Ben Simmons Opened Up About Everything From His Health To The Drama In Brooklyn To His Jumper As He Prepares For A Very Important Bounce Back Season

Jim McIsaac. Getty Images.

As is tradition, it can't be late summer in the NBA calendar without some sort of footage of Ben Simmons not only playing basketball, but taking and making jumpers. That video hit our timelines yesterday

and unlike previous summers where fans were ready to take the bait, after everything that's gone on with Simmons these last few years you don't get the sense that's going to happen again. He's reached the point where we need to see it in actual NBA games and then we need to see him actually stay healthy and produce. His All Star 2020-21 season feels like another lifetime ago, and the 42 games we saw of Simmons last year before he got shut down didn't exactly set the world on fire.

But as we enter the 2023-24 season, things are certainly different for the Nets. They've gone from a team with title expectations to a group that's sort of in the early stages of a soft rebuild. I call it a soft rebuild because this is not a team that's going to be tanking for the top of the lottery. There's legit talent on their roster with Mikal Bridges, Nic Claxton, and Cam Johnson. Depth pieces like Dorian Finney-Smith/Royce O'Neale/Lonnie Walker/Cam Thomas aren't awful.

The big question is Simmons. If the Nets somehow find a way to get the Philly version, that's going to change their ceiling. If they're stuck with the version we've seen over the last 2-ish years, that certainly limits how far they can truly go. Few players in the league have been dragged more than Simmons these last few seasons, and part of that is because of the fact that he's on a 5/177M deal who hasn't exactly been living up to.

That's why I found this tell all with Marc Spears pretty interesting

We hadn't really heard Simmons open up about everything that's gone on since that Hawks series, and he certainly didn't hold back. We got everything from injuries, his development as a player, the Nets drama and his future, etc. I highly suggest reading the whole thing, but the following are a few areas that stood out to me

How would you say your health is, at this point? How is your back?

I don’t think people realize how bad it was in terms of physically how I was feeling and what I was able to do on the floor. Being able to sit down now and not have to lean or slouch one way, it’s kind of crazy for me. But I feel I’m at 100% now. Right now, I’m just building back to where I’m playing. I haven’t played in a while. Just taking hits and getting my body used to that.

One of the things that seems to happen with Simmons is that nobody really believes he's hurt. They view all this stuff as excuses for maybe why his play hasn't exactly developed, so it's good to hear that he's now entering the yeat at 100%. I just want to see what that looks like now that he's settled in his new city. If he wasn't even healthy in the 42 games we saw last season that sort of explains things, but now there won't be any excuses. He said he'll be ready to roll for this season so it's time to see it.

Simmons actually went on to say the injury dates back to his Sixers days which I found interesting given how effective he still was able to be.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving asked out of Brooklyn. Why didn’t you ask out?

Out of Brooklyn? I love Brooklyn. I don’t have an issue with Brooklyn. For me, I want to get healthy. The only thing I could do was get healthy. I couldn’t complain about anything. I’m in a great city, a great organization, great owners, great coach, great GM [general manager]. It’s all good people around, and they want to win and do it the right way. Also, I don’t have specific teams I want to go to. This is a job. I’m not going to ask to be put somewhere specific, I just want to play. I got to be healthy to do this so, at the end of the day, I just got to get back right and get on the court.

Some surprising self awareness here from Simmons. Given everything that happened in Philly and how that separation went down, I don't think it would have been a surprise if he added his name to the list of players that wanted to get out of BKN once that whole plan started to fall apart. Granted he most likely didn't even have a trade market to begin with, but it is a little refreshing to hear a player approach the situation that way.

I also don't think that line about "not going to ask to be put somewhere specific" was an accident. 

Do you have any sense of what position the Nets will play you next season after playing center?

Point guard. That’s who I am. As much as people say, ‘Fix this, fix that.’ No, I’m a point guard. When I was playing at that [high] level, nobody was really saying anything to me.

Now this is something I'm interested in seeing. I think we've all had enough of the Spencer Dinwiddie Experience in terms of him running the show, and I do think this is where Simmons is best suited to play. His size at the position is a weapon, his playmaking and court vision are legit, and while he may not be able to shoot, you can absolutely tell him to play defense and run the offense and leave it there. 

Essentially, he just needs to play like vintage Rondo. Rondo never could really shoot, never really looked for his own shot until it was time to morph into Playoff Rondo, and that's how I feel Simmons can thrive within this system. 

Obviously, people are obsessed with you from a shooting standpoint. What part of your game are you working on?

Touch shooting, pull-ups, spot [-up] 3’s. Just everything. When I’m allowed to be who I am and move how I need to move, I will be in a good place. The sky is the limit. Just building my confidence each day. The only way I’m going to get my confidence is just reps, reps, reps, reps, and getting shots up. So, I’m excited.

This is where I think most people will roll their eyes. It's certainly not the first time we've heard about him working on his shooting or seen clips, but as we know having that translate to actual NBA games is an entirely different beast. I don't think anyone is suggesting Simmons needs to turn into KD from the midrange or Steph from behind the arc, but he has to get to the point where defenses actually respect the possibility that he'll shoot. If they don't, the Nets spacing is going to be all jacked up with him on the floor.

Why do you think people are fascinated with you? Are you fueled by hate?

I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s just something that just comes with it. There’s been plenty of No. 1 picks. I don’t think that’s it. Maybe it’s because I’m Australian. Nah, but I don’t know. I like it. It comes with it …

I’m not fueled by the hate. I don’t even call it hate, because hate is like, that’s deep. I don’t really hate anybody.

The one thing I'll say is Simmons seems to be the only player in the NBA who is never allowed to miss a shot. Name another player that goes as viral as Simmons does any time he misses a shot or a layup rims out. You can almost set your watch to it. Not only that, but he also deals with shit like this on a regular basis

which is just weirdo behavior. Sure some of this may come with the territory of being an NBA player, but there are times where I do feel a little bad for Simmons with how the internet piles on with every move he makes. 

At the end of the day, these interviews are nice and do give us some insight into the mind of Simmons, but ultimately it's all going to come down to what happens on the floor. All these answers sound nice and are what you would expect to hear, but we've heard it all before. It's time to put up or shut up in my opinion. A healthy Ben Simmons can make a difference for the Nets, but until we actually see it I think fans are going to be pretty skeptical. 

Get back to being this player, and I think Simmons will be surprised at just how quickly the narrative around him changes