Nick Piccone
Ben Simmons hasn’t played in every summer league game. That’s drawn the ire of some people like legendary creep Isiah Thomas, who ripped Simmons for not playing on Wednesday. Brett Brown came to Simmons’ defense during yesterday’s tilt against the Nets.
I think if there’s any responsibility that I have and our organization has is to keep our players healthy. So, we left at the end of June. We played in two summer leagues. When you start judging somebody’s body and listening to them, it’s our decision collaboratively to take care of [them]. Like we did with Jahlil last year. I hear you, I look forward to seeing him play, as well.
…
This is our direction. It’s nothing to do with him. Yesterday, I asked him to spend time with me and watch the game with his coach. And there were some hits that he took. It’s reckless and unfair. He’s a good kid and he’s following instruction. And we look forward to very much developing him.
While Brown does suggest that they’re listening to Simmons’ body, it sounds like they didn’t expect Simmons to play in every single summer league game, either. In fact, that’d probably be stupid. Simmons cramped up in his first game due to not playing competitive basketball in months. Why would they have him play every single game in the summer league? To “make sure he’s ready to go by the regular season?”
That’s what the preseason is for.
Video below.