He has been under fire since Ben Simmons decided not to play in game 4 of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, which ended tuesday with the Brooklyn Nets swept by the Boston Celtics, despite moving between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets, the Australian organizing guard has not played a single game this season.
The reason he gave during the 76ers was mental health issues, and then the reason he gave at the Nets was that the stress of his last playoff series with the 76ers still plagued him, and it also led to his back injury problems, which is why he decided to miss the series with the Celtics. After the series, more and more people began to criticize Simmons, and some fans even found that he was still playing video games while his teammates were fighting at the Barclays Center, and these childish and irresponsible behaviors had exhausted what little patience the outside world had for him.
Shaquille O'Neill, a Louisiana State University alumnus who once supported Simmons, also began slamming Simmons in a recent issue of O'Neal's Big Podcast, and he no longer believes Simmons' words: "Look, the back is the only thing a doctor can't really diagnose... You can diagnose knees, ankles, hands, but you can't diagnose the back. So when someone says they have a back injury, you have to trust them, but if you start jumping up and down (alluding to simmons having been able to dunk in training before), your back doesn't hurt, and if you do, your back won't hurt. ”
"Could your back hurt?" Yes, everyone's back hurts! I haven't played in 15 years and my back, knees and ankles hurt... That's why people don't respect such people. That's why people are unhappy and disrespectFul of Simmons... I've seen a guy and I've seen a lovely lady who works hard and probably won't make $2 million in their lifetime, they're tired and have the same back injuries, but you don't hear them complaining. So why can't a person who makes $30 million lying down because of back pain go to work? If your back really hurts, you can't even walk! ”
Simmons has a lot to prove next season, missing an entire season after losing the 2021 playoffs to the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks, the organizational core that has disappointed many, even those who understand his struggles, are outraged by him. Although Simmons is still young and has time to improve his game, the situation has not been good for him lately, and if he is not even willing to put on a suit and sit on the bench with his teammates to support the team, then he will be seen as a spoiled player who can do whatever he wants, and recklessly. The Nets are really unlucky, irving who wants to play if he doesn't want to play is not counted, here is a Simmons who doesn't even know which sentence is true or false, such a team even if Durant Death comes, what can it do?