Getty Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets
Former Philadelphia 76ers‘ no. 1 pick Ben Simmons’ play this season has made fans wonder what the future holds for him. Over the course of this season, Simmons went from a starting role to a bench role with the Brooklyn Nets, which does not reflect well on him as a trade asset.
Alex Schiffer of The Athletic revealed in a mailbag that while the Nets haven’t given up on Simmons, he holds no trade value right now as a player.
“The Nets haven’t given up on Ben Simmons,” Schiffer said. “The day after Vaughn said the rotation was getting cut and would reflect the lineup for the near future, Simmons was the sixth man. Given he has no trade market right now, I think it’s hard to give up on the guy who is now the highest-paid player on the team. They need to find a way to get him going (more on that later) because there aren’t really any alternatives.”
Schiffer then proposed how the Nets could make it work with Simmons with their new-look roster.
“I’d like to see Simmons play alongside (Spencer) Dinwiddie and see if Dinwiddie’s improved 3-point shooting can give them some different looks with him off the ball. Or just give Simmons some nights where you play him 30 minutes at point and see what the returns are. But that’s tough to pull off with Dinwiddie healthy and playing well.”
Sixer Reveals His Thoughts on Simmons
During an interview on The John Kincade Show, Niang reflected on what it was like dealing with Simmons’ holdout last year in Philadelphia.
“Ben Simmons kind of handicapped us at the beginning of last year. I mean, I wasn’t gonna say it, but now, you know what I mean?… When you’re building rosters, talking from a general manager standpoint – I don’t know how much [Simmons] makes, but it’s a max contract. So you immediately take that off the books, ‘I’m not playing,’ you have to figure it out where other role players have to step up and replace, you know, the passing, dribbling, rebounding, defense.”
Niang admitted that the uncertainty surrounding Simmons’ situation was hard to deal with.
“I think Doc Rivers does a good job of buying into the team. So when you don’t know who you’re going to have night in and night out, ‘Is he coming back? Is he this?’ I feel like the updates we were getting about him were, like, when I turned on my TV and listening to Stephen A. Smith, like ‘He’s gonna be at practice tomorrow.’ And I was like, ‘There he is.’ So last year was difficult because you didn’t know who you had, right?”
Exec Reveals Heated Exchange Between Simmons and Bradley Beal
An executive revealed to Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett a heated exchange between Simmons and Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal
“The first guy that started the Hack-a-Ben process was Scott Brooks with Washington,” the exec told Bulpett. “They’re playing Philly a few years ago, and Philly’s up by around 20. Brooks starts putting Simmons on the line in the fourth quarter, and the game is getting closer as Ben is stepping to the line and bricking more and more foul shots. So finally, Bradley Beal had to foul him. Usually, you don’t have your best player fouling, but at that point, he did.
“When that happened, Ben and Beal had this sort of animated conversation. Ben said, ‘I’m tired of you motherf*****s fouling me on purpose, man. I’m going to step up here and knock these two down. Five thousand dollars says I will.’ To which Beal replied, ‘You wanna make it 20?’ And then he went up and bricked one. I don’t think he said another word.”
The executive then revealed that instances like those is what led to Simmons’ fear of shooting the ball.
“There were certain indicators of this struggle early on. How did you miss it? And that is why he won’t shoot the ball. He lives in fear of having to shoot free throws or shooting airballs from the floor.”