… After 1 game Al calls it… Well maybe they shouldn’t play the rest of the games… Cause Al said it was over! POS loser!
Mr Marks makes way too much sense… there are way too many sad people living a sad life that have nothing else better to do with it than attack talented young men out of their own envy, & to do that to someone that is struggling mentally is an absolute disgrace that has no name!
Ben Simmons needs to get back out on the court and play basketball at some point. Enough with the drama and trying to make the world feel sorry for him. Be a professional and play ball, mister! He needs to make up his mind whether he wants to play basketball.
Sorry, Sean Marks. That’s pretty much the bottom line for NBA fans who have already been asked to swallow too much sad sack nonsense from primadonna players.
Please never call yourself a NBA/basketball fan. You’re clearly the opposite
He totally screwed Philly ( Simmons) They didn’t draft Tatum, let Butler walk and all because of him in some way. He is mental block on all of us now. This series is a slap in the face of all Sixers fans.
Having Simmons didnt preclude them from those things. Their decision making and poor use of the rest of their roster by hiring a coach to do the same thing they fired the previous coach for, and then blame his players is also the organization’s fault. This whole thing could have easily been avoided by firing Doc Rivers, but they chose him over a player they threw away 5 seasons to get.
That being said, he should have eventually played, and made them look even dumber for keeping Rivers, and that’s where I concede the fault may start to be on him, but at the same time,he had definite reasons to be pissed off.
The injury might have also played some sort of factor in whatever the situation was, although maybe that wasnt an issue until after he got traded
I’m not huge on conspiracies, but I think there are several younger players that have opted for surgeries or extended rehabs just so they didnt get traded. Lonzo Ball for instance is a guy that I felt always somehow got injured conveniently leading into the trade deadline and nixed any potential deals before the Pelicans move.
But I wouldn’t be shocked if Ben Simmons had surgery as a way to cement the “no I’m injured I cant play” discussion and point to that surgery as proof it’s more than mental. Bc his mental argument is like swiss cheese.
Is there a good source of info on draft and stash players overseas? Would love to see a list by team, how acquired, stats and news.