Nets are keeping Ben Simmons for the future

[Paradise]

Marks' inability to land a stretch 5 really irks me. I prefer to have Simmons run PG and PF next to a floor spacer at C.

Either way, I look forward to seeing what Ben can do now that he's surrounded by arguably one of the best 3 point shooting rosters in the league

The stretch 5 situation is beyond weird to me. We started the rebuild under Marks with Justin Hamilton and Bargnani for god sakes and never signed a true center capable of shooting since. Griffin, Aldridge and Markieff Morris aren’t centers. We could’ve been competitive for Mike Muscala.

I’d sign Cousins before signing Markieff Morris.

[Riconet]

I'm giving Ben a chance.

ONE chance. Because we know he's been with the staff all summer long working. So he gets a clean slate. But he's got to show and prove.

I don't need him to come out suddenly jacking up threes. I just need to him to play to his strengths and not be afraid to shoot FTs. Take the ball to the rim, if you shoot 50%FT idgaf just draw fouls and stay aggressive. Playing scared of going to the line is an absolute non starter with me.

I agree with all of this, but I think most of what will determine whether Simmons is worth keeping and building around will be stuff the fans don't see. How hard is he working out this summer? What happens in practice? Does he leave right away after practice or does he stick around for extra work? How does he conduct himself on the road? Does he watch film at home or does he play xbox or chase the Kardashians?

To this point in his career, my guess is that the answers to those questions indicate someone who likes being an NBA star but who doesn't burn to win.

[MrDollarBills]

Marks' inability to land a stretch 5 really irks me. I prefer to have Simmons run PG and PF next to a floor spacer at C.

Either way, I look forward to seeing what Ben can do now that he's surrounded by arguably one of the best 3 point shooting rosters in the league

The stretch 5 situation is beyond weird to me. We started the rebuild under Marks with Justin Hamilton and Bargnani for god sakes and never signed a true center capable of shooting since. Griffin, Aldridge and Markieff Morris aren’t centers. We could’ve been competitive for Mike Muscala.

I’d sign Cousins before signing Markieff Morris.

We had Tyler Zeller too

I can't help but think that KD's bullsh*t all summer long hurt the Nets in free agency. We missed on both Hartenstein and Muscala. How??

[MrDollarBills]

You didn’t know after this game what went down in Miami? Lol

Watch on YouTube

KD and Griffin had a double date after this game that night which resulted into a stripper getting pregnant….horrible mistake to be in. This chick is a gold digger smh



KD passed her to Blake lol



The Instagram video shows the baby and it definitely isn’t KD’s complexion or close to any of the features. Blake definitely got her pregnant and she’s using KD as a way to avoid the image of being passed and smashed by his teammates in the same night.

https://firstsportz.com/nba-news-lana-rhoades-stokes-fire-of-baby-daddy-rumors-involving-kevin-durant-blake-griffin/?amp

Oh, I thought something else happened. Yeah I know about the whole Lana Rhoades thing. She's hot but Blake is wild for not using protection



@ that caption.

Ca×n’t say he didn’t use protection when chicks are out here finding used condoms and injecting sperm from them. These chicks today aren’t just desperate. They are starving for attention and a check. This is the worst time in history to be a single man with money.

This is why Drake put hot sauce in a condom and watched a groupie sue him for using it to attempt to get pregnant.

Groupies trapping dudes with money ain't nothing new sadly. Look what happened to PJ Washington

Oh well. Blake has been in the NBA for awhile, he knows the drill. I would have smashed Lana too but that rubber goes right in the toilet.

[gigantes]

Marks' inability to land a stretch 5 really irks me. I prefer to have Simmons run PG and PF next to a floor spacer at C.

Either way, I look forward to seeing what Ben can do now that he's surrounded by arguably one of the best 3 point shooting rosters in the league

The stretch 5 situation is beyond weird to me. We started the rebuild under Marks with Justin Hamilton and Bargnani for god sakes and never signed a true center capable of shooting since. Griffin, Aldridge and Markieff Morris aren’t centers. We could’ve been competitive for Mike Muscala.

I’d sign Cousins before signing Markieff Morris.

We had Tyler Zeller too

I can't help but think that KD's bullsh*t all summer long hurt the Nets in free agency. We missed on both Hartenstein and Muscala. How??

I feel like KD's nonsense definitely hurt us.

We very clearly went from a team with a great rep around the league, one that FA's had their eyes on for the last ~five years, to a team in pure chaos, one that could have dropped down to a near-rebuilding team in the blink of an eye. So in the wake of that, major credit to Marks IMO for making the signings he did. And we really did need a Morris-type, someone to say "hello!"

That said, I still have some serious distrust towards Nash for overplaying the stars last season and neglecting some bigs (arguably stretch bigs, too) who at the very least should have been kept in the final spots of the rotation. Mainly Blake, arguably Aldridge.

Which is why we simply *cannot* go back to a team run on the passing whims of KD&KI, especially in terms of minutes. Indeed, I feel like this right here is Nash's BIG (and arguably *last*) opportunity to take control of the team and run it to his best abilities, whatever they happen to be.

I mean, sh-t... you look at Nash's interviews, you look at his body of (brilliant) PG play, and that's a damn smart cookie right there. Could it be he finally just needs to get over the hump of being 'Canadian?'

[Riconet]

I feel like KD's nonsense definitely hurt us.

We very clearly went from a team with a great rep around the league, one that FA's had their eyes on for the last ~five years, to a team in pure chaos, one that could have dropped down to a near-rebuilding team in the blink of an eye. So in the wake of that, major credit to Marks IMO for making the signings he did. And we really did need a Morris-type, someone to say "hello!"

That said, I still have some serious distrust towards Nash for overplaying the stars last season and neglecting some bigs (arguably stretch bigs, too) who at the very least should have been kept in the final spots of the rotation. Mainly Blake, arguably Aldridge.

Which is why we simply *cannot* go back to a team run on the passing whims of KD&KI, especially in terms of minutes. Indeed, I feel like this right here is Nash's BIG (and arguably *last*) opportunity to take control of the team and run it to his best abilities, whatever they happen to be.

I mean, sh-t... you look at Nash's interviews, you look at his body of (brilliant) PG play, and that's a damn smart cookie right there. Could it be he finally just needs to get over the hump of being 'Canadian?'

I agree with most of this, especially that KD's BS hurt the team's efforts to improve the roster this summer, but I think Nash is getting a lot of blame, in many different quarters, that is more fairly targeted IMHO at a severely depleted roster (Kyrie's BS, no Harris, Harden subtracted for Curry, who was injured for all but a handful of games, and Simmons, who played zero games) and a severely depleted coaching staff.

I don't think there were any magic coaching moves that would've gotten the Nets any further this past season with that roster -- Kyrie and Harden, plus the injuries, took care of that. As for the coaching staff, I think the losses of Udoka and D'Antoni were huge and their replacements added nowhere near as much value, which is why the Nets have replaced the assistants this summer.

Nash got plenty of praise in his first year, when KD almost got the Nets past the Bucks despite Kyrie getting hurt again and Harden being a shell of himself also with an injury.

However, I agree that this season is likely Nash's last chance, at least with the Nets, although that could change if KD flakes again.