Nets' Simmons seems to be healthy, reinstalled as PG
The scouting report sounded strikingly similar to the one that described Ben Simmons when he was an All-Star in Philadelphia, not a backup in Brooklyn.
“I'm still fast, I can still jump high, I'm still strong,” Simmons said.
Not last season.
Not when he was so ineffective in his return from back surgery that Simmons couldn't even protest much when he was bounced first from his normal position, then eventually from Brooklyn Nets coach Jacque Vaughn's rotation entirely.
“It's hard for a coach to really trust and believe in you when he's not seeing it, right?” Simmons said. “And I'm not able to physically do it and he can't see it, then as a coach I would do the same thing: `Well, I'm not going to play you if you're not able to compete and do the things I know you can do.'”
Simmons' relationship with Vaughn has healed and it appears his body has, too.
Reinstalled as the point guard, Simmons was moving quickly and decisively again in the preseason after playing just 42 games the last two seasons.
“He looks in shape, he looks confident and pretty aggressive, and it looks like they've got a package of stuff in for him,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.
That was apparent right away in the Nets' exhibition schedule, when Simmons, who is 6-foot-10, powered past LeBron James on a drive into the lane for a basket early in their opening game against the Lakers in Las Vegas.
Simmons had undergone a microdiscectomy, a procedure to remove a small fragment of a herniated disc, in May 2022. While playing his way back into shape following that, Simmons also developed knee and calf pain that forced him to sit out 20 games last season before a nerve impingement in his back ultimately ended his season in March.
Simmons won't say much beyond that he is finally healthy again.
“I'm not one to really talk too much in terms of media and things like that when it's not needed,” Simmons said. “So it's fun to just come out here and play my game and let everyone else do the talking.”
Sixers could start season sans Harden
James Harden vowed he would never play for a franchise run by 76ers team president Daryl Morey.
The Sixers learned Harden really may stick to his word, after the disgruntled guard skipped Philadelphia's entire preseason slate in the wake of his trade demand. Harden — officially away because of a personal matter — did not practice with the Sixers this week and the three-time NBA scoring champion was not at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night for the finale against Atlanta.
Harden's No. 1 jersey still hung at the arena — only on sale at team stores for $139.
The Sixers are set to open their season Thursday against Milwaukee. They play at Toronto before the Oct. 29 home opener against Portland. Coach Nick Nurse, in his first season after five years with Toronto, is preparing for games without Harden.
“I think I've been preparing for it all this week, for sure,” Nurse said Friday. “Lots of thought has gone into him not playing and preparing the team that way this summer. I keep saying, there is another plan if something changes. I don't think it's affected us very much, at all.”
Suit filed against Hornets rookie Miller
The mother of a woman killed near the University of Alabama has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against current Charlotte Hornets rookie Brandon Miller and two other men.
Decarla Raietta Heard filed the suit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Western Division against Miller, former Crimson Tide player Darius Miles and another man, Michael Davis. Heard's daughter, 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, was shot and killed early in the morning on Jan. 15.
Both Miles and Davis are charged with capital murder while Miller was described as a cooperating witness. The former Alabama AllAmerican was not charged with a crime.
The suit contends that the men “knew or should have known that bringing a dangerous weapon to a dispute and discharging said weapon would likely result in harm to those around them.”