Amazing to me that Simmons could potentially play his first game as a Net in the playoffs. It's hard to imagine a team that is more of a wildcard than that one. They could be a first round exit or win the whole thing.
Analysis of Celtics Games, '21-'22 Season
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Its a legit concern, although the recent breakdowns have happened with short handed lineups, so it is more that they haven’t shown it than that they have tried and failed.
Count me in the camp that has this as pure gamesmanship and there is next to zero chance that the Nets run out Simmons first preseason game and first action since an epic meltdown……in the playoffs. This would be completely illogical. See ya at camp Ben!
Totally agreed...I know Nets twitter was in an uproar because of Shams/Woj tweets, but here is Nash on Simmons in an article from yesterday: “He’s doing a little bit of movement,” Nash said. “Still 1-on-0 stuff. He’s still got a lot of milestones to reach, but it’s positive. At least he’s moving around a little bit.” Doesn't really sound like a guy who is close to ready. I guess in a hypothetical world where they are down 2-0 in the first round and gave up 130 points or so in each game maybe they bring him back for defensive purposes?
And worth noting that the offense was great in crunchtime specifically against the Nets.
+1. Is there any precedent for a player missing the entire regular season and making his debut in the playoffs? Not even taking into account that he's on a new team.
Their defense both sucks and blows. Simmons changes that a bit but even if he plays, I don't see him being better than a net neutral in crunch time given his offensive weaknesses.
NYT discusses this a bit in this article - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/sports/basketball/nba-playoffs-injuries.html - and suggests that Jameer Nelson, who missed four months with a torn labrum, is probably the closest equivalent.
Note that Jamaal Murray might miss an entire season and come back for the playoffs.
Certainly at this point it's a longshot for either Simmons or Murray to play any meaningful minutes in the playoffs without a good bit of practice time so in Simmons' case, he's got a fair bit ways to go from 1-0 workouts.
