Over the past few seasons, Ben Simmons has received a lot of flack for seemingly not wanting to play basketball despite being a professional basketball player.
He was constantly criticized -and even mocked- for avoiding jump shots and layups, even though those skills are part of the game and part of his role as a guard.
For instance, he attempted just under six shots a game last season (as a comparison, Simmons averaged over 12 shots a game in his first two NBA seasons).
We later found out that the reason he steered clear of shooting was because of a back injury and the criticisms getting to him.
He took the latter half of last season off to address those issues, though, and it looks like he’s back to his normal self because Simmons balled out in the 2023 preseason.
He was moving like he did in his early years with Philadelphia and was attempting shots like back then, too.
One could even say he got his “rizz” back (Am I using that correctly? I want to say he got his confidence back. I’m such an old millennial).
Here are a few examples of the things Simmons did (click here to watch the Short).
Additionally, in an interview with Esquire, he issued himself a big challenge that further proved -to me anyway- that he got his confidence and drive back.
He told Christopher Riley that he aims to be an NBA All-Star again.
“And then individually, I want to be back where I was. I want to be an All Star. I want to be better than an All Star. That’s where I want to be. I never try to live with myself. I’m never like, Well, hopefully, maybe I get a couple votes in an All-Star game. Nah, if that’s the case, I might as well be fishing.”
So, do you think Ben Simmons is going to have a comeback season or will it be a flop again?
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