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The Brooklyn Nets are fighting tooth and nail to try and avoid the play-in tournament but as of right now, it's a sad reality. However, actually getting newly-acquired Ben Simmons on the court would be a huge help.
The Aussie continues to recover from a back injury that he sustained when he ramped up his conditioning following the trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. While there isn't a concrete date for when he could make his Nets debut, team play-by-play commentator Ian Eagle offered some very informative insight on the matter on the DA Show:
Article Continues Below“The ramp-up has been a hot topic of conversation,” Nets play-by-play voice Ian Eagle told The DA Show on Thursday. “There definitely was an issue with the back, and I think that gave them some pause. And they probably looked at the schedule at some point and said, ‘Okay, what's realistic for Simmons?' My sense of it is, next week, you're going to see him in a uniform, playing.
“Does that mean it'll be first-team minutes? Second-team minutes? I'd tend to say the latter. I think that it'll be a slow build for Simmons. And they'll pick and choose their spots — you know, 18 minutes, 20 minutes — and just get him to a point where he's comfortable. Only the Nets and Simmons know, physically, where he's at right now and what he's truly capable of doing.”
Eagle isn't a team member, but he certainly has more sources than most. Of course, we can't totally bank on Simmons returning next week. But based on what Eagle's seen and heard, it could happen.
To be honest, the Nets don't have much time to wait on the 25-year-old. There's only a handful of games left in the season and it's going to take him time to actually get accustomed to playing substantial minutes again. Like Eagle said, they'll have to ease him in.
Brooklyn, on paper, is a very good team when at full strength. But until they can actually get all of their pieces together, it's frankly unknown how far the team can go in the postseason. Simmons will undoubtedly play an important part when he's finally at full strength. For the sake of the Nets, let's pray it's sooner rather than later.
