Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has been patient with Ben Simmons throughout this season, even as Simmons has been either unproductive, hurt, or both. It’s no secret that Simmons has been one of the most disappointing players over the past few years as it seems that his production is dropping by the day.
In Monday’s 124-106 loss to the New York Knicks, Simmons played just 13 minutes in a game that Brooklyn needed someone to step up to either shut down Jalen Brunson or provide something offensively. Simmons was unable to do either of those things and to make matters worse, he did not give much effort.
There was a play where Simmons threw an outlet pass that was intercepted by Josh Hart and instead of doing anything to either make Hart’s shot at the rim more difficult or just force him to shoot free-throws, Simmons did neither of those things and essentially gave up on the play. That is something that Simmons is better than. Vaughn spoke after the game about trying to play with Simmons on the court:
“It’s going to be some work that we have to do. Because, you just take a look at what the lineups could potentially look like. You put another big next to Ben, then you got to figure out what the spacing is around him. Then, if you put another playmaker next to him, then you got to figure out what Ben looks like without the basketball. Then, if you go small with Ben, then you have to figure out can you rebound enough with him?”
It seems that Simmons is running out of time to prove to the Nets that he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
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