Nets coach Jacques Vaughn said the team has had “zero” discussions about shutting down Ben Simmons for the rest of the season, refuting a random Twitter “report” that gained some steam.
But does that even mean anything? Simmons hasn’t played in two weeks and hasn’t scored in double figures in over a month. His minutes had been cut before he was sidelined with his nagging sore knee. The Nets are in freefall. If something is likely to naturally happen — in this case, Simmons not playing another game this year — do you need to talk about it?
The Nets have 21 regular season games left. And they are currently running seven games ahead of the 11th-place Bulls, so they should be able to hold onto a play-in spot. So call it 22 games. If you give us an over/under of 10.5 more games Simmons appears in, we’re probably hammering the under.
Let’s see what our Crossing Broad brethren in Philadelphia think:
Ben hasn’t played since February 15th. Basketball, that is. I’m sure he’s played Call of Duty and PUBG in that time frame. Simmo the Savage was averaging 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 19 minutes per game during the month of February, so it was a lesser basketball version of the late Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan.
Come on, guys. Move on already.
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James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
