Ben Simmons has seen a fall from grace unlike arguably any NBA player in history.
He’s gone from the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft in 2016 to almost an afterthought for the Brooklyn Nets, derided for his limited shooting ability.
Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett shared a bizarre anecdote in a story Tuesday about Simmons’ struggles.
Simmons’ woes at the free-throw line are no secret. He’s a 59% career shooter from the line. Bulpett notes that an Eastern Conference coach shared this tale with him about a game when Simmons still played for the Philadelphia 76ers.
“The first guy that started the ‘Hack-a-Ben’ process was (head coach) Scott Brooks with Washington,” the coach told Bulpett. “They’re playing Philly a few years ago and Philly’s up by around 20. Brooks starts putting Simmons on the line in the fourth quarter, and the game is getting closer as Ben is stepping to the line and bricking more and more foul shots. So finally Bradley Beal had to foul him. Usually you don’t have your best player fouling, but at that point he did.
“When that happened, Ben and Beal had this sort of animated conversation. Ben said, ‘I’m tired of you ************* fouling me on purpose, man. I’m going to step up here and knock these two down. Five thousand dollars says I will.’ To which Beal replied, ‘You wanna make it 20?’ And then he went up and bricked one. I don’t think he said another word.”
How did the Nets end up with a player so limited as a shooter? As an NBA front office executive told Bulpett, “I can kind of understand why Philadelphia paid him, because they drafted him first overall. But Brooklyn trading for him? That’s on them. I don’t understand that at all. … There was ample evidence to say buyer beware, caveat emptor.”
Simmons is averaging around 6 points, rebounds and assists in 26 minutes per game this season.
