Ben Simmons Returns! Re-Igniting Excitement In Brooklyn

Ben Simmons Returns! Re-Igniting Excitement In Brooklyn

Coming up after 84 days walking in the dry heat Under the Desert Sun Ben Simmons makes his mighty return for the Brooklyn Nets and does not disappoint we break down why he could be if he can be the most important piece for this team to turn it all around coming up

Next you are locked on Nets your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day Brook Brook yo ah yes my friends it is the lockon Nets podcast right here on the lockon podcast Network it’s your team the Brooklyn Nets every single day over there is Doug Nory I’m Adam arck we thank you as always for making us your

First listen of the day we are 100% % free on all those great platforms and let you know this episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets if you bet just $5 and it wins go ahead over to

Fanduel.com loock on to get started today and 147 to 114 a blowout victory at home against the Utah Jazz in the return the most important piece of information we can convey of Ben Simmons healthy to the basketball court buddy it took 18 minutes and I’m G to be absolutely irrationally excited for the

Rest of the season 18 minutes of near perfect basketball from Ben Simmons come on it was like you it was like he was never gone baby just like we drew it up baby not even better better than before he was gone I gotta tell you never in my

Wildest dreams could I have ever this this could he couldn’t have had a better 18 minutes it’s insane it’s like literally insane it’s it really couldn’t have been drawn up any better from the Absolute Total tanking of the Jazz in this game where they put up 147 points

Simmons is five for five from the field nearly triple D I mean two rebounds away and two one cam Thomas almost took from him he was like two rebounds away from a triple double in 18 minutes the pace is all over the place the energy levels all

The way up it’s like you could feel it’s like it’s it’s even different than the beginning of the Season I’m almost speechless it was so good from him that I hes like an A+ would be too low it’s this is where you start to get irrationally excited because it

Literally literally could not have gone better for a return from him you know I said at the top there after 84 days away November 6 the last time we saw him play all of the hey in two weeks and two weeks and two weeks like we got to that

Place on the podcast where it was like listen we can’t keep doing this the the emotional roller coaster of what could be and then to your point man he steps on the floor I know that he’s played better maybe basketball games for the Brooklyn Nets or maybe I don’t know that

For sure because the athleticism the lift and then all of the impacts that he has on this game from from a total team perspective obviously but just point stop on I did not think that his return 18 minutes would get me to come darn close to being like well okay I I I

Thought that he’s gonna you know he’s gonna look X percentage of his athleticism right and we’ll talk to me in a week he looks as athletic and as healthy as he ever has as a Brooklyn Net and that was the most surprising thing for me it didn’t look like it was

Restricted beyond the amount of minutes they were going to run the thing we preached with about Simmons really since the beginning is there’s two parallel uh kinds of conversations you have to have about him it’s clearly we’ve said from the very beginning he’s the guy that’s like unlocks really the

Rest of the roster like he’s the one specific guy they need he’s the archetype of the guy they need they’ve needed it forever and it’s like it’s obvious it’s it’s actually not even really a take it’s like if him at his at like 70 %c is so clearly you know what

They need to pair with Cam what they need for transition what they need a secondary ball handling like rebounding like everything it’s all it’s it’s everything they need in a kind of player so there’s that conversation and then there’s a conversation where it’s like but what you don’t want to do is get

Over your emotional skis on getting excited about it because you’re just gonna go tumbling down the hill because he’s because he gets hurt too often and so basically it’s so funny because going into this game that’s exactly where my head is is like look I get it no no

Matter what we said in the past you have to understand something there’s nobody that wants Simmons to be good more than us yep like the Nets being good is tied directly to how well the podcast does like that’s not inside that’s not inside baseball here it’s just like how it is

Like it’s if your team’s really good more people listen to podcast it’s like like I don’t know what else to say about it so of course we want him to be good there’s just this other part where it just happens so in he plays so infrequently that you be nuts nuts to a

Tie your emotional f to him coming back because it just it just the track record would say it’s disappointing now with all that said I’m Already There 18 minutes like 18 minutes I I I’m the one that’s preached this preached this very steady hand approach about Simmons from

The very beginning I can’t even if you were Pro Simmons you must be need to be toweled off like this was it was just it was just that good that even I now am like that’s a huge upside baby they have huge upside like this is crazy yeah two

Game winning streak baby now and now we ride and now we ride this is now we go get that Superstar you’re right Mitchell all in all the assets yeah dude 100% And it is the part of it is the part of of you know covering the team yes but I

Think you and I probably do get not emotionally invested is a little bit is a little bit overstated but we do get invested just in the good story right guy we hate seeing guys get hurt we love seeing guys be healthy and there’s nothing better than just seeing a guy

Walk out there and look like he’s playing an absolutely Elite level so everything about it was perfect now everybody else we’ll get talk to other players here the biggest thing if we just want to get into the actual game of it we’ve always known especially for

This roster just how critical it can be for a player like Ben Simmons to be on the floor and that’s because we’re talking about a a skill set that goes beyond just the pace just the facilitation you obviously see right we mentioned there how he has nearly a triple double if he

Gets a couple more rebounds but he gives you five assists six assists in the first quarter five assists in the first quarter and then very quickly his sixth early in when he comes back in in the second quarter and what’s the impact there right it’s not just that he’s pace

Of play and that he’s the best ball handler on the court and the best facilitator and setting up other guys in great positions to be able to knock down easy and open looks and access around the basket it’s also the size that he brings to that role because it’s not a

Knock on anybody else Doug but when you see when he comes out even when the team wants to maintain that same mentality of getting downhill and attacking well guess what Dennis Smith Jr attacking down hill is not the same thing for the opposing defense as Ben Simmons when he

Gets into the paint when he gets into the teeth even though he is not a risk to shoot the basketball it just forces such a different mentality from the other team that you it’s just it’s like a wakeup call I feel like I woke up out

Of a coma and someone’s like oh by the way food tastes delicious and the air is so fresh like that’s what that felt like for this team overall that has been stagnated even in games they look good they never looked this free flowing offensively and it’s so ironic that Ben

Simmons does that for them well he just does he just does very specific things that no one else on the roster does right one he has better Court Vision than anyone else on the roster right that’s that’s obvious he sees the court in a just a totally different way he’s

Bigger than most other guys in the roster with his like just sort of overall handle so he can just see different Lane he just sees different Lanes like geometrically than everyone else can just because of like how he moved moves in space and just like what

He’s always looking to do so that’s one thing no they have no one else in the roster like that two he his default mode is push the pace no one else on the roster is like this either like he pushes after misses and he pushes after

Makes like you saw I was so glad to see that again like even after opponent makes he’s like let’s go inbound here we go like they no one else has that mentality mostly because like they’re not as good at it right and so the just those two things alone being able to

Bring into the mix is like so important because they just don’t even have another guy anywhere close to it and that’s why the game when he plays like this has a completely different feel to it to the point where like I said before like players fed off the energy for sure

Right like they feed off that energy because because here’s the thing you’re gonna get rewarded like if you are if you like you saw how this kind of plays out if you play at the same Pace you have a good chance for easy buckets like so you’re going to get rewarded because

He’s not going to take it himself he’s going to give it to you to score right Ben Simmons getting his own is giving it to you like that’s a part of Ben Simmons getting his is getting rebounds getting the assist right so that’s the the byproduct of him having

His best game is actually you having your best game and that’s why coming up here in a second we’re gonna talk about why this is and we already knew this for cam Thomas talked about the start of the year but also male Bridges the way that this changes how their games unfold on

The offensive and we’ll dive into that here and so much more in just one moment all right before we get to that we’ll tell you about our friends over at quiz that’s because this episode of lockdown Nets is brought to you by quiz we’re going to have some fun test your team’s

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Quiz.com where fans become Champions all right so as we continue the absolutely epic performance not only from Ben Simmons but also from the Brooklyn Nets overall with the 14714 blowout victory at home over the Utah Jazz we remind you guys you can also head over to weot nets.com and sign up

With your email for a free ebook five stories in five days all about the best well and sometimes the worst moments across the Brooklyn Nets franchise history even going back to those Jersey days and you’ll be alerted when we’re providing some of our other exciting new

Little can I say one thing about we got next before we go uh I already had multiple people reach out to me asking for more stories so like already proof is in the pudding here we have more people just coming out and say Hey give

Us more Adam I Adam and I put a lot of work into the into the ones that that are already up there but there’s plenty to tell so really really excited so make sure you visit we got ness.com one Shameless plug there go ahead got got

Got so much more pudding that we could give you guys don’t worry about that now when we think about this game I mentioned there also one of the things that I think as this team is going on a very long losing streak you start to think well look at these guys male

Bridges especially cam Johnson boy you know their weaknesses their deficiencies are getting exposed we never thought they were Elite ones but Mel Bridges you know his handle can he really be a guy that gets the ball in late sequences well he doesn’t need to when you you

Have Ben Simmons because he goes 37 minutes 12 of 24 six of 14 from Deep a 33-point performance had four assists and three rebounds to go along with it but so much of it was yeah just like you said get out in space let’s push the tempo here everybody find a nice little

Pocket for yourself and I’ll find it for you if I’m Ben Simmons and that and that by the way is being a little bit microscopic because everybody had really good games tonight but it was the impact and you even mentioned that first segment the energy that I think Ben

Simmons mentality brings is that even when went off the floor it seemed like the team was trying to still keep that pace and keep pushing it didn’t work all the time but they tried to bring that mentality male excellent game cam Thomas excellent game you just see how much

Easier the offense looks when you have Ben Simi putting that pressure on the day yeah and like I I I think that we’re just going to be I I hope we can just end up signing up for more of this right too because if the mentality is going to

Change maybe this is like the team that was just ripe for having sort of like an energy boost in general right like things have become pretty stable like they there was there was an idea here that you could kind of see happening that like cly certain parts of

The offense just weren’t working certain match up like certain combinations the guys just really weren’t getting it done they didn’t really have much like offensive P firep power they really don’t outside of MCA and cam um and like in on ball creation and while Simmons doesn’t offer that he still offers this

Like I said other element of complimenting what both of those guys do like those guys I someone said it to me on Twitter too and I and I feel bad because I’m not going to be able to find it this right in this moment but what those guys and really specifically cam

Thomas needs it was such a good point was that they need someone that’s just like not gonna care if Cam takes all the shots right right like like he’s like of of anybody in the NBA he just doesn’t Simmons just doesn’t care at all go for

It he’d rather you take all the shots 16 shots for Thomas 24 for Bridges Simmons loves that like because as we know he doesn’t really like to shoot and I think that like that even more than anything else plays in really well to this current roster of these guys that are

Just mostly Shooters right now some of them are you know more more isoc creation Shooters but then even just down to guys like cam Johnson Royce O’Neal Who feed off you know pace and space and can and find their shots like just being able to add in that element

Where all the rest of those guys know that their work is gonna be rewarded or that there’s just a guy they’re playing with that’s just going to like like sort of celebrate the fact that they’re taking more shots like that’s really a really a rare situation it would not for everybody like there’s

Like we know that there’s going to be certain combinations that are not going to work here but where Simmons is concerned it’s just like such the perfect shot in the arm and again this is why I’m already I mean 14 minutes into this I’m already feeling like I’m

Too far out on the emotional thing like it’s I almost I need to start probably hedging for the next 16 minutes on the podcast about like pumping the brakes because I can just feel it I can feel it happening and I think too you mentioned about maybe this is like the right

Matchup for it we we also know the version of this exact team with all these same exact players right against certain matchups that that maybe defend Ben Simons a little bit differently or invite him to go into the paint more and say hey if you want to take the lane and

Attack that’s that’s for you to have and Ben had run into issues being too willing right being inches from the basket and saying I’ll still kick this thing out but the other part of his game tonight that really worked for him on the offensive end you mentioned five for

Five I mean heck he had it was a bump set spot from M Bridges at The Rim there he took it with his fingertips but with all the athleticism and Agility we know that he at full health can have just swatted the thing off the backboard and

In he if he’s gonna have that type of lift and play with again the one thing that I am fine overhyping is that he looked as loose and comfortable as I’ve ever seen him in a Brooklyn Nets uniform that is not hyperbole it’s not overstating it he looked loose he looked

Comfortable and whether or not he was coming down in transition and driving at the basket and saying this is my turn I’m going to dominate he still was moving with fluidity which which does make me dial back and think for all of the hype in the off season his own and

The teams I I still don’t know if he was really fully 100% and it feels like well you come back a little bit of a tweak here and maybe it is these last what two and a half three months practically that allowed him to get that little bit much

Further down the recovery Road maybe it wasn’t as severe the setbacks that he was suffering now as opposed to in the offseason’s past yeah I mean maybe it’s like I it was such an extended absence that it’s really hard to tell right like it was he’s been gone forever it’s felt

Like it it felt like it was worse right like how could it not like it was just like it was months of just not really any updates and I that maybe that was another reason I think that it was probably reasonable to be really tempered in any sort of like um feelings

About what could happen next because it was like Hey this he played six games and he just been out for months and like how exited could we possibly get the guy hasn’t been around that we barely heard word one and there was like little tea

Leaves you know that he was going to be coming back and then it’s like kind of a practice and then he comes back and I was expecting to see a timid thing now there could be a situation where like the Nets realized this too and they’re

Like you have to be a th% to be able to even come back we can’t bring you back unless it’s like all the way because we’ve already been down the halfway measures like version of this and we know it looks terrible it’s bad for you it’s bad for us guess what in your

Absence we haven’t exactly been winning over the fan base of late with our play on the court this cannot be another drop into that bucket that that re aggravates all the discussion the trades the contracts and everything else right right exactly so I wonder if that was

Part of the discussion too it’s like just don’t even R like don’t even bother rushing it like there’s no point like we know it looks so bad I me we’re kind of this is total 100% speculation at this point but I think it’s reasonable to think that that could have been the case

Because we just have examples of it of Simmons like at this point in his career he needs to be 100% or there kind of is no point it’s like it’ll be a downward spiry for him and just in terms of confidence there’s he’s not Dynamic enough with the shot to like really have

Anything to fall back on and so at that point like he needs to be 100% right and so maybe if that was part of the conversation then all like all good and look like that could be honesty from Ben Simmons by the way too sorry not to cut

You off it’s like you got to admit to us that you’re still not 100% we we get what it looks like believe me we’re not Happ about it either Brooklyn that’s organization paying you $40 million and not getting production out of it but it doesn’t help us and it doesn’t help you

If you’re not fully there yet right so the other part of this obviously then if we just move for a brief moment away from Ben Simmons it’s the fourth quarter it’s how this team closed out it’s being able to sit all of your starters down

The stretch here so that was a big part of the Nets getting over a different hump that they’ve been trying to clear in recent games we’ll talk about that some of the role players and then again how high how high do we want to Hype up

This machine Mach as we talk about Ben Simmons return we’ll get into that here in just one moment all right before we get to that let you know the show is sponsored by better help look around New Year we’re you know month into this New Year get obsessed with how to change ourselves

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FanDuel an official Sportsbook partner of the NFL oh so as we continue here on the lock on Nets podcast to tell you a story about a man returning to the court 14714 Nets blowing out the Utah Jazz a good team a team that has turned their own

Season around as well along the way Ben Simmons obvious viously getting the job done making us feel like maybe there is still something to play for this season for the Brooklyn Nets Beyond him though we mentioned Mel we mentioned cam Thomas and that really by the way is a nice

Trend for them of of continuing to have solid games cam Thomas 37 the last one out you’ve got in the month of January it’ll move up a little bit here but M’s been averaging a little over 23 points a game so both those guys were already moving in that direction and maybe this

Is how they can help to go to that next level but Off the Bench as wouldn’t you know it has been the theme for this team Lonnie Walker gave you 27 minutes seven of 14 from Deep that’s going to be oh sorry s of 14 from the field four of

Nine from Beyond The Arc 19 points and then Dennis Smith Jr 12 points from him in 15 minutes action five of eight obviously Royce O’Neal as well kicking in 11 three of six from Beyond The Arc and two blocks I I just have to mention it because I never think about Royce

O’Neal blocking shots when you see that too this is the mix and match part of this thing right because Claxton starts this game oh by the way Barry the lead here beautiful job by Brooklyn Nets PR cam Thomas started he he started this game we said no return for the bench for

Him after the last one he started no Dorian finy Smith in this one and then we know the issues that are still going to exist for Nick Claxton and for Ben Simmons and how they they shape these things out the difference here is early in the year there wasn’t Den Dennis

Smith Jr minutes happening right there wasn’t Lonnie Walker minutes happening so there is some different I think buttons that Jack Von can push here to play Ben Simmons to play Nicholas Clon and still find ways to be highly productive yeah I think like again like well cam Thomas nice little bail out

There for vaugh because DFS Dorian fny Smith was out so like they could just kind of slide him into his spot move cam Johnson back and be okay there Simmons working his way back from injury means you don’t have to start him which means you can stagger his minutes like sort of

One for one on Claxton and not have to worry about it like so a couple little things and we predicted a lot of this would happen right a couple little things work in their favor here to not have to answer some possibly tough questions which I’m not sure the Nets

Are going to go far enough to like really have to go crazy on answering all this stuff but at some point it’s like hey we know the Simmons and CLA in piece can look a little rough um but that’s like really the only guy like everyone

Else he really pairs well with and like sort of unlocks the ability to play some of these guys for longer stretches so that is ultimately helpful it’s just like it’s back to you know at some point we might be back to square one at the beginning it’s like this these two guys

Just don’t really work right there’s just not enough spacing um maybe you start feeling like you know back to the Katie and Kyrie time where it was like well if you have if it’s all cam Thomas minutes maybe that Shields it a little bit right because like if you go back

And look at claxon and and Simmons’s minutes together when Katie and Kyrie were on the court it’s like oh doesn’t look too bad it’s like well those guys are like generational three level scorers and so if we could just kind of get generational three LEL scorers on

Here then all of a sudden you can play with two guys without uh without as much uh space cam Thomas and male aren’t that but they can do bits of that right and like and and maybe cam can even do more than bits like he’s like he’s he’s just

Really really good scorer the one way to mask that pairing is to have two guys who can really score at all three levels right if you can have that you can get away and take the advantages that like the defense might give like the defensive upside that those two guys

Will bring when they play on the court together you switch everything and all of a sudden you’re kind of like a real problem on defense there is a world where you can squint and see it where those two guys are not again not ktie and Kyrie but but sort of like a light

JV version of it not a knock on them by the way this like KD ktie is an alltime great so it’s like I’m not knocking these guys it’s like right and Kyrie is an all-time great handle like you don’t just have M Bridges and cam Thomas cam

Is like that good of a score though cam is that good of a score like he’s he’s great he’s a great scorer and so the one way to mask that pairing is to have these a couple dudes that can do the the rest of the stuff and all of a sudden

You can kind of start looking like maybe we’ll see I think this is far down the road I think we need to get some games under our belt but just something to think about going forward it was like they didn’t really have that the year again because they buried cam Thomas but

Like Doug we could sit here and quibble over not having the player to play in that role even though you’ve had him for two years on your roster but but neither here nor there we’re there now and this journey looks a lot brighter no I agree

With you and by the way too so I I do want to ask the you know where does the height meter go to and what do we need to see in the next couple of games obviously it’s all going to come here but it’s worth it’s worth just noting

Too I mentioned Dennis Smith Jr he’s played very well off of Nick Claxton too so again other pairings right in second units and how it doesn’t matter who starts ceremoniously or otherwise just if Jack vaugh and his coaching staff can get to good combinations and to your

Point about Thomas and male and Simmons well if you can be enough of those versions of elite players around Ben Simmons well then you’re talking about maybe trying to create a really lethal starting scoring unit in spite of Ben Simmons offensive limit ation and by the way Second Chance opportunities tonight

A lot of that work was from Ben Simmons right he had multiple tapouts in the first half of this game where it was just it looked effortless for him and that’s the great reminder even though he’s not on the court sharing it with Claxton his size and his strength it

Just makes it kind it seems effortless for him to position himself effectively and then he has that little bit more size and body to be able to push I think into those Pockets long tapouts he played very well off of Royce O’Neal tonight too like there’s all these

Different combinations and know by the way it extends the guys we talk about really got to think about trading these players really can’t have these guys on the roster well unless unless they seem to pair right with a guy like Ben Simmons that being the case to just to

Close out what what do you think after you go to bed tonight right we all take cold showers after this and we say we wake up in the morning and we say okay now what needs to happen next because there is still that part that goes well

Unless he comes out and does pretty close to the same thing again on Wednesday night and then the same thing again the next game and the next game and the minutes keep growing there’s always going to be that thing in the back of your mind right he at the end of

This game it doesn’t look like it’s a problem he comes down awkwardly rubs the knee a little bit and they have the blowout and they take him out but it was that momentary thing of oh that’s right now this is a guy that is right on the

Razer’s edge of having an injury that causes a setback and he’s off the court again I think we’re just gonna have to live with that in the back of our minds and take every day as it is like I don’t think there’s any other way you you can

Never you can never trust at this point that he’s going to stay healthy for a long period of time and we are just going to root every day that he does like I don’t like I don’t know another way to take it it’s like it’s there’s

Just too much of a track record of him not playing over the last few years for mostly injury and some other stuff and I just don’t I I don’t know how you I don’t know how you hedge it emotionally any other way and just to say hey 18 Minutes tonight let’s get

Into the 20s see how it goes let ride the wave stay healthy as long as you can hopefully no setbacks and that’s it and yeah there’s just again I mean there are another way am I missing am I missing some kind of um am I missing am I

Missing option C where I that I don’t see because I like I don’t really know another way to do it I I think there there’s I think there’s two versions of fans that are gonna be like one’s gonna be like just waiting for it to happen I

Don’t think I wantan to I don’t want to be like that I don’t think that’s that’s just not enough fun um two there’s another version it’s like he solves everything they’re going to be the four seed I think that’s irrational I think that’s irrational too and I think the

World it’s just like a game by game basis let’s see how it goes my my my closing thought would be my Approach is going to be that this can be enough like Ben Simmons doesn’t need to play 35 minutes a night interesting in the short whatever the season’s going to be it’s

Okay if you’re an 18 to 25 minute a night guy that’s all right we have these other combinations we’ve had some success with Nicholas Claxton pieces be the best version that you can be in the volume that makes sense for you to hopefully stay healthy for the last 36

Games of the season right that’s probably where I’m gonna approach it and I think too and just we’ll get out of here on this I think he came back at like the kind of the perfect time of two things happening one the team has hit like sort of like

New lows that we haven’t seen in many years and so it’s like literally anything expectations have dropped so low for this team that there was like no literally nowhere to go what up and honestly and it’s not expectations for him have dropped pretty low too like you could just read it in

The tenor of the fans it’s like he was just kind of Forgotten honestly whatever one more year away the money gets off the books it’s it’s about all other agendas related I wonder for him if that’s just like the best version for right now too is that like the

Expectations are like so low that that’s a good place for him to live in the short term to get back to like Health right it’s like because coming into the season it’s like you know all eyes on this and coming I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been and the expectations really

High now like the the the whole thing is just different with the team and I wonder for like his particular like sort of just like setup if this is like legit the perfect version it’s like like sort of like a version of playing with house money not exactly but

Getting close for the team so no expectations for you it’s just go out and play basketball and guess what it’s all relative to results right it truly is in that in that way yeah I agree with you all right we’re gonna get out of here we’re going to stick around on

YouTube got a ton of people here on YouTube much appreciated everyone that’s jumped in in the meantime make sure you visit those sponsors that we mentioned before make sure you go visit weot nets.com every Everyone likes something free and that’s what you’re going to get over at weot nets.com so make sure you

Head over there grab your copy of the ebook come say hi love to have you over there I’m back back in the new New York Groove I’m back back in the New York Groove why that’s Aces Fairley oh one of the alltime great poets lead singer of a band what was he

ACDC no what’s that the lead singer of I don’t know I thought Phil Collins or Billy Joel sang that so I kind of gotta thrown off track when I looked for this quote but you know still good one of the alltime great poets obviously we’ll be

Back again uh tomorrow in a moment here on YouTube talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball yeah oh when the post game podcast ends the post podcast podcast begins no official title No playing the music just full hype all gas no breaks I

Highlighted so many things inside of this from from the fans and I’m not even really sure what we’re going to be covering here uh first thing I want by the way that’s Ace I knew it was that’s Ace Freely from from Kiss oh from Kiss Groove I don’t know but you should

Know the name because that’s what one Mr Rivers Cuomo says during in the garage in Weezer Blue album he says I got Ace Freely um that’s who he’s that’s who he’s saying and that’s the that’s the line he says to this Adam supposed huge Weezer fan have to call that in the

Question after this but classic bad auditory senses so you’re not entirely sure that I even knew the lyrics bottom line is though uh let’s kick it off with a real positive vibe here from Ian first thing I want to say is everybody calm down how dare you I’ll tell you right

Now Ian I don’t know where you live and I don’t know if you’re bigger than me but if you’re smaller and a little bit feeble I’ll come to your house we’ll have a I’m going to Cal up I’m gonna go the other way I’m going to Cal up I’m

The other direction that’s the thing I’m doing it uh what else do we got here guys we’re going streaking from Dwayne green you better believe it I tell you what we said this about how misery loves company when the team was struggling and not winning basketball games the other

Thing that loves company is like one moment of a really good vibe and that’s what tonight was like for everybody so I I appreciate every single person including profit too just yeah give me a brook like give me a brookin one time as we have a two game

Winning streak in the return of Ben Simmons there’s probably some other good ones in here that are asking real questions and I’m gonna find them don’t you worry about that here we go John uh but here’s the question for you and Doug oh me and Doug I’m the uh the great

Typer over here on the side if Simmons is on the team next season do you see him as a legitimate six-man Off the Bench that’s probably too far down the road for me to get into I I think the best thing you can hope for is that he’s

Healthy next season that that that’s what I would be hoping for I hope that he’s healthy now I’ll take him healthy five games I’ll take him healthy five games from now honestly like that’s where five games like let’s go game by game and after a five game check in

We’ll see where we are it’s just he’s just he’s just missed too much time he’s got too many injuries it’s it it’s I’m glad it looked great um but but but I can’t even think that far it’s very hard to think that hard again Jared hey guys

Hi Jared hey guys just love it I just love I just love all the energy uh how good how much more fun would this have been if it was against Phoenix from from Dwayne as well I just want to throw that up because there was another one here as

We were trying to get started some technical difficulties on RM before we went live we did have nater say Adam’s probably tweeting at KD again I got caught up in a bit of a storm over there I didn’t realize what was happening and I was optimistic that KD was gonna show

I will say having I saw Katie responded to one of your tweets right I saw yeah I I was having a nuanced conversation with uh Billy Reinhardt about whether or not tribute videos will get played upon his return and Kevin Durant frankly did not care for it but that’s the nature of it

Um I I do think in the Ben Simmons vein though to keep it a little bit basketball Centric it you know next matchups are going to be interesting too right like the one thing that I thought he was good on defense I thought he made

Some nice plays had some blocks but I do want to see what ultimately really is as much about his facilitating and the pace pushing offensively well then defensively we we do need to see you if we want to have the excitement level get to reach all-time highs is go lock

Somebody up for a few possessions right and we never saw that even early in the year either on that end of the Court we actually saw some similar things around fouling and having a hard time maybe staying in front of some guys yeah I’m actually glad that this matchup like

Didn’t have like sort of like the Al I mean Lori is kind of like Mark’s kind of like this but like didn’t have like that Alpha matchup it’s good for him to come off the bench too grab a like little second unit run um with some of these

Guys so you’re not having to like feel too much like do I mean the defense at time for the Nets like was good but they had they had a ton of lapses like they got back cut like all camping out underneath the basket like he was on a vacation they kept

Getting stuck with like the low man was like sort of like out of sorts and it but I mean it didn’t end up com really coming back to rear ugly head but there were some breakdowns I mean defense is hard with the communication with a lot of time off the court together

Especially if they’re gonna be running more squishing schemes so like I’m not that I think that’s something that will just come around it will be interesting to see um with like a really high-powered matchup coming up here right like that uh with Katie and uh and

Booker and and these guys like how that looks but I’m all for it and this is why he’s coming back at a good time too just because they you know they need him for for for games like that on ABC 8:30 Wednesday that’s a that’s an all eyes on

All eyes on that game so glad to have him back for that one made or any tips on not getting my Ben hopes too high nope can’t help you sorry just get on the roller coaster and ride it all the way to the top baby don’t look down it’s

Going to be a sweet ride um is it just me says uh houseon I always I always get I always want to call you how uh is it just me you invest in Lonnie or no moved in withy Roy Giles um yeah I games like this and games like this with Ben

Simmons something that we didn’t get a big sample size early on for Lonnie Walker specifically I think this is why you take a flyer on a guy like that because he’s same thing a floor spacer can benefit from from pushing the pace I actually think he’s one of the guys that

Benefits from a more uptempo makes me think of um oh who’s the Speedy guy Edmond Sumer I got there makes Edmond Sumer not not nearly as quick but the same type of guy right lengthy has has the outside shooting can go the rim occasion you need some of that pace and

I think he benefits from that in a big way oh yeah uh agreed I like like sorry sorry I was reading a couple of these questions um yeah no the the pace is such a huge thing man it was so tangible uh there’s the difference in Pace that

They can’t the second he hit the court I’m telling you it’s like keep an eye out we’ve talked about this forever but keep an eye on him after the I always point back to this the him after the make if you watch enough basketball there’s very few guys to the NBA that

Want to push after the other team has made a basket and it really is a chance to take advantage I most teams are getting back and it’s a chance to reset most times you’re G to walk it up the up the court a lot of like the really good

Players like don’t really want to push it anyway like if you watch Luca um like some of the Giannis does it a little bit like you’ll see him do it settle into the offense though and go get their shot and get their look like and he’s a guy

That benefits if you’re on your like guys a benefit if you’re on your heels a lot like Giannis is like Giannis like he’s incentivized to get the ball at the court pretty quickly because he knows that if you like if he can get ahead of Steam on you like you’re kind of just

Dead but a lot of their teams like they’re happy to get in the half court offense like nuggets and and Mavericks and these teams because that’s a good place to live but the Nets if they can have a guy that pushes it like that’s a they have very few chances to create

Like real disadvantage for the other team on the offensive end just because of their nature of their personnel but that does offer a chance like you’re just not expecting that you’re not expecting after a make to have to Sprint back on defense yeah but Simmons is

Wants to do that because he’d rather he doesn’t want to be in the half court like that’s that’s not his area he doesn’t want to it’s like where he’s hitting dhos or sitting in the dunker spot like yeah he’s selfish I look best in transition I don’t look good when we

Get in half court course of course and I’m glad he knows it like actually the one piece I’m really glad he knows like that that that’s where his Bread’s butter uh I really appreciated when Doug briefly left the show earlier had this one on tap left to go get Ben

Autograph I’m having a few different techn we’re in the we’re in the bonus here I’m having a few technical difficulties here my my lighting’s a little screwed up and my camera kind of stopped working and listen listen came in l i I was late I was late for the

Podcast because I’m dealing with some other something else going on it’s a total mess don’t worry I vamped very I vamped with ease in the in the chat nobody was suspicious great job um Brooklyn from John I love this by the way John and I I addressed this I

Addressed you in the uh in the chat before the show started as well coming in with it you were right on the edge of negativity and we couldn’t we can’t have that tonight Brooklyn’s next pursuit of a superstar do you think the main criteria should be someone who actually

Possesses leadership qualities and just isn’t a good uh good at scoring I’m assuming you’re referring maybe like to a cam Thomas who’s obviously the young player very good scorer maybe not a leader for this team you don’t know though he could grow into that role and I think listen leadership is all

Relative to success and talent was Kevin dur and I’m not even knocking these guys was Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving a great leader it kind of doesn’t matter they’re so effing good that they they score a lot of points you win a lot of basketball games and it goes by the

Wayside the biggest criteria is just getting better players on this team to help them win basketball games I have a good one here I wanted to put up here um I’m gonna I I’ll throw a wet blank at this wonder how many teams get caught up

In the hype and attempt to trade for Ben zero so I I this is where this is where I can I know where to I know where to finally hit the breaks on this and it’s going to be right here uh like this is where we hit the breaks nobody’s trading

For him nobody’s trading for him um not after one game but after two games Doug maybe three games there are five there was five more games before the all the the trade deadline if you play I’ll start entertaining this scenario if he plays the rest of the season basically healthy and I’m talking

The whole season like play and no setbacks I will not entertain I will not come off my you can’t trade Simmons unless until that point so you I want you I’m saying that out loud so you hold me to it happy to do so two games from now I

Tell you what we got to do here we got to start Fielding offers this one I’m just really quick from houseon again because we we said we weren’t really a fan of the DLo move but I will say in the okay Ben Simmons gonna play 18 to 25

Minutes you see that pushing the pace a little bit more that maybe Spencer Dey needs to be moved on do do you adjust trust yourself at all to what it looks like if Ben Simmons is a part of this team and the other ancillary moves that you might make at the deadline other

Teams bigger trades no I can’t make a single move based on Simmons like I it’s just too fraught with Peril it’s and you’re still Z still has that extra year on it so it’s still you just can’t make any move because of Simmons like that’s

All I’m saying it’s like you can’t do it with Simmons mind if you think it’s a good independent move go do it it cannot be it cannot have it cannot have Ben Simmons is a good match for this guy attach to the reason you want to do it

Because he is not it’s not you can’t trust he’s going to play enough that being said if there’s a good move out there you should do that move I don’t know right and maybe that’s maybe that’s more the the reminder of guys that push this pace for this

Team it helps all the guys that are on this team now there’s not another Ben Simmons you know archetype out there that you can go trade for but just thinking about that from a backcourt perspective if something comes up where you feel like you have a guy that can

Push pace and help this team get out and transition so that both units have a similar type of feel then I think that it’s something they should explore not because of Ben Simmons but because of the style of play that probably is the best version of this team um what else

See we got here a lot of fun ones oh Doug you got yeah you got take this out there I can’t just be cir TR here here’s haa um cam Thomas and Ben Simmons compliment each other very well the Doug Nory and Adam arm to basketball yeah I

Like to that’s I believe I don’t know if Ryan ruko and uh Richard Jefferson said it on the broadcast but I’ve heard that go that’s been circulating for sure oh yeah I mean obviously that’s uh two of the biggest names on the court and two of the biggest names in the in

That’s podcasting I don’t know like what else like it’s obvious I’ve been if I could tell you the number of times that Doug and I go out around town and people go cam Ben autograph and say listen not right now we’re just kind of doing our thing also please kneel down to our

Height level uh oh Ben Simmons here also said y’all go buy some Simmons jerseys now yeah I gotta say right now No One’s Gonna like the ears I don’t own any I don’t I don’t I don’t own a single basketball jersey I never will um can we

Can we break the the seventh wall about about fandom jerseys have were never something that I careful no no that I ever like I love I love hats like I have seven different Brooklyn Nets hats and I have T-shirts and I have all that stuff but jerseys were just always like for me

Personally when I and this isn’t about the for other people wearing jerseys when I put on a jersey a basketball jersey a football jersey a hockey jersey I look ridiculous it’s not about the product it’s about it’s me it’s a me problem and I just don’t feel secure in

Them so I I can’t I can’t go purchase them yeah I don’t think I I haven’t own a basketball jersey since David Ro David Robinson the Admiral when I was in seventh grade and that was last I had the black alternate Chicago Bulls Jordan jersey R

And I looked ridiculous in that one I played basketball so I wore the jerseys but like you looked ridiculous when you played basketball which was the down not Adam know that’s not true but the um no but but but I looked ridiculous uh off the court in the uh in the yeah that’s

Just mostly about me not being a fashion forward kind of guy uh let’s go ahead and get this one here awesome Doug you’re you allowed to be you’re allowed excuse me to be happy uh after everything we’ve been through for this season I’ll couple that right here with

Al mack who came flying in with Adam and Doug haven’t been happy for a month first time in a long time honestly you might be right Al like I feel I feel a little bit lightheaded and I think it’s just from from smiling and feeling good

After a game because by the way you only have to go back to the game before this when Doug and I came and after a win and had to work really hard to continue to remind us and you that the Nets had won that game because of the nature of how

The fourth quarter unfolded for them so yeah I’m happy to be happy happiness I got a quiz I got a quiz question for you right now who what team in the NBA has the fourth longest active winning streak Brooklyn Nets with two you got it that was it two Brooklyn Net with too

Fourth active fourth longest active winning streak in the NBA leagues about parody Baby two games if the playoffs started today guess who’d be in the playin yep that’s right just like we always do 10 seed just always knew we would be which which by the way actually I did do this

Exercise too um I was thinking about comically Doug listen if you don’t want to have the conversation just say so we don’t have to get into this thing where you just leave the room I mean um he’ll be back guys don’t worry I was having this thought this this thought exercise

About okay Ben Simmons is coming back I went and looked at the schedule and I checked off losses not wins I Che I checked off like okay these are going to be losses against all the teams that you would think about and I think I got

Somewhere to like was it 15 16 you know 17 losses they had 37 games left coming into this one and it was basically what’s the record that you can anticipate this team finishing with and that had nothing to do that wasn’t tied to Ben Simmons at all it was just what

Is the record you think this team could finish with and as Doug mentioned being in the 10 seed the funny thing was it was like I said ah maybe they go you know seven 16 and 20 16 and 23 because that got to 39 games I think is what

They had remaining I was like oh 16 and 23 well they’ll still be well below 500 but then I would to looked to the Eastern Conference I thought it’s still good for a 10 seed though like this team could be a 34- win team be like we’re

Coming for you boys it’s all it’s all about that playing tournament yeah I will say like they’re gonna they got some they got a got a hill to climb here some of these other teams have played okay the Heat have lost seven in a row but that’s not going to continue and all

These other teams have basically been winning every game so it’s like yeah this is going to be it’s going to be at competition man that’s it you got to hold off Atlanta Toronto one- n in their last 10 Hornets 2 and eight three and seven for the Wizards and pistons though

Watch out for the Pistons they’re putting together a little streak for themselves they won with out Cade the other night all right I think we’re pretty close to getting out of here um yeah uh I did that okay good sorry cleared it out uh someone asked about

Signature shoes this was also a note for me yeah uh you know what I did have though not to age myself remember the pumps I used to I used to get myself nice and nice and pumped up get out on the court and be like now at the time I

Was like hey you think that a 4 foot eight middle schooler can’t you know shake you down and then I spray my ankle I just don’t have any I’m just not you came to the wrong place I’m just not a shoe guy not a jersey guy I’m a Chuck

Taylor’s guy though I I got some shoe game there I had all if you if you go back and watch the podcast you’ll notice a very don’t tell me to do that it’s this is a very exposing comment you’re about to make you know you’ll know is a

Theme in that well I just I just wear I wear not the same clothes every day but I just have a very I wear basically just all black and very dark blue that’s like the only two colors I wear and I that’s basically all I wear all the time you’re

Like when no no Rider from Beetlejuice I get it uh and then last but not least that’s why Ben Simmons is my favorite player just tweaking listen in all sincerity man still well up over 180 people here we’re over 200 for a while for all of the fun that we have around

Misery L company this is the best version of coming in on post games and the best version of talking about Ben Simmons we always appreciate everybody that comes in so yeah it was so much it was no no no I’m not emo I just no I’m

I’m not emo I’ll explain I this is a short explanation I like to Red reduce reduce choice in my life so I just have lots of clothes that are like exactly the same so I just have like black hoodies and my vests and my like my you

Know whatever Mr Rogers coming home off the black sweater and putting on the black sweater and saying and now yeah yeah it’s not emo it’s just like I like to reduce I like to think about other things during the day and I don’t like to think about what I’m gonna wear so I

Wear the same rotation of like very similar clothes that’s all we have an off day coming up Ian so we will talk about this here we we we’ll talk this about bigger P of picture and Outlook stuff we just wanted to have a whole

Bunch of fun I I I will say that you know we’re nine day no we’re 10 days away from the trade deadline and the next and this is looking very much like it’s going to be there aren’t that many sellers out there is it U yeah you got

It um more like an alpaca um the uh the um the trade deadline like there aren’t tons of sellers out there there’s a few but it’s not it’s a it’s kind of an interesting Market I think a lot of these teams are you know maybe we see

Jante Murray traded like a lot of these teams are just gonna be I think most team more teams want to be buyers I hear I think here or like they’re in the grizzly situation where the guys are just all hurt and they can’t trade anybody anyway right and so and that was

The point of the plan that’s the point of the 10 seed right to keep more teams invested in the in the season than than not but if you look at if you just run down the teams I’ll do it real fast here before we get out of here okay teams

That would potentially be trading guys away okay Timberwolves buyers probably Thunder buyers nuggets probably do nothing Clippers probably can’t do anything Kings they’re not going to sell maybe get something Suns can’t do anything really um Pelicans they’ve been playing good enough that they’re not going to move off any of their guys

Probably Mavs May they’re Pro they’re buyers Lakers buyers Jazz maybe but like they’re kind of making close to making the playoffs Rockets are gonna be buyers if anything else they’re not gonna sell anybody Warriors probably buyers Grizzly can’t do anything Blazers maybe sell Spurs maybe sell but don’t have tons to

Sell that’s the whole Western Conference like yeah there aren’t many guys moving from those teams right and so that’s the Western Conference Celtics are probably just like what they have bucks um they mostly probably like what they have here Sixers maybe they make a move but I for

Who it’s like not totally clear Nicks Cavs they’re probably pretty close to what they’re gonna be Pacers just made their move magic maybe they sell like try to get a shooter they’re buyers heat they just made their move Bulls I don’t know if they play good enough to like

Try to just make the eighth or seventh seed Nets Hawks I mean like that’s kind of it Raptors made their move maybe they you know I think they’re pretty much gonna stick start to give the whole list here point being Hornets I mean they don’t even have maybe trade miles

Bridges like to the one team that wouldn’t worry about the pr hit right and then Wizards baby sell and pistons don’t have tons to sell it’s like that’s like the whole like that’s everybody it’s not there’s nothing I don’t think I think it’s G be really quiet I like I

Just don’t think it’s just not that robust of a of a market I think for what teams need for versus who would actually want to give something up yeah and even like the things like the Lakers and and the Murray conversation it’s like well it keeps falling apart because the

Lakers one of the teams that does want to buy doesn’t have a lot to buy with so you know that’s I mean we we exed out a bunch of teams because they’ve already either already made their move or made their move last year or something and have no nothing left yeah they’re trying

To buy they’re trying to buy stuff for pennies on the dollar and and a lot of these guys are under contract a muray the great example he’s under contract Atlanta can make this decision at any point they want they’re not in a pressure move to do that so it should be

So I think that I mean if anything like that maybe that increases the price on guys like DFS or who’s going to miss at least two games we didn’t get talk about that uh with the ankle turn but two game that was a pretty good that was a pretty

Good thing that they said two games I think that’s he’s going to be back sooner than later on Neil yeah maybe they um maybe they you know fetch a little bit more but I just think most teams are maybe I’m gonna be wrong I think most teams the way they

Look now is the way they’re goingon to look after the trade deadline that’s my that’s my gut feeling and and I will say on the Nets I think that that this the return of Ben Simmons for two games for 10 games I think this also leans more

Towards the Nets are less likely if they ever were to do something because it’s kind of this yeah the version that we thought we maybe were going to have with this team they might make a couple of margin moves with some of the expiring but nothing of significance where you

Feel like we’re going to be a whole different team after the deadline no no they’re G they’re gonna look mostly the same I I think if there’s if there’s a two-player difference I’d be shocked I think yeah like or three play three players would be the max I would say

They would trade and I don’t even think they’re G to get that I don’t think they’re GNA trade three players that’s my that’s my gut yeah one would be like I think one’s likely two possible three very unlikely to me yeah but we can talk about a whole another episode because we

That’s we were that was the tease but don’t worry we’ll expand upon that on the off day um listen yeah I had pumps I used to shop at thrift stores 3D boxing um I’m 38 you know and I look like a young 22 year old decrepit somebody called me

50 the other day so that was kind of depressing too well I’ve been a Nets fan since I’ve been saying this I’ve been a Nets fan since 1954 and so you can just do the ma do the math you do the math since number one that’s fan since 1954

Okay we are gonna get out of here really appreciate everyone that jumped into YouTube these are the best these are the best times to talk Ho’s man you get Simmons back the team looks good um go celebrate by going to weet nets.com grabb that free ebook like I said people

Already asking for more stories we already put our life into the stories that we’re going to give you so I’m not sure how many more we can get out right away but we got a bunch of stuff planned for here for we got Nets make sure you

Go to weot nets.com uh there’s a party going on right here a celebration to last throughout the years that is uh eir diodato or cool in the gang as the producer there you go all time great po we’re back again tomorrow talking more Brooklyn that’s basketball basketball basketball basketball basketball Ben

Simmons back basketball basketball basketball yeah

Ben Simmons made his return to thee court, and showcased the exact skill-set the Nets have lacked. Pushing the pace, distributing in transition and using his size and length. Even in limited minutes, his impact was evident.
Cam Thomas and Mikal Bridges continued their quality shooting while mixing combinations like Dennis Smith Jr and Nic Claxton reminded fans what the depth of this roster can do.