Controversial NBA star Ben Simmons will begin this season in the Brooklyn Nets lineup, but where he’ll finish the season is hard to predict. Simmons, who joined the Nets from the 76ers last season, never played for the Nets last year due to injuries and mental health issues.
Simmons’s confidence had been shaken, if not shattered, during his last weeks in Philadelphia where he repeatedly refused to shoot the ball even when wide open. Sixers star Joel Embiid, adding fuel to the fire, was candid in calling out Simmons’s deficiencies as a teammate, on and off the court.
The Nets are hoping for a different Simmons than the one who shirked shots in the playoffs, but video taken on Brooklyn Nets day showed Simmons shooting an air ball that is impossible not to notice. Simmons has never been a great shooter, but the promise of improving his shot was implicit in his move to the Nets.
Predictably fans piled on, roasting Simmons as if he’d shot his air ball in the closing minutes of a real game instead of on a playground just messing around. But still, this is a very ugly shot. “That Ben Simmons air ball was WILDDDDDDDD.” And then, referencing Simmons’s lackadaisical style, one wrote: “He already not trying to play ball? Season ain’t even start.”
