Ben Simmons has struggled so far in life as a Brooklyn Net – so too has the team.
And are the Philadelphia 76ers heading for another break up with one of their stars?
That, and more, in our NBA Talking Points.
Watch an average of 9 LIVE NBA Regular Season games per week on ESPN on Kayo Sports on ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
KEY ADJUSTMENT SIMMONS MUST MAKE
While some early growing pains were expected for Ben Simmons in his return to the court after missing all of last season, there’s no shying away from the fact that he’s struggled so far at the Brooklyn Nets.
In the 83 minutes Simmons has been on the court this season, the Nets have been a minus 45, with the Aussie below his best form on both ends of the ball.
He’s recorded a total of 17 points, a combined three steals and blocks, and most glaringly, he’s amassed 14 fouls across three games while fouling out in two of three matches.
To add some perspective, Brooklyn has been a minus 41 in Kevin Durant’s minutes, but Simmons hasn’t passed the eye test either.
It comes as the Nets have stumbled out of the gates, sitting 10th in the Eastern Conference with just one win, while Simmons has put his woes down to “rust.”
“Let’s just say it for what it is, it’s been bad across the board. The mental piece of it is not there with these fouls,” Locked on Nets’ Doug Norrie said of Simmons.
“If these are going to be the numbers, the Nets cannot win.
“These are real issues. The Nets have gotten absolutely murdered in his minutes. I’m pro Simmons – I want him to be good – I’m not trying to drag him. These are just the numbers, this is what’s happening here.”
Although he’s been a liability on offence at times, the fouling and thus Simmons’ inability to stay on the court has been the biggest issue.
It was put in the spotlight during Brooklyn’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies when Simmons was baited by Ja Morant into his sixth foul, with the Grizzlies star revealing post-match he plotted the play after recalling a similar incident when the Aussie pressed up on him.
And so the most obvious adjustment for Simmons to make is to slightly tone back his defensive aggression, to ensure at the very least, he’s out there in crunch time when the Nets need him to make plays and so he can build confidence.
“Ben Simmons aggressiveness and the way he can impact a game defensively is unquestionable,” Locked on Nets’ Adam Armbrecht added.
“What is questionable is his judgement in certain situations when he has five fouls … now there’s multiple games where Ben Simmons is getting called on those moving screens fouls on the offensive end with consistency.
“He needs to be making that adjustment, because now we’re talking about five instances over the last two games – and that’s really where you’re coming up against it having five fouls late – these little instances throughout the game and then an ugly one at the end that gets you fouled out.”
LAKERS’ BRUTAL REALITY
The LA Lakers are in a world of trouble.
While most tipped the Lakers would likely at best be making up the numbers in the playoffs in the West (and they still could), no one could’ve predicted they’d struggle this badly.
Darvin Ham’s team is 0-3 after losses to the Warriors, Clippers and Trail Blazers. To greater concern though, it’s ranked 30th in the league in offensive rating, field goal percentage and three-point percentage… yikes.
The make-up of the roster has come under the microscope, with LeBron James even admitting after their season-opening loss to the Warriors they’re “not a team constructed of great shooting.”
Russell Westbrook’s fit on the side is another key issue as it continues to explore off-loading the former MVP’s expiring $47.1 million contract that continues to handicap them. But in reality, the Lakers might be better off at this point holding him, accepting they won’t contend this season and keeping their pick/s before rejigging next year.
LBJ filthy over Russ brick, Dame ignites | 01:35
The scrutiny has been so intense on Westbrook that it‘s even become something of a distractive side plot, but in reality, his play isn’t the overruling reason for the team’s struggles.
It’s been more like a horror show than the Lake Show, and there’s no great hope in the interim that they can turn things around.
“The Lakers are bad, they just are … you look at their schedule and it’s rough,” NBA analyst Bill Simmons said on TheBill Simmons podcast after the Lakers fell to 0-2.
“They’ve got Portland (home), Denver (away), Minnesota (away), Denver (home), New Orleans (home), Utah (home), Cleveland *home), Utah (away), Clippers (away). Honestly they could be like 2-10 to start the season.
“New Orleans owns their pick and if you are not in full panic if you’re a Lakers fan, I don’t know what to tell you.”
James has been one of the rare bright spots for the Lakers in his 20th career season, showing no signs of slowing down at age 37.
He’s averaged 25.5 points, 2.5 triples, 12.5 rebounds and seven assists, and at times it’s felt like a one-man show out there.
But as much as the evergreen James has defied father time, he’s very much in the twilight of his career and wouldn’t want to waste another season.
We’ve seen a few examples of frustration from the ‘King’ already this season, so how long until his patience runs out?
“LeBron – it’s amazing to watch somebody in year 20. Watching his basketball genius and him try to navigate how to play with this team that’s somehow worse than the 2018 Cavs,” Simmons said after the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers.
“It’s funny that this was happening in Hollywood because this was like watching a great actor in a bad movie.
“There were a couple of times in a time-out he’d go to his seat on the bench and it was kind of like he was a little bit of a distance away from everybody else. He wasn’t doing the LeBron leadership thing, he knows, he gets it.
“He cant’t get traded this year and at some point he’s going to realise: ‘We suck and I’m going to try and score as many points as possible’.”
COULD EMBIID WANT OUT OF ROCKETS-LIKE SIXERS?
Although things don’t seem quite as dire as in Laker land, the Sixers have also struggled at 1-3.
This is a team that went into the season as one of the big favourites to come out of the East under their new superstar duo Joel Embiid and James Harden and having moved on from last year’s Ben Simmons saga.
Heck, Embiid and Harden might be the best one-two punch in the entire NBA.
But Philly has so far looked a ways off being a contender despite only narrow losses to Boston in Milwaukee – arguably the best two teams in the East – in its opening two games.
Harden is playing at an MVP level, averaging 26.8 points, three triples. 8.5 rebounds and 9.8 assists, however the Sixers have largely ran isolation plays through the superstar while his teammates watch on.
Embiid has looked disinterested at times and struggled to mesh with Harden as the team has overall struggled to build chemistry and been particularly poor defensively, with claim to the league’s 22nd best defensive rating (114.7).
And with PJ Tucker and Danuel House also now on this Sixers team, it at times feels like you’re watching the Houston Rockets of recent years.
76ers crumble in final 30-seconds | 01:07
“Harden looks really good, but at the same time they’ve kind of reassembled the 2019 Rockets. (Tyrese) Maxey is not delighted about it and Embiid is not happy,” NBA analyst Bill Simmons said on TheBill Simmons Podcast.
“Last year Embiid almost wins the MVP, it’s Embiid’s team, it’s Embiid’s city, this is Embiid’s world we’re all living in it.
“They bring in Harden: ‘I just want to be a point guard and help out Joel and I’m just here to help.”
“Summer happens, Harden takes a little bit less, they get Tucker. It starts to feel a little more like the Harden Rockets. Then you watch what’s going on and it’s a lot of Harden just standing around.”
Embiid bounced back with a massive 40-point, 13-rebound game against the San Antonio Spurs on the weekend to remind the NBA world he’s still an alpha, but it still feels more like Harden’s team now.
And although it’s very early days, Doc Rivers would be feeling the pressure – plus with so many big personalities – you sense that if the Sixers continue to underperform, tension may grow.
So is it totally crazy to suggest Embiid could request a trade by season’s end? We are talking about the NBA.
6/7! Steph explodes from 3 in 1st half | 00:50
“We know with the NBA that guys get unhappy and people start hinting they might want out a little faster and more aggressively than we always expect,” Simmons added.
“Think of Harden last year on the Nets. It seemed inconceivable he was going to ask for a trade, then all of a sudden he was asking for a trade.
“I would watch the Embiid thing, because you have the Knicks sitting there ran by Leon Rose, who were Embiid’s guys when they were agents.
“They didn’t make the (Donovan) Mitchell trade and have this war chest of stuff. I guarantee they are throwing charcoal in the fire right now. There’s no way if they feel like Embiid is even remotely unhappy that they are not going to pour as much gasoline on that fire as they can.
“I would just watch this scenario, because I promise you Joel Embiid did not want to be on the 2019 Rockets.”
THE JAZZ ARE FLYING… BUT SHOULD THEY BE?
Did the Jazz miss the tanking memo?
Utah has gotten off to a red-hot 3-1 start to life under new coach Will Hardy as one of the big surprise packages of the first week of the season.
With only the undefeated Bucks and Trail Blazers owning better records, the Jazz have shocked the NBA world in large due to a 114.1 offensive rating ranked 10th in the league, led by a well-balanced arsenal of Lauri Markkanen, Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson and Kelly Olynyk.
Perhaps most impressive is that their victories have come over three teams expected to contend in the West in the Denver Nuggets – who they dismantled by 21 points in their season opener – the Minnesota Timberwolves in a revenge win over Rudy Gobert and the Zion Williamson-led New Orleans Pelicans.
With it the Jazz sit fourth in the Western Conference in a shock early charge no one saw coming, but surely it’s only just that.
Simmons and Kyrie combine vs. Raptors | 01:08
Utah moved into rebuild mode in the off-season after trading away All-Stars Gobert and Donovan Mitchell for a massive haul of draft picks and completely revamping its roster, while Quin Snyder resigned after eight seasons as coach with a 372–264 (.585) regular season record.
It meant the Jazz were widely tipped to be among the lowly-ranked teams and in the race for generational talent and likely No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, who’s firming as the best prospect in years.
And so as weird as it might sound, Danny Ainge, who joined Utah last December as its CEO of basketball operations, mustn’t be too thrilled with the team’s current form.
Although there’s a theory the Jazz are ‘showcasing’ their talent to increase their value and bring more capital back in a trade. Therefore maybe this was the plan all along and there’s a very real chance Utah’s rotation and team altogether could look vastly different come January.
Conley and Clarkson are two names that have been previously linked to trade talks – and both guards have enjoyed strong starts to the season.
But perhaps this Jazz team was also underrated in some respects coming into the season, and outside of Walker Kessler, it doesn’t have a great deal of high-level talent to expose bigger rotation minutes to.
Whichever direction Utah goes, right now the winless Thunder and Magic are ‘winning’ the tankathon for Wembanyama right now.
PELICANS LOOK SCARY GOOD … IF THEY CAN STAY HEALTHY
The 2-1 Pelicans look like a massive problem for other teams in the Western Conference … when they’re healthy.
Behind the lead of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, New Orleans burst out of the gates to dismantle the Nets in their season opener in a statement to put the league on notice.
Willie Green’s team was thought of as a dark horse in the West, but have so far shown signs of being a bona fide contender to finish first in the conference.
After all, it was hard to get a good read on how good the Pelicans would be given their current core had never shared the court together after Williamson missed all of last year through injury.
But it’s clear that this team is capable of doing serious damage this year, with CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas rounding out a potent line-up and Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy coming through the ranks.
There’s a lot to like for both now and the future, and for the interim, staying healthy is the key to it all.
The early parts of Williamson’s career have been plagued by lower body injuries, with the former Pick 1 playing in just 88 of a possible 229 games.
Ingram himself has struggled to consistently stay on the court, playing over 62 matches just once in his six-season career.
So while Williamson (bruised hip) and Ingram’s (concussion) recent setbacks appear only minor, it’s less than ideal in a season where the Pelicans looked prime to be a genuine force.
In fact, it may be the only thing that stands in this team’s way of reaching its potential.
