Ben Simmons hasn’t had the most successful start with the Nets but there is one person rooting for him – his former 76ers coach Doc Rivers.
Simmons has been producing career lows across points (7.3), rebounds (6.5) and assists (6.3) and minutes per game (27.1) this season.
Despite Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving being traded, Simmons is still coming off the bench for Brooklyn and only scored four points in his team’s 101-98 loss to the Sixers on Saturday.
Following the game, Rivers said he still backs the point guard to find some form, despite many in the NBA community believing his trade value has amounted to almost nothing.
“I always have an affection for the guys I coach,” Rivers said, via Sixers Wire. “It never goes away. It doesn’t and I believe he can get back to where he was with us. Especially, now that he’s gonna have the ball in his hands more. I think that’s what we did that kinda freed him up, but it’s just gonna take time. Now, what, it’s been a year and a half? I don’t think it’ll be overnight, but he’s working, and that’s all you can do. I hope the best.”
The Nets’ Big Three era of Irving, Durant and Simmons has been labeled by Stephen A. Smith as the “biggest failure in NBA history”.
“I say yes,” Smith said on First Take. “It’s not because they spent three-and-a-half years there and only got one playoff series win, it’s because they made promises they didn’t keep, because dysfunctionality raked through that franchise like a virus.”