Ben Simmons has not been particularly good so far in the preseason. He has a ton of rust following a year's absence from the sport, and some fans are feeling a bit concerned about his place on the team. For Steve Nash, however, these are just growing pains. As he told Nick Friedell of ESPN, the expectations need to be tempered.
“We’ll be patient with Ben because he is an incredibly talented and unique player, but he’s not going to be at his best in the short term and he’s just got to continue to slog through this period of returning to play and getting his confidence, timing and rhythm back,” the head coach said.
When asked about what Simmons needs to do to get back into shape, he simply said that practice and reps will help him get acclimated to the system. Simply put, this won't all happen overnight.
“I think for Ben a lot of it is not just the understanding, it’s the reps,” Nash said. “He hasn’t played for a long time. He’s coming off of back surgery, so I think there’s some periods of indecision and confidence that he has to gain from playing. All of us do. We can’t take that much time off, join a new group and just figure it out Day 1, so he needs time.”
Due to Simmons' past, it is going to be hard for fans to be patient. They want him to play well from the jump, but that's just not realistic right now.
[Via]