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Forum nameOkay Sports
Topic subjectCrazy thing is... he *sucked* on defense at LSU.
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2746059&mesg_id=2748650
2748650, Crazy thing is... he *sucked* on defense at LSU.
Posted by Frank Longo, Tue Oct-19-21 02:34 PM
Just would take full possessions off, not give a shit. So it's clear that checking out mentally and not giving a shit are in his DNA...

... but he literally went from "bad college defender" to "one of the five best defenders in the NBA" in, like, three years. So it's pretty clear what can happen when dude is engaged with something.

It's just a real question mark how to keep him consistently engaged. He needs a good organization to really unlock that... and he and Paul have made it impossible for him to be traded to a good organization.

A really, really tough situation. He could rectify it so quickly by playing and trying his hardest. Otherwise, he's in for a lot of sitting, a lot of suspensions, and all of his desired destinations not wanting to touch him with a ten-foot pole. I'm one of the biggest advocates for Ben the Player on this board, and even I would think long and hard before moving for him if I was on any team with any immediate aspirations of winning. And even tanking teams have to worry that Simmons will just play like passive shit the rest of his contract if they don't have a chance at the playoffs (although a tanking team is almost certainly where Ben will end up before the trade deadline).

If he'd shown the resilience to spend the offseason working hard, come back to Philly with a smile despite the post-season press comments made about him, and play hard those first 10-15 games, I genuinely believe a good team would've made a move for him and his upside. Now his reputation is toast and he's going to end up in some terrible organization. Really feels like he's sabotaged himself by doing this.