From a maximum salary of 40 million to a basic salary of 1.1 million, an average of 0.8 points per game, no one cares about it, you should retire on your own initiative

NBA new season training camp begins this month, but for the moment, the six free agents, Westbrook, Grimes, Ben Simmons, Thomas, Kumingga and Gidey, have not yet finalized their next home. However, among these six people, the most embarrassing one is Ben Simmons. The other five are pursuing a big contract that suits their value, but Ben Simmons is not interested in it because of his own strength. At the age of 28, it should have been the golden period for NBA players. With the first place pick, Simmons should have been the mainstay of the league, but after joining the Clippers, he delivered a dismal answer of 0.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in the playoffs, losing the last chance to prove himself. Ben - Simmons became a free agent in the offseason. Faced with such a performance, fans can't help but ask: How long can the NBA tolerate him?

If we turn back a few years ago, Simmons' basketball journey will be "smooth". He entered the NBA as the No. 1 pick in 2016. With his outstanding physical talent, top defensive awareness and accurate long-term pass ability, he quickly gained a foothold in the league. Not only was he selected as an All-Star, but he also received a maximum salary contract of hundreds of millions, becoming one of the cores of the 76ers' "Believe in Process" era. At that time, he was an all-around warrior who could defend from No. 1 to No. 5, and was the key pusher to tear open the opponent's defense line in the fast break counterattack. Fans hoped that he could grow into a superstar who changed the league pattern. But no one expected that in just a few years, he would have gone from an All-Star regular to a "hidden target" in the playoffs. He held the league's top salary, but he scored a water dispenser administrator-level data and is now facing unemployment. Behind this huge contrast, the first thing he was to be burdened with was the "shot stubbornness" that he could never overcome, and even reached the point of "fear of shooting". Looking at Simmons' NBA career, he has only made 34 three-pointers and only hit 5 goals. Such three-point output and shooting percentage are "outliers" in today's NBA; what's worse is that his free throw percentage is only 58%. As a player with a lot of endings in the inside, such free throw level allows the opponent to use "slashing and killing tactics" against him unscrupulously. The current NBA has long entered the era of "three-pointers as king". Whether it is defenders, forwards or centers, almost all three-pointers are included in the conventional arsenal. In such a tactical environment, Simmons' poor spatial attributes make him the "drag" on the team's offensive end.

Also a star who has faced shooting shortcomings, Antetokounmpo's transformation path is in sharp contrast to Simmons. Antetokounmpo's three-point shooting percentage was only 27% in the first four years of his career, but through systematic training, he not only stabilized his three-point shooting percentage at around 34%, but also developed back-to-back singles and stable near-frame shooting techniques. It was precisely through these evolved skills that he led the Bucks to defeat the Suns and win the championship trophy. On the other hand, Simmons, not to mention three-pointers, accounts for only 3.7% of his mid-range shots. On the offensive end, his presence often puts the team in a passive situation of "4-on-5" - the opponent will relax him with confidence and focus his defensive attention on the other four teammates. The data won't lie: When Simmons is on the court, his team's three-pointers will drop by 8.6%, and offensive efficiency will also drop by 4.2 points. In the modern basketball system that pursues space and efficiency, Simmons' offensive characteristics have become a "tactical poison."

If shooting problems can be compensated by defense and organization, then Simmons' lost "confidence" completely destroys his field value. In the 7th game of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, facing the open position at the basket, Simmons did not choose to take action, but instead passed the ball to his teammates with poor chance. In the end, the 76ers were eliminated, and he was pushed to the forefront of public opinion. For Simmons, this "dare not to take action" style of playing basketball is not the first time, but he has previously won the No. 1 pick, All-Star seat and maximum salary contract with this "playing strengths and avoiding weaknesses" style. When the outside world began to question his core skills, when the pressure of team defeat hit him, Simmons did not choose to respond positively, but fell into self-doubt and escape.

exercise psychologist Jonah Fish once clearly pointed out that Simmons has a strong "avoidance mechanism", and this psychological state directly leads to a significant decline in his training quality. 76ers former assistant coach Billy Lange revealed that Simmons' average training time per day is only 2.5 hours, only half of the other players of the team, and the three-point training accounts for less than 10%; an internal report from the Nets even showed that Simmons' recovery training intensity is only 70% of the team's average. You should know that talent is just a "ticket" to enter the NBA. To maintain competitiveness in the fierce competition, you need to continuously realize your talents and polish your skills. Simmons' negative training attitude is undoubtedly a waste of his talent and has gradually exhausted the team's trust in him. The invasion of

further exacerbated Simmons' decline in form. In 2020, he suffered from lumbar nerve compression injuries. Due to trauma that was not visible to the naked eye, it did not receive enough attention at the time. But in fact, Simmons' lumbar L4-L5 had congenital abnormalities and eventually had to undergo surgery. Although his postoperative recovery seems to be good, his core strength is seriously damaged, which directly affects his athletic ability. At his peak, his breakthrough speed could reach 6.2m/s, but now it has dropped to 5m/s; his neuroreflex test scores rank in the last 15% of the league. The loss of core strength has greatly reduced his inside ending success rate, while the slow nerve reflex has made him proud of his defensive ability "cliff-like decline". Originally, defense was the "fig leaf" of Simmons when he was dragging his legs on the offensive end, but now even this last advantage is gone. How should the coach design tactics for him?

From the All-Star to the Water Dispenser Administrator, from the Max Core to the Alliance's "Garbage Contract", Simmons's Fall is not accidental, but a tragedy of talent, environment and personal choice. He suffered a dimensional reduction blow from the NBA tactical revolution (three-point era), but missed a good opportunity to transform due to psychological disorders and negative attitudes; the "death triangle" formed by projection defects, psychological problems, and injuries made him gradually become the "abandoned son" of the league system. Now, 28-year-old Simmons is about to face the test of the free market. For NBA teams, it is necessary to see the actual value he can bring to the team - whether it is the contribution on the offensive end, the role on the defensive end, or the leadership in the locker room. But Simmons' current state can hardly meet any requirement. For playoff teams, salary space is very short, even the basic salary contract has to be spent on the edge, and rebuilding the team will not require a player with no value for training. For Simmons, it's time to take the initiative to retire!