‘No. 1 thing’: Simmons’ old coach reveals keys to ‘unlocking everything’ amid huge All-Star call

Ben Simmons has impressed the Nets along with his renewed athleticism and aggressiveness for a lot of the pre-season, however there are some things his outdated coach stated he must see earlier than he’s able to say the previous All-Star is again.

“He’s looked healthy,’’ Doc Rivers said Saturday (all times AEDT) of the player he coached with the 76ers. “That’s the No. 1 thing that Ben had to be — and then the mental health part of it as well.”

With Simmons seemingly feeling good each on and off the court docket, Rivers stated the subsequent step will contain part of his sport that has sometimes haunted the 6-foot-10 star.

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“For me, the one thing he has to be able to do is make free throws,’’ said Rivers said, whose three-year tenure as Philadelphia’s head coach ended after last season.

“I never worried about his jump shot or any of that stuff because I really believe the free throws are the key that unlocks everything for him.”

And if Simmons does that — he’s 4-for-7 from the road to this point this pre-season — Rivers, now again with ESPN as an NBA broadcaster, believes he can get again to enjoying at a excessive degree.

“Listen, I coached Ben for one year, and he had one of the best seasons of his career,’’ Rivers said of the 2020-21 season, when Simmons was an All-Star for a third straight year.

“I still think Ben, when playing right, has a chance to be an All-Star player.”

But “playing right,” in response to Rivers, means various things to completely different individuals on the subject of Simmons.

“I think every coach that has coached him has their version of what we think, for Ben, is playing right,’’ Rivers said. “And then, it’s everybody else.”

Rivers, after all, famously stated after that 2020-21 season that he didn’t know if a staff might win a title with Simmons at level guard as a consequence of his offensive limitations.

The Nets nonetheless have to search out out simply what model they’re getting of the 27-year-old Simmons.

He was robust and performed effectively within the staff’s first three pre-season video games, however was much less spectacular of their closing sport in opposition to the Heat, with Simmons going 0-for-4 from the sector and scoring simply two factors.

The level guard nonetheless managed to contribute seven assists and eight rebounds within the win.

“He’s so physical and can get to the basket and drive and attack the basket, (along) with his passing ability, he can really dominate the game from that position,’’ Rivers said.

Rivers then brought up parallels between Simmons and Magic Johnson, a comparison he has made before.

“He’s so similar, and I hate to put this category on him, (but) he’s so similar to Magic in a lot of ways, as far as his passing ability, his size,” Rivers stated. “He has great vision, and with that and him being aggressive towards the basket, if he’s healthy, I think he has a chance to restore himself.”

Simmons informed The Post’s Brian Lewis this week: “I’m going to be better than I was.”

At this level the Nets, who owe Simmons $77 million over the subsequent two seasons, would take his former ability degree.

If he loses a step, he gained’t be capable to display the elements of his sport that made him distinctive.

“If he can come back with his athleticism and speed and power, Ben Simmons going downhill is a problem,’’ Rivers said. “But he has to be healthy. He has to have his burst back. And that’s the only thing I wonder is if he can have that. If he can’t have that, then he has to create another way of playing, and that’s gonna be hard.”

-This story was initially revealed in The New York Post and reproduced with permission.