I think you're right that Simmons's postseason on the whole wasn't as bad as people believe due to the disaster of the Hawks series... but I also think MM is right that the perception of Ben across the league more or less cemented itself as a result of these playoffs.

There's been concern for a while about Simmons's confidence on offense-- he's taken both fewer FGs and fewer FTs two straight seasons now, very strange for a young guy who should be hitting his stride right now. Most strikingly, this last season, he took notably fewer shots at the rim and more in the 3-15 foot range, which almost *certainly* has to do with his very apparent lack of confidence in his FT ability. He was an elite finisher at the rim in college, and it's easily the best part of his scoring package, so if he is taking fewer of those shots out of fear he'll have to go to the line... then... yeah. That's bad. And we obviously saw that in very extreme form in that Hawks series. So while I agree that he wasn't bad before the Hawks series and there shouldn't be *that* level of panic based on just one series... I'd actually argue the Hawks series is just the pinnacle of a growing concern that dude's confidence as a scorer is regressing before age 25. (For the record, I think that will be rectified by a change of scenery, especially if that new team has an elite guard creating space.)

I also think MM's right that even if Doc hadn't said what he said, most of this probably still plays out the same way regardless, but I think you're right that Doc not publicly supporting him certainly didn't help and exacerbated things.

It's a crazy situation. One of the stranger scenarios I can recall.