Ben Simmons Responds To That Clip Of Him Airballing A Shot At A Park

Ben Simmons‘ ability to shoot the basketball has been under scrutiny for years now. It was a work in progress when he came into the league, and whether it’s been his struggles from the free throw line or his near-complete aversion to letting it fly from three, Simmons has just never gotten better at this.

There is a frequent debate about whether he needs to improve his shooting — Steve Nash has made clear that the Brooklyn Nets don’t care if he shoots — and as a result, people pay attention to just about anything related to this subject. An example came earlier this week when Simmons airballed a shot at a public event with his teammates.

Now, one (admittedly bad) airball from an outdoor event wouldn’t be a huge deal for most other people in the NBA, but things change when it’s Simmons. And ahead of Wednesday night’s preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Simmons addressed the whole thing to Nick Friedell of ESPN.

“It finds me all the time,” Simmons said. “And it doesn’t f—ing stop. Sometimes I’m even sick of it, but then I’m like, ‘OK, I’m Ben Simmons, you know? It comes with being Ben Simmons right now.’

“Even the other day there was a clip of me air balling a shot at the park. Meanwhile, like 10 guys airballed multiple shots. So it’s like people will find one clip and try to make it that everything — like Ben can’t do [this or that]. Like come on man, you think I’m just airballing every shot? It’s not true. But it comes with it, and you got to have tough skin and I realize that, but nah, I can’t take everything personally. It’s social media.”

The Nets would go on to beat the Bucks, 107-97, with Simmons going for seven points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, and two steals in 28 minutes of work.