Basketball: Is an out of form Ben Simmons’ good enough to play for a star-studded Australian team?
Ben Simmons wants to play for the Boomers, but his current form won’t make it easy for him to crack an Australian squad full of players with more runs on the board.
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Ben Simmons is an NBA All-Star at his best, but he would struggle to make a loaded Boomers squad based on his current form and attitude.
That’s the frank opinion of legendary Australian guard and four-time Olympian Shane Heal, despite Simmons declaring his desire to play for the Boomers at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Melbourne-born guard is yet to play for Australia at a senior level after pulling out on multiple occasions due to his NBA commitments.
Simmons, though, insists he wants to don the green and gold, especially at an Olympic Games.
“Do I want to play for Australia? One hundred per cent,” Simmons told The Good Weekend magazine.
“Will I one day? One hundred per cent. “I’m going to the Olympics. It’s not a question – it’s a dream of mine. But I’m also not going to let people tell me when and how I do things.”
Heal knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed on the international stage having also captained the Boomers at the 2004 Athens Games.
He says Simmons at his finest would walk into the Boomers team, but he isn’t sure he would make the team on current form.
The Brooklyn Nets guard has looked sluggish as he slowly attempts to rebuild his game following a year-and-a-half on the sidelines.
Simmons is productive in rebounds and assists, averaging 6 and 6.6, but he has lost confidence in his athleticism to drive to the basket.
He also hasn’t improved his much-publicised shooting while he is also averaging 4.1 fouls in his first eight games for the Nets.
Heal also sees Simmons as a wing/forward on the international stage given Australia already possess a host of guards, led by Patty Mills and Josh Giddey.
The Boomers are loaded when it comes to wings, including Joe Ingles, Josh Green and reigning NBL Grand Final MVP and champion Xavier Cooks.
On form, Simmons would be hard pressed to push out Green, Cooks or Ingles (when fit).
Simmons’ combined struggles, and mindset, has prompted Heal to question if the guard is the right fit make a staked Boomers team for a major event like next year’s World Cup or the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Offensively he would hurt the Boomers because his (defensive) man would just clog it up,” Heal said on this week’s episode of the Basketball Show.
“The second thing is culturally. When you’ve got someone who needs to be recruited and he is picking and choosing.
“We’ve made a list of all of the players who are committed, into it and building that culture that the Boomers have been about for so many years and what Brian Goorjian had success with.
“In my mind, he (Ben) would have to show that he can actually contribute and not suck air out of that culture.”
Simmons produced one of his better games of the season on Thursday to help Brooklyn beat New York.
He finished with six points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in 23 minutes on the floor.
The polarising Aussie also shot 50 per cent from the field from 3 of 6 attempts.
ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy praised Simmons’ performance, but wants to see more from the gifted guard.
“It is concerning that we haven’t even seen glimpses of his best from the athletic and speed point of view, Van Gundy said.
“Yeah, there is progress, but he has got to find a way to conjure it up on a nightly basis.”
😤 @BenSimmons25 cleans up at the rim for the putback SLAM!@BrooklynNets | #NetsWorld
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) November 10, 2022
📲 Live on NBA League Pass: https://t.co/PM2trj9vevpic.twitter.com/5WOQufLXVg
Former Boomers big man Chris Anstey is prepared to select Simmons if he makes himself available for a major event.
“He (Ben) is a class above anyone else across multiple positions,” Anstey said.
There is no question that a fit and firing Simmons would make the Boomers a better team, with his dogged defence, pinpoint passing and ability to attack the rim.
At this point, though, he is a shell of his former aggressive and confident self.
It poses the question: would the Boomers be better served selecting other in-form players who are committed to the Australian program and don’t need to be recruited?
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