SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ben Simmons is a work in progress after he missed all of last season with mental health woes and a bad back. He has been working around all the outside noise while he shapes up for the Nets on the court — or at least tries to.
After a herniated L-4 disk forced Simmons to have a microdiscectomy procedure in May, he has been robbed of much of his old explosiveness — at least so far this season. Simmons has vowed that neither that nor the mental health issues he has dealt with will rob him of his love of the game, even if he’s not enamored with some of the things that come with it.
“I love the game. I love the game. Do I like all the bulls–t around it? No,” Simmons said before the Nets’ 153-121 loss to the Kings on Tuesday night. “But I love the game and it comes with it.
“A lot of things come with being in this position. … But it is what it is. I love playing basketball and I love to work. Not every day is going to be perfect. Everyone has down days. But that’s life. Day by day pushing through and getting better.”
Talk to Simmons and chances are that phrase will come up: Taking things day by day, both on the court and in the world.
The three-time All-Star who was acquired last season from the 76ers in the deal that sent James Harden to Philadelphia, has been relegated to coming off the Nets’ bench in his last four appearances. Simmons’ return to form hasn’t been a linear climb, but more stop-and-start.
“It’s a roller coaster. You have good days. You have bad days,” the 26-year-old said. “But it’s life, too. So you’ve just got to stick with it.”
Staying in a good headspace surely gets harder if Simmons goes down the rabbit hole of social media, where he is often excoriated, not just by Philadelphians, but even by Nets fans who feel he wasn’t worth the cost of Harden.
“I don’t think you could fully shut it out. It’s one of those things where you take certain things, certain information,” said Simmons, who has leaned heavily on his brother and father.
Simmons had his best game of the season in Tuesday night’s loss, with 11 points, five boards and three assists, attacking the rim and even throwing down a lob.
“Yeah, it takes time to build, especially with having a nerve injury,” Simmons said after the loss. “It takes 18 months for your nerves to fully heal. People don’t know that. But over time, you know, I get better and better. Just keep pushing.”
Simmons is facing even more pressure because Kyrie Irving is out, but knows that’s part and parcel of the job.
“I always have pressure on me. Everything I do,” he said before the game. “It’s just like when does it max out? There’s got to be some point where it’s just like, f–k. It is what it is at this point. I realize that. You have to feel something, too. You have to feel a little bit of pressure. That’s good.”
Simmons entered Tuesday averaging just 5.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists, all career-lows. He was a team-worst minus-43, and his minus-4.8 per game was 410th out of 455 players, per NBA.com.
Because both Simmons and center Nic Claxton are non-shooters, coach Jacque Vaughn has opted to separate them. He has made Simmons the backup ever since Vaughn replaced the fired Steve Nash and Simmons returned from a four-game absence due to a swollen knee.
“Every player wants as many minutes as possible,” Vaughn said. “He’s like other players: He wants minutes also. But I told him, for me it’s always going to be what’s best for the group.
“We’ve tried to surround him with smalls where he can dribble handoff and push the pace and have shooters around him. It was all based off the space piece. And we needed to maximize our space with Kevin [Durant] being out there. As we continue to grow together as a group, that’s going to evolve and Ben is going to evolve and you’ll see more and better of him.”
The Nets need him to be better.
In the third season of a five-year, $177 million contract, he could well outlast Durant and Irving in Brooklyn. It’s is imperative to get him right, not just physically, but mentally.
“The big piece of that is the group still having confidence in him —which we do — and then putting him in positions to have success,” Vaughn said. “So that’s keeping things extremely simple.
“Defensively, do what you do. And that starts with playing hard. Offensively, I’m going to try my best to put you into position, whether that’s the group I put you out there with, whether that’s the time you check into the game, … to try to make him feel comfortable as a basketball player. That’s my challenge.”