‘Owe it to everybody’: Simmons’ subtle ‘culture’ jab at megastars amid blunt All-Star admission
After swinging from injured to ineffective to absent in a season-and-a-half, Ben Simmons acknowledged he owes it to his Nets and their followers to get again to his outdated type.
And he conspicuously mentioned that’ll be simpler to do with everyone on the group lastly pulling collectively in the identical path, targeted extra on profitable than themselves, following the departures of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Make of that what you’ll.
“I’d say [the hardest part was] not be able to do your job to the fullest. I never have excuses, I never tried to say anything about different things going on. But I was dealing with an injury at the time, so I did what I could in the moment,” Simmons mentioned. “And I owe it to everybody, the fans and everybody, to get back to where I need to be. That’s what I did this summer to get back.”
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. Join now and begin streaming immediately >
After Simmons got here to Brooklyn on the 2022 commerce deadline at the price of former MVP James Harden, he didn’t play a second that season, citing psychological well being points and again issues.
He had surgical procedure to restore a herniated disk that May and performed simply 42 video games final season, lots of them poorly.
But a number of consultants advised The Post that his full restoration would take 18 months, and Simmons confirmed as a lot.
That ought to put the previous All-Star on tempo to be one hundred pc by November — a month into the season — and he’s been figuring out in Miami, impressing Nets gamers and brass who’ve been all the way down to see him.
Bullets sweat on Baynes’ well being | 01:26
“[I feel] amazing. I think this is the first summer where I’ve really had to just get healthy and get back on track to where I need to be,” Simmons mentioned. “I’m super excited to be on Brooklyn, obviously. And then we’ve got a great, great team, a great coach in Jacque Vaughn. So I’m excited. I think this year is gonna be a completely different year to the past couple.”
Simmons was at HSS Training Center, talking with FOX-5 at his mentorship occasion and youth basketball clinic placed on together with RISE.
It’s an eight-week management occasion, and it was noteworthy that Simmons praised the management of those present Nets for being extra conducive to success than the management of the failed Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving superteam.
Asked what has him most enthusiastic about creating for gamers corresponding to Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, he mentioned merely that everyone is pulling in the identical path now.
“I think just playing with guys who are just easy to play with, that just have one goal and that’s to win. I don’t think guys have too many individual goals,” Simmons mentioned. “I think the team is going to come first and I think the culture that Jacque Vaughn, [general manager] Sean Marks are building now has been incredible.”
Many would contend that’s shade being thrown at each Durant and Irving.
But it must be famous that — not less than within the case of Durant — the Suns star maintains nice relationships with the Nets possession and entrance workplace and is properly appreciated.
Novak celebrates with Serbian basketball | 00:25
Goran Dragic, reared within the Heat group ethos, had revealed upon his departure that enjoying in Brooklyn had been powerful for him as a result of the emphasis was an excessive amount of on particular person success and never sufficient on the collective.
Bridges himself acknowledged he was totally different than among the departed gamers as a result of he doesn’t trigger drama.
For his half, Simmons is the one present Net to have performed in an All-Star Game.
He was named to 3, enjoying level guard for the Sixers.
Now the Australian mentioned he’s gotten assurances from Vaughn that that’s the place he’ll be enjoying this upcoming season.
“That’s what I know. As much as people would try to put me [at power forward]. Everyone’s a GM in their head: I’m a point guard,” Simmons mentioned. “So I think with the team we have I think it’s constructed well for us to have a good run.
“Get ready for a great year. I think it’s going to be exciting. We’re going to have a lot of fun and get back to Brooklyn basketball.”
This initially appeared in NY Post and was republished with consent.
