you’d hope he’d have some pride in his work to get more out of himself - especially given what you’re being paid
BING BONG
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I mean that’s one way of it being “mental”. You could also argue that he was drafted to a team that put absolute garbage around him because “the process”, then became the focal point of a feral fanbase’s annoyance because he wasn’t the same as the player they wanted him to be. Then he got blamed for a series loss when many times during the series the other beloved star just threw the ball away. Then he did a back injury, which will screw with anyone’s confidence and belief.
So maybe not so much “too happy with himself” as “mentally shot”.
Who knows. How you perceive that will affect how you feel about him, and whether you think he’s ever a chance to get back to the top.
Lol the Knicks finally win in OT
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Love a Celtics loss.
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It was definitely Philly level
Brown was 5/5 and usually pretty good and to miss BOTH! If that was against Miami he nails both fr.
Man 0pts, 1 rb, 7 assists, 3 turnovers and -12 in 20 minutes for Ben against a team that’s tanking. What on earth do you do with him if you’re the coach?
What do you do with that contract if you’re the GM?
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He’s gotten stuck in a shocking situation.
Any other player would just request a trade to a club that could use him better, but the 73 year/ 9 squillion dollar contract he’s on makes that impossible.
Worst thing he ever did, Phillies knew it, Nets know it, and he knows it.
His best move for his career would be to buy out the last years of his contract and walk away as a FA. He’d be leaving 8 squillion on the table, so I can’t see any way it happens.
So he’s just going through the motions until 2025, wasting everyone’s time and money.
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That’s exactly what will happen. Like those players who sign massive contracts in PL football, the clubs realise they’re ■■■■ and try and off-load them and the player refuses to budge. So he ends up sitting on the bench collecting his exorbitant wages until the deal expires. This is worse however because Ben was a decent player at one point and now he’s probably the worst player in the NBA. Value for money he sure is.
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Worst contract in the league. By far.
If he was on 10M or 12M as a 4th-5th best player, or even off the bench, completely changes the equation.
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Would it be an option for him to go back to the g- league and start scoring again. Like how Agassi went back and played satellite tennis?
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His ego wouldn’t allow him to do that. He wouldn’t even take shots in that league…
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Nah.
I disagree.
This isn’t on Philadelphia or the fans. This is on Ben.
He came into the league and in his first season showed his talent. But also showed deficiencies.
He did not improve on his jump shooting in the first off season. Yet there were workout videos showing him being able to hit jump shots. But when games began, that work didn’t show up. But he was still good enough to earn a max contract.
That Atlanta series was terrible. But Embiid showed up the next season and improved on his form. Ben decided to sit it out and was eventually traded for an overweight Harden. He’s turned that around and fit in very well. Ben has been regressing since Covid.
I get that a lot of expectation and pressure was and still is on Simmons. It I’m reminded of something Emmitt Smith said about pressure to his son. Are they expecting anything of you that you don’t already expect of yourself? Then where’s the pressure?
Everything behind asked of Ben has been reasonable and he just doesn’t want it enough. He could develop an outside jump shot. But he didnt want to. He is now being asked to be aggressive offensively. We have seen him be aggressive offensively as he was ignoring outside shooting. Now he’s a non scorer. Zero. That’s just astounding. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for him to score double figures every night.
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It reminds me of when Roy Hibbert went from being an all-star calibre player to a complete liability in the space of a playoff run with Indiana (was it 2014 or around that time?). There were some rumours of unrest in that squad, especially with PG, but he had some playoff games where he had 0 points and offensively was as much of a liability that Ben is now. Didn’t last much longer after that point.
Yeah that was a very strange downfall. Man some of those series between Miami and Indiana were absolutely incredible.
Don’t talk to me about Hibbert.
The Lakers were stupid enough to give him a pay rise once he left Indiana.
He’s definitely not without fault. But some of that is he’s actually mentally broken. (As well as physically)
I don’t know the answer, but far out he cops a lot of hatred for a guy whose main crime seems to have been signing a contract for millions of dollars when it was put in front of him. Really, who is walking away from those dollars?
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Maybe Monday nights at MSAC
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