Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets has been missing in action for quite a while. But the 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year is back in the groove of things, or at least he claims to be.
The three-time All-Star bats that he is dialed in for the 2023-24 NBA season and is excited to get back in the thick of things. Ben Simmons detailed his plans when he sat down in an interview with ESPN Andscape.
"I'm excited. I get to do something I love to do at a high level. Regardless of what people say, I'm a three-time All-Star, All-NBA player, [All-] Defensive Team. I've done things. I'm not somebody that hasn't done anything," the top pick of the 2016 NBA Draft stated.
It has been quite a ride for the Australian cager who went through mental and back issues over the past years. He has been a non-factor since moving from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Nets in a trade involving James Harden in February 2022, NBA.com reported.
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However, the 6-foot-10 cager vows to put that version of him in the past and be the dominant player that most initially expected him to be. But, of course, that remains to be seen.
"I don't intend to come back the same player I was last [season], because that's not even close to where I am. I get excited because I'm like, 'Damn, I would [expletive] on the player I was last year.' But I know where I was at last year, so it's easy to say that," Simmons quipped.
The good news for the Nets is that Simmons looks forward to the coming season and appears healthy.
He will need to step up his game, especially now that he is bunched in a group of young players looking to prove themselves after Brooklyn broke up its celebrated All-Star cast of Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant.
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