The back surgery Nets forward Ben Simmons underwent last spring caused him to question whether he’d be able to continue playing in the NBA, as Julia Stumbaugh of Bleacher Report relays.
“There were times, last summer, when I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. I might have to stop playing,” Simmons said on The Young Man and The Three podcast in discussing the challenges of recovering from multiple procedures on his back (YouTube link). “I had to bring that up in conversation, and think about it, just because physically it’s tough, but mentally it’s just so hard to return from an injury like that, and go through the process of rehabbing a second summer in a row.”
Simmons is playing well this season from a facilitation standpoint, averaging his most assists per game (7.1) since 2019/20. While his shot attempts and overall scoring are still down from his Philadelphia years, it’s been somewhat of a comeback year for Simmons, who has started 24 of his 30 appearances and appeared in 30 of Brooklyn’s 45 games so far. His pace of 55 games played would be his best since his last All-Star season.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Consistency and scoring depth continue to be issues for the Celtics during their recent poor offensive stretch, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe writes (subscriber link). Boston has scored under 100 points five times this month; on Thursday, Jaden Springer was the only player to score in double figures off the bench. The Celtics are still only one of three teams to reach at least 30 wins entering Saturday and boast the third-best record in the league. As Chris Mannix of SI opines, it isn’t time to panic yet, but efficiency among their key players needs to be higher to regain championship form.
- The Lakers passing on Jayson Tatum in the 2017 draft is one factor that has helped fuel the ongoing rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics in the 2020s, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin writes. “It doesn’t feel like it’s at a peak or anything, but it’s always a fun game and it’s always great,” Boston assistant GM Austin Ainge said of matchups between the two storied franchises. “… And it’s 18 championships to 12 championships. You don’t think the citizens of L.A. care about Minneapolis, do you?“
- Fresh off his first All-Star appearance last season and the trade of Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes is the face of the Raptors in his fourth season in the league. In an interview with Alex Wong of Toronto Life, Barnes opened up on what that means to him, his upbringing, and what it takes a leader takes. “One thing I tell people often is that, in the NBA, you mature pretty quick,” Barnes said. “A lot of people who know me and hang around me, they can see how much I’ve grown in just the first three years. With everything that’s thrown at you, you really have no choice.“
Ben Simmons is total BS. He was going to play no matter what. He wasn’t going to leave $40M on the table. He’ll never make that kind of money again in his life. Unless he wins the lottery.
Ben Simmons SHOULD retire early, along with Embiid. Both guys just using up cap space on bad teams. “Trust the process” was a curse, not a motto.
Wait, Ben Simmons stopped playing in the NBA after 2021
It will be interesting to see if Simmons still wants to play next year, when the best offer he receives is probably $5M or less.
I am not a Ben Simmons fan at all but I like seeing him playing again, injuries suck and even though he seems like a not so nice dude the hate he gets is unreal
He gets the hate justifiably bc he got the bag then immediately didn’t want to play.
Kind of like Jimmy Butler…
Andrew Wiggins does the exact same in GSW but he gets nonstop excuses made for him when the reality is he has to be 20-25 PPG at that salary, and is 16.5.
Wiggins and Simmons are top 10 biggest underperforming players every year since 2019. No clue why Warriors fans defend Wiggins when he was the only player available in the KD sign and trade – that right there means he was not a part of any of GSWs front offices drafts and should have been viewed as expendable as soon as he came here. He’s just a guy, he’s not an all-star and didn’t deserve to be there that 1 time Dub Nation used its massive China fanbase to get him over the line. Harrison Barnes is better than Andrew Wiggins, to this day. That proves Wiggins is an overrated nothingburger in this league. He was only NBA-good the same year he was on a team stacked with like 9 really good players including Steph/Dray/Klay/Poole? But he’s been mid-to-bad every other year of his career? That’s called a “peak” and it’s a weak one. Get this clown out of here and officially give Kuminga that job.
It is what it is…Ben is back, facilitating for teammates, has great vision, good rebounder, does not shoot as can’t shoot….that is his game…all these haters wasting their time…
I like watching him play, is fun to watch. He won’t get another huge contract obviously but this is a guy who will make players on his team better when he is out there (which is a problem, needs to be out there more) would love to see him on Warriors squad
The Lakers were raining threes on the Celtics — like many other opponents do since the Celtics defense makes three-point shooters into stars — when Coach Joe was asked how Celts would adjust. Joe answered Celts needed to protect the paint. Joe, Celts have to adjust our defense as most NBA players can now make three’s if they are uncontested. Come on Coach, Celts have the talent. We’ve proven that. It’s up to you to manage it better. Defend threes! Go Celtics!
I mean the core of the Celtics are probably worn out at this point. They played into June last season and a number of their starters went straight on to the Olympics, so they didn’t have much of an offseason. Coupled of course with the Porzingis injury, it seemed likely their season would be like this
They never say exactly what the “procedure” was on his back.
His biggest issue is that he’s emotionally weak.
Ben never had the back issue in Philly. It happened in Bklyn. If he was damaged goods. Nets kept quiet so they could move Harden. So NBA will reward them with a top 2 pick this year.
I wouldn’t want to see Ben again.
Congrats Scottie. You are the face of a 12-32 team. Heading to the lottery. Raptors should move Brown and make sure they get a top 5 pick.
This is Ben Simmons worst statistical season by PER, TS% and VORP. In other words, he still sucks.