The NBA Season Must Be Getting Close Because We Now Have Our Yearly Tradition Of Being Told THIS Is The Season Ben Simmons Will Return With A Vengeance

There are always certain signs that we're inching closer to closer to the NBA season that rears their head around this time of year. We get ESPN doing their usual thing and talking absolutely crazy about Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics

Check.

We get complete rage bait lists/posts of both player rankings and coaches rankings

Check.

And then we have what has become one of my favorite traditions in recent years that has not one actually come to fruiting, which is the fact that THIS is the season Ben Simmons not only actually plays basketball, but plays at an All Star level

Remember Ben Simmons offseason hype? There'd be one or two videos out there of him hitting an open gym 3PM and that was supposed to mean everyone in the league had to watch out for what was coming. God those days were so funny. The guy has taken only 36 3PA in his career (5-36) but every offseason it was wash, rinse, repeat with the same nonsense. 

So forgive my skepticism that after playing only 15 games last season (and only 42 the year before), that we're going to have a Ben Simmons revenge tour of sorts in 2024-25. From a health standpoint I do hope Simmons is finally healthy, but in terms of his on the court play, I think the "All Star level" days are behind him. With Simmons we know what that looks like given the fact that he made 3 straight All Star teams from 2018-19 to 2020-21 (but Embiid didn't have any help!!!!) where he put up 16/8/7.6 on 56% shooting in 34 minutes a game, so for me, that's the baseline for him to be playing "All Star level" basketball.

I just think we've reached a point where it needs to be seen and not heard. We've heard this same claim in each of the last three offseasons, and in none of them did he actually come close. In fact, it's more likely we get the usual Ben Simmons experience where the he plays early and shows some flashes, mostly with his exceptional passing, the Nets struggle, and then he eventually gets shut down for injury that is initially reported as no big deal and ends up keeping him out for months. Then we do this whole dance again next summer after some workout videos/photos come out and his trainer suggests that THIS will actually be the year he breaks out.

If you can believe it, we're finally at the end of the road when it comes to Simmons' massive 5/177M extension, and I think it's fair to suggest the Nets have not had a good return on this investment

All time finesse in terms of collecting a shit ton of money for never actually having to play, but at the same time I'd argue it's more likely that this is Ben Simmons' last year in the NBA than it ends up being an All Star caliber season. I will say though, the timing of that quote and the possibility that it's actually true is pretty funny. Oh, all of the sudden his back is all good and he's not afraid to shoot the basketball? Why might that be? Ahhh I see, is it because he's going to be without a contract after this season?

What a coincidence! 

Meanwhile, when he had multiple guaranteed years on his deal, he couldn't play. Interesting.

As I said, I do hope after all these years of injuries that Simmons can finally be healthy, because in his early years when he was on the floor, it's not like he was terrible. Granted he was blamed for everything that went on in Philly despite absolutely nothing changing even after he was traded, but that's an entirely different story for a different time.

But unfortunately, I'm not taking this bait. I'm going to have to see it with my own eyes for a prolonged stretch before I start believing any sort of Ben Simmons offseason hype. That's called growth. Credit to me.