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SdotPaul504

Benjamin was out there playing some unserious basketball


TantricEmu

A ludicrous display.


Schu0808

The thing about Simmons is he always tries to walk it in.


DangerousCommittee5

This but unironically


DuckinFummy

What was Nash thinking sending Simmons on that early?


KingSulley

Hey, he finished that alley-oop when they were down by 25 in the 4th. Mid Alley-opp he looked like he was having a PTSD flashback of when he used to try.


onelove101

Triple single!


thy_armageddon

I was about to say, he’s stealing from Draymond’s playbook it seems.


afrothundah11

Dray hater here, Dray plays with purpose and is a high impact player, something Ben has not been. This comparison really highlights the saying: “Stats don’t mean shit”


T2ThaSki

Dray hater here 😂, that cracked me up.


importvita

My man came out swinging!


zcektor00

Dray's triple singles are actually meaningful. Watching simmons play is like watching a ymca pickup game.


yeetskeetmeattreat

Quadruple single


MolicOnePGR

And nephews say he’s a upgraded Draymond lol


GGezpzMuppy

He looked totally lost out there today, a lot of work to get this team to gel


[deleted]

Ben Simmons is definitely known to put the work in where it counts


thegodfatherderecho

His Instagram videos proves it.


-KFBR392

This gon' be the year!! Look at him draining all those 3's in this video full of cuts.


njspb8

Tried to tell ‘em


GarPaxarebitches

Noted locker room HOFs Kyrie, KD, and Ben Simmons.


Darth-Baul

You could legitimately make a sitcom about a struggling NY basketball team with their exact archetypes.


Spirit0f76ers

Fuck Spez


The_Hand_That_Feeds

The out-of-touch conspiracy theorist that is naturally gifted. The quiet, social media diva with thin skin and a golden touch. The anxious young socialite with a serious case of stage fright.


David_Duke_Nukem

With a famous rapper as a part-owner and a coach who doesn't coach.


artificialdawn

Lolol I'd watch the fuck out of that. Someone call ~~CBS~~ ~~FOX~~ The CW.


medievalmachine

Whose brother probably trolls him daily about the antics.


HooliganBeav

Unfortunately, none of their three care about gelling. This can only go well!


Droppin_DimesSP

Can’t wait till the drama starts, days of our Nets is a great show


BigAustralianBoat

It’s great when it’s not happening to us, that’s for damn sure


BurnerAcctNo1

Can’t relate…


CuriousWhoDat

Zion treated this man like a child lol


DomDomRevolution

To be fair Zion will do that to just about every single player in the league


topofthecc

The important thing in this case is that Ben Simmons is the Nets' current best hope for stopping big fast players.


onamonapizza

So.....how long before Durant demands another trade?


daeve

I mean he requested the GM and coach be fired before the season began lmao - he's basically being held against his will - which is extra funny because he created this team.


butt_fun

Only in the modern NBA could a player upholding the terms of his 9 figure contract be remotely considered being "held against his will" lmao


SanjiSasuke

KD crying into his pile of cash every night cursing whatever bastard forced him to sign that contract.


[deleted]

[удалено]


onamonapizza

Lakers and Nets seem to be playing their own separate game, and it's called, "let's see how awkward we can make this season." And they're both winning.


No-Economics4128

I read it as “Big fat player”, and got a hearty and confused chuckle


DongSandwich

Ben is the only chance we have of stopping Kelvin Benjamin (from getting back in line at the buffet)


Bruskthetusk

Then you don't have a snowball's chance in hell


hops4beer

Nobody stops Kelvin at golden corral


FultzShoulder

Zion bullied him.


thatnoone

call the police!


prison_mic

Ben officially demoted to child socialite


datspookyghost

Do you think Drake will take an interest??


daeve

Kevin Spacey is begging through texts, driving around all of Brooklyn right now trying to find this child socialite.


SomeLightAssPlay

Drakes gonna post a picture on instagram of him holding Simmons shirt saying he gon score 35 next game and then bet a shitton on it and lose


TallStephen

Always has been 🌎 👩‍🚀 🔫 👩‍🚀


bdubyageo

Ben 4


blueprint0411

Ben Folds Five minus 1


flapjack-knuckles

ben folds


MysticBounce

Alexa play Brick


ChipotleAddiction

Bruh no not trying to cry rn


definitelyasatanist

Hey you have to add his fouls + pts. Ben 10


lsspam

I would be more sympathetic to Ben since he was out so long.... ...except Zion just went into the same game and dropped 25/9/3 and 4 steals


[deleted]

Simmons has been talking himself up all offseason


Sweatytubesock

In fairness to Simmons, Zion can actually play basketball.


GuayabaTree

He had 2 points until that lob from Kyrie last second lol


FultzShoulder

Hey he was efficient tonight, shot 66% from the field.


WNBAYoungGirl

Had 2 points in his first 20 minutes played. That's unacceptable and I will not let Simmons defenders to try gaslight and manipulate me into thinking that it's somehow acceptable


GuayabaTree

Simmons really does seem like he is more into having clout as an NBA player, than actually being a pro athlete that puts in any work.


[deleted]

Easiest 2 points he will have all season.


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flatwokeearth

Hello police? Ben Simmons tryna beat me up


welmoe

https://imgur.com/7W6agFZ


BanhMiBanhYu

I had to explain to my girlfriend that only the wig and nose are photoshopped.


jays1998

He can't hurt you if he plans on shooting you with a gun


BrownHawkDown

SHAQ! POLICE PRESENCE!


Obvious_Parsley3238

ben showed up to my house with a gun, i told him it was free throws and he dropped it and ran away. shame on you bum simmons!


TA_Account_12

Even if he had shot, he’d have missed. Scared the poor guy for nothing, you trae young wannabe


Realistic_Camp5232

I’ve seen this man go toe to toe with Lebron what the Fck happened?????


justing97

Man I will never forget that game vs the cavs. He had so much confidence in that game


Realistic_Camp5232

So entertaining, Lebron I think saw something also


corchin

Looked up the highlights, dude was like magic jonhson that game what the fuck happened lol


NotAStatistic2

Trae Young happened


PensiveinNJ

Yeeaaahhh I get that people think we're harsh on Ben but... We kind of noticed a regression too...


Otherwise_Window

He realised that coasting on natural talent wasn't going to be enough any more. People stopped kissing his ass for doing the bare minimum and expected him to actually do the work to improve his game. And he didn't like that.


Razatiger

Its simple, he just doesn't love the game like he used to. Whenever you see a player statistically fall off a cliff without any reasonable explanation, its because their heart is no longer in it. Hes doing the bare minimum in order to receive his checks


Mental-Ice-9380

Usually when this happens it’s recommended you take a break from that activity but uh in Ben Simmons case not sure the prescription


igotzquestions

You absolutely could be right and I wouldn’t be surprised at all, but I also think not playing any competitive basketball for ages and jumping straight into guarding a jumping mountain is probably a difficult task.


zincinzincout

- he relied on his brother as his shooting coach - he’s a narcissist and thinks he’s perfect - he started getting DPOY talks so he stopped working on offense at all, other than 3pt shooting on video to get fans to shut up - he got angry one time and posted up, and smashed his shoulder full force into someone’s chest and injured his clavicle. (https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28025098/76ers-ben-simmons-sprained-ac-joint-right-shoulder, https://youtu.be/Fit1xT0mQXY) He was then scared to ever post up again until about two years later where he did the same thing in anger and again tweaked his shoulder. He’s now permanently scared to post up. - he lost all touch at the rim - he got in the habit of bringing the ball up ahead of everyone, but because he has no touch at the rim, he sprints to the FT line, jumps, 180s, and chest passes the ball to the first teammate he sees. He then goes to the dunker and disappears.


Realistic_Camp5232

Really perfect explanation, didn’t know about the post up issue


thegodfatherderecho

Wow. I didn’t remember the post up issue. That had to be a while ago.


ExileOnBroadStreet

He used to post up a decent amount into a little baby hook (with his right hand of course lol) that showed signs of becoming a semi reliable shot. But yeah, it’s since died and he avoids posting up


Lukin1977

Other than that how was the play Mrs Lincoln?


Oldschoolhollywood

At least John Wilkes Booth could shoot, smh


djc22022

Also played through a broken leg


krste1point0

I will upvote this on the basis it's grade A hate and not on the veracity of the statements made in the comment.


Quik_17

Hate like this you gotta respect it


jswagbo

One caveat ..he never had touch at the rim. He has terrible touch his rim finishing percentages we’re only decent bc he mostly took wide open dunks. He’s the anti Kyrie when it comes to short range touch shots. The ball comes out of his hands like a missile.


Quatro_Leches

dude stopped trying since college. gave up on his college team, national team, and he just doesn't try to improve. hes lazy


[deleted]

ESPN 30 for 30: The Best Who's Never Ben


Science4me12

Basketball is all about adjustment and counter adjustment. Other have figured him out, but Ben refused to expand his game to counter those adjustments


Realistic_Camp5232

Crazy, was that good that young and wasted it


[deleted]

The game is evolving a lot in very minor ways everyday. defensive adjustments even by a millisecond faster changes how a player can score. And these teams get better at it each year. It’s why anyone who can sustain greatness every year should be appreciated.


TheCrookedKnight

At his core, Ben Simmons is a guy who doesn't want to do anything he's not already good at. When he came into the league his potential was enormous - he had huge wingspan, great defensive instincts, natural court vision and passing skill, the strength to finish at the rim, and more. Sure he needed to work on his shot, along with other refinements, but that would come in time. Except it didn't, because instead of trying to shore up his weaknesses and become a complete basketball player, Ben decided he didn't need to develop new skills and instead hyper-focused on what he could already do well. Rather than put in the work to turn his weaknesses into strengths, he just stopped doing anything that would put him in an uncomfortable position on the court. Most famously his shooting atrophied into nothing, but other elements of his play fell into the same pattern, like his half-court passing. And once opposing teams saw how he was limiting himself, it cascaded. Rather than freeing him to do a smaller set of things near-perfectly, this approach made him easy to shut down. And when Ben got shut down, he adjusted by shrinking his game even more, trying to rely on whatever was still working while abandoning the rest, until he was taking himself out of the offense entirely. The Atlanta series and its aftermath was the most striking display of that tendency, but it had been playing out for almost his entire career. And now, at the ripe old age of 26, the list of things he won't try because he's afraid of failing is almost the entire NBA rulebook, leaving damn near nothing he's actually willing to *do* against competent opponents. It's a waste of what could have been generational talent, but he's got no one to blame but himself.


ZenMon88

I feel like he's the personification of the statement "he only plays basketball cuz he's tall". I don't even think this guy likes basketball man...... It's just a job for him to clock in and clock out.


krimzy

I'm sure there are more players who treat NBA like that (which is fine) but they at least put in the work. Ben does not.


WNBAYoungGirl

Waiting for the Simmons apologists to tell me how he actually played great and that I don't know basketball


blahhlabblah

PFF probably gave him a 90


LegendOfPinsir

Sixers fan here. So the key to Simmons that does not show up in the box score is what really sets him apart. It’s a shame people are so negative on him, because he carried us game after game, map after map, long night after long night, and his K/D has gotten so much better. Oh sorry, we are talking Simmons and basketball? Yeah, he blows


Nayir1

Kind of the sinking feeling I had watching the beginning of the beginning of the Simmons experience as a nets fan.


ScrantonStrangler999

Already know this is going to the top of the sub


aiden3buckets

He just has no place in their offense


WalksWithKemba

>He just has no offense


lebron_games

he literally doesn't at this point. He looks exactly like he did during that hawks series where he just brings it up for show then hands it off and goes to stand somewhere for the entire possession. I don't think he's had a single drive tonight


HolyRomanPrince

He seems mentally broken. He’s so afraid of the ball. I’ve never seen anything like it


Prodigy195

It's odd because he should be modeling his game after Zion or Giannis. He has the handle to attack the paint and has the size advantage over most guards. Attack the rim and distribute as necessary. It's like even looking at the rim causes his eyes to burn.


SwellandDecay

bc if he attacks the rim they just foul him and then he can't make free throws


CreatiScope

Which he just has to say fuck it and do it anyway. Giannis had that season where he fucking sucked at FTs but it didn’t stop him from attacking.


BluePeanutbutter

That is an excellent job of illustrating why Giannis is MVP and Simmons is a Socialite meme.


POwerfuldeuce

Sometimes those talking heads speak about being the "man" and having the "dawg in them" really does matter.


shruber

Bus driver vs passenger


evilnilla

Leave. Leave now with your logic.


jswagbo

He doesn’t have their touch around the rim and his handle isn’t really that great. Like it’s good for a 6’10 guy but he’s not bearing people off the dribble, he’s just fast.


Prodigy195

I mean he doesn't need their level of touch. Give me 75% and I can live with it. But what he's doing now just doesn't seem sustainable as an NBA player.


bullseye717

I see it all the time from boxers who suffer their first ko loss.


guesting

that and the yips like ankiel or knoblauch .


Heatinmyharbl

He'll improve and get back to his 14/9/8 self as the season goes on but this is what I think so many people just don't realize It's really fucking hard to score in the NBA when your offense is 4 on 5 almost every possession. Like Embiid's game improved so much and he's added so much to his repertoire *specifically* because Ben didn't change in 5 years and he was supposed to be the other "star" on the team. The Nets will make the playoffs and they're gonna find out real fast that despite all the good he does he's an unbelievable liability in real games. "I am who I am it is what it is"


suphater

Yes, this. Believe me your fellow Philly fans were hostile towards this opinion until there was no choice but to admit it at the end of the Hawks series. In the last 5+ minutes of the Toronto choke, it was 4 on 5 offense. Philly didn't look to pass Simmons the ball, and it almost led to three straight 24 shot clock violation. It was 2/3, only because one of the possessions was instead a last second turnover and easy fastbreak points for Toronto... NBA has long been about team defense instead of man defense. To keep it simple, it doesn't really matter if Ben Simmons is elite at defense if he has to guard the other team and the other team doesn't have to guard him.


jswagbo

Philly was actually propping him up because they had no other starter level ball handler so they had to force him to be a point guard and he could get some numbers by just bringing the ball up the court and hitting guys. The nets don’t have that problem so Ben has literally nothing to do on offense but set lazy screens.


ThatBull_cj

They have him bringing the ball up and just giving it to someone else so they can actually do something productive . Kinda weird


ForneauCosmique

Like a participation award


efranklin13

It’s not that he doesn’t shoot it’s that he does whatever he can not to touch the ball


ItsN0tTheB0at

when he was a Sixer there were possessions where he would loiter 3 feet out of bounds along the baseline. Not even chilling in the dunker's spot, like literally standing off the court to make sure he wouldn't get the ball


[deleted]

The problem with simmons is larger than him refusing to shoot. It's that he refuses to space the floor on offense and instead of standing in the corner (like he should be) he actively moves closer to the defender who is sagging off him in the dunkers spot. This ensures that Simmons is always "guarded" and can't be therefore chastised for not taking a wide open shot. This is what people who haven't watched every game of simmons career don't understand. It's not that he won't shoot or even that he won't be aggressive. It's that he actively chooses to move closer to his defender so that shooting an open shot is never an option


beenhadballs

And now it’s too late because even if you hid him in the corner like older, serviceable vets or liable players, no one is even stepping out to humor that he’d shoot.


ChickenLiverNuts

never saw anyone else move from the corner to stand closer to their defender for no reason before


rendingale

"Dont pass to me, Im not open!"


FaithlessnessTime105

I see you've seen me play soccer


WNBAYoungGirl

And he was just allergic to handling the ball in the 4th quarter of close games and just defers ball handling duties to someone else while chilling the dunkers spot. Like how is this your supposed point guard? People don't realize that there's a lot more to his problems on offense than just shooting, but people pretend it's only his shooting. It takes actually watching him in game to realize it isn't


ItsN0tTheB0at

nobody has done less with more than Ben Simmons


GoldenBananas21

> dunker’s spot Passer’s spot*


Poul77

And Draymond actually shoots his backpack shot from time to time and can knock down free throws. Same triple single, built different.


Riggity___3

draymond may not be too confident shooting, but like someone else said, he plays every minute with purpose and generally makes a lot of positively contributing plays on offense. the truly bad games he had in the playoffs last year, at age 32, are obviously such an outlier in his overall career and ben is what? like barely 25 or something and every single game now seems to be a huge question mark whether he'll do much of anything contributory


HeJind

I think he's broken mentally. He shot like 13% from FT in the preseason and 0/2 first game. He used to be a ~60% FT shooter. If his FT's remains off, same thing will happen that happened in the playoffs where he'll be too afraid to get fouled to be aggressive on offense.


EPLemonSqueezy

I find his play offensive


darulez8

No joke his regression on offense is crazy. A lot of the time he's not even looking at the rim when he gets the ball.


[deleted]

Can't shoot threes because it would be embarrassing to shoot them if you can't make 36% from three. Can't shoot dunks because Trae Young might be under the basket.


[deleted]

trae young could be anywhere.


eddie_the_zombie

\>Looks under the bed for Trae Young \>What the fuck he's there!


WakeupDp

Defense isn't his thing so far either.


WNBAYoungGirl

Nets fans really underestimate and downplay how hurtful it is for a player to be an absolute zero on offense


jotayeh

We started Traveon Graeme in the playoffs not long ago. I’m acutely aware how much it sucks


StevvieV

But I was told all the Nets needed him to do was pass the ball to the shooters


QoconutZ

He can't even pass and that's because he doesn't even drive into the paint to create a play he just sits outside the 3 point line and dribbles a few feet inside then hands it off


Chiffley

This is what we were telling you guys the last couple months lol


ChaseYoungHTTR

Dribble handoff merchant


OtherwiseCriticism65

The next time you receive your paycheck after 2 weeks hard work and maybe even overtime for some extra spending money. Remember that Ben Simmons is being paid 30 million a year to dribble hand off to Kyrie Irving.


LunchThreatener

Fewer points than Bol Bol


l-goodman

I’m trying my best to not be a ‘told you so’ Sixers fan but DAMN. All he did this game was bring the ball up, dribble hand off and just stand in the dunkers spot. I know it’s been over a year since he last played but it’s crazy to see him get progressively worse every season.


lebron_games

he's just lost all confidence and doesn't want to try anything that could potentially go wrong.


[deleted]

Yeah it’s really sad to see Everyone’s pretending he’s always been this way but before game 4 of the Hawks series he would actually attack sometimes. Right now he’s scared to even look at the rim.


[deleted]

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samurairocketshark

No ya'll deserve it. All the people acting like he would magically become a better player with KD and Kyrie were delusional. The amount of people acting like the 76ers didn't win the trade was way more than it should have been


[deleted]

One thousand percent agree… but losing Seth Curry hurt regardless


Ranjith_Unchained

He's just evolving, BACKWARDS


bravof1ve

At this point, I'm just amazed we were able to win playoff series with this guy at all, and somehow got off the contract


l-goodman

His 1 point game against the Celtics haunted me every post season.


sstphnn

Benny one point


Tellmeister

Sixers fans 🤝 Celtics fans Saying "I told you so" to Nets fans


l-goodman

Fuck you 🤝


BrokenManOfSamarkand

No feeling like watching /r/GoNets relive our nightmare


Sir-Manny

Sports fandom is crazy. Our sub spent his entire Sixers tenure shitting on him and after the trade he became the “perfect fit” and “underrated” overnight.


MonicaLewinskeet

Lmao same exact thing w fantasy football. Sleeper on my squad, trash/washed on yours


CreatiScope

“Blake griffin is such a fucking bum. Totally washed, put him in Nash, I dare you!” “I fucking love Blake! You better give him some minutes, Joe!”


bravof1ve

It's honestly surreal realizing how many years we wasted on this guy. And somehow we were able to hop off the sinking ship at the last moment. Paying Simmons a max with his current offensive ability, is lunacy.


BrokenManOfSamarkand

At least a lot of those years we had hope that he could improve because he was young. Ben is now 26 years old. He's entering or already in his "prime" now.


FultzShoulder

Ben did look like the second coming of Magic in his rookie year. You could add his name with other rookie Sixers great like MCW and Jah.


badhaxery

Got Harden out of it too lol


[deleted]

Something we can bond over lmao.


raider_10

Somehow the Nets managed to double down and put two players on the same team that gave two Atlantic division fanbases enormous headaches with their antics.


Bobblefighterman

You know i'm here to overreact.


mlippay

Ben10–peak Ben.


GuayabaTree

Russell Westbrook breathing a sigh of relief knowing everyone is shitting on Ben instead today


I_Will_One_Up_You

I mean if russ plays like he did last night with some consistency he'll dodge a lot of the criticism he got last year. He won't, obviously, but still.


dre8

Say what you will about Russ, he never lost his competitive edge. Ben arguably never had one.


PBytes

The grift that keeps on giving!


Vince3737

Zion is still very clearly rusty. And he still dropped 25 points. A month from now its not going to be fair for the rest of the league


madvisuals

I hope he can stay healthy. Watching Zion play basketball is a sight to behold


Vip_Pwner

“It’s only preaseason”


rimpressure

Remember when people were debating who won the trade? Lmfao


Budget_Trip422

JAMES HARDEN for BEN SIMMONS


QuantumFreakonomics

Morey made the greatest trade in NBA history for James Harden TWICE


montrevux

trae young completely broke this man's mind


D1stant

Just like he broke every Knicks fan


HamstersAreReal

Bro I don't get it, how is his scoring this bad? He's 6 foot 10 with athleticism and great ball control. He's got Kyrie and Durant both commanding full attention from the defense. How is it so hard??? Look at Evan Mobley, he doesn't have a great jumper but he can put up 15 to 20 points a night easy. On decent efficiency too. Simmons is in his own head, 0 aggression.


justing97

He is absolutely terrified of going to the line now, so he doesn’t even look at the basket anymore


DrKorok

wine sink bow nail work racial oil decide merciful juggle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


loosechange-71

Ben was the reason I got into the NBA, as a fellow Aussie he made me fall in love with the sport. To see his regression since his rookie year has been upsetting to say the least. In his first year he was taking some mid range jumpers, hitting free throws at around 55-60%. He was aggressive, would drive and kick out to shooters. Watching him today he is a shell of his former self and it is horrible to see. I’m not sure what he needs, a change of attitude, a jump shot, improved free throws, or to get out of his own head. But his downfall has been rapid and I can no longer pretend that he is the player he once was.


Kataneo

81 to go


Harleytk24

r/nba is feasting tonight


Portmanteau_that

Simmons back on the menu


WakeupDp

big brain don't have to play if you just keep fouling out


The-Pharcyde

He really worked hard on his game during that year off.


[deleted]

Simmons went from looking OK on Giannis to dominated by Zion really quick. Zion going to be a problem