바카라사이트Ben Simmons (26-Australia) is healthy and working out at the Brooklyn Nets facility.
According to a report from SNY’s Ian Begley on Monday morning (Aug. 28), Simmons rehabbed during the offseason and is focusing on his skills and conditioning in preparation for training camp in 2023-24.
Earlier, ESPN’s Mark J. Spears said, “He’s in the final stages of preparing for the season, has passed all the criteria and is the healthiest he’s been since his days in Philadelphia. The expectation in Brooklyn is to get him back to the level he was playing at before he left Philadelphia.”
Teammate Mikal Bridges appeared on a podcast hosted by Paul George and said, “Ben (Simmons) is a friend of mine. His back was a mess, but now he’s had surgery and he’s coming back. We want him to be as aggressive as he’s ever been,” setting up the expectations for Simmons.
But we’ve seen this story before. It’s a replay of the drama that came out of Brooklyn during the trade for Simmons and last offseason.
After donning a Brooklyn uniform as part of the James Harden trade, Simmons missed most of the regular season due to mental issues and a back injury. In April of last year, Simmons released a video of himself confidently shooting shots and lifting weights as if he were about to rejoin the team, but we never saw him play.
After much anticipation with videos of similar routines throughout the offseason, Simmons made his debut with Brooklyn in the 22-23 season. However, his inability to stop the New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson in the opening game resulted in a six-foul ejection, and recurring back pain limited him to just 42 regular-season games, where he averaged career-low numbers in every category, including 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists.
His passing gave off the scent of a former All-Star, but he still kept coming within 10 feet of the rim to avoid taking jump shots. He shot a whopping 89.4 percent from that area.
Once again this year, Simmons has released videos of him hitting outside shots and working hard on his body, but you can’t be sure that’s going to happen on the court, so he’ll have to prove that he’s changed on the court.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn is rebuilding around Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. Simmons, who is likely to be the starting point guard, will face stiff competition from Spencer Dinwiddie, who was the starting point guard last season, and Cam Thomas, an explosive scorer.