Now that the season is officially over for the Brooklyn Nets, many NBA analysts and experts are looking back at what went wrong.
And one of the most popular subjects related to the Nets is Ben Simmons, of course.
Simmons was traded to the team in February but never played a single game for the Nets because of a nagging back injury.
Some people think the injury wasn’t as bad as Simmons said and some think he had plenty of time to heal.
Whatever his reason, people are sick of Simmons missing games.
This is my favorite quote of the NBA season if not all-time pic.twitter.com/EkKAfh4YLD
— Clem (@TheClemReport) April 26, 2022
The bad taste he’s left in everyone’s mouths was the subject of conversation on ESPN, when Kendrick Perkins made a great comparison.
Perkins said that Simmons was like “the single girl that smokes cigarettes.”
It’s a bizarre allegory but it’s actually pretty accurate.
The (Eventual) Return Of Simmons
Perkins isn’t wrong: Simmons is the sort of player that many teams are attracted to.
But when they get up close with him, they quickly see his downsides.
In Philadelphia, Simmons cut and run when conflict and challenges came his way.
Now in Brooklyn, it appears as if he is doing the same thing.
As attractive as his skills are, the negative may outweigh the positive.
Simmons may have had a legitimate injury this season but there is a growing suspicion that he decided to ditch his team when it became clear that they were headed for a first-round exit.
People who believe that note the fact that Simmons wasn’t even sitting courtside for the final game of the season.
That certainly looks like a man who has cut and run and abandoned his team again.
NEXT: Ben Simmons Is The NBA's Biggest Unknown