It’s time for everybody to give Ben Simmons a break

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What’s good, family? It’s Sykes, back again, with another issue of Layup Lines. A quick word on Ben Simmons.

Obviously, last season was a pretty big disaster for him. He didn’t play basketball at all. He also lost a ton of money that he apparently settled on the 76ers with in court. On top of that, a back injury stopped him from playing with the Brooklyn Nets in their disaster of a season.

Again, it wasn’t a good look. Nobody will tell you it was. But at what point do we stop roasting this man for, you know, just existing? It seems like every move Ben makes he’s getting torn into on the internet.

The latest example is the casual airball he tossed at the rim while at the Nets‘ outdoor practice. He clearly wasn’t being serious at all. But the internet took that and completely ran with it. They made it a thing when it really wasn’t.

ESPN’s Nick Fridell asked Simmons about it in an all-encompassing interview this week and it turned into a conversation about how he deals with trolls.

“It finds me all the time. And it doesn’t f—-ing stop. Sometimes I’m even sick of it, but then I’m like, ‘OK, I’m Ben Simmons,’ you know? Even the other day there was a clip of me air balling a shot at the park. Meanwhile, like 10 guys air balled multiple shots. So it’s like people will find one clip and try to make it that everything — like Ben can’t do [this or that]. You think I’m just air balling every shot? It’s not true. But you got to have tough skin and I realize that, but I can’t take everything personally. “

It seems like he’s just brushing it off at this point, but that has to be maddening. The dude hasn’t done anything. He’s just out there at practice and every little potential mistake he makes is under a microscope with folks just waiting to clown him.

That’s corny. Super corny. Especially considering that he went through real mental health struggles over the last two seasons. And that’s the big thing here — the mental health implications.

This is something the NBA community seems to want to take seriously. Players are being more open and vulnerable about it now. From DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love to John Wall and even Simmons, they’re letting down the veil and being open about their struggles. And, hopefully, that can lead others to look for help in their struggle, too.

But if they’ve got people roasting them every step of the way in their journey of vulnerability, that won’t last long. It’ll only make folks retreat back into their shells and that’s not the ideal situation for anyone here.

So, please. Let’s all just chill on Ben Simmons. At least until the games get here.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

There’s a lot of great season preview content coming on our site over the next few days. And it’ll be an exciting season, too. Parity has never been more present in the league.

So I wrote a bit on the big question each team needs to answer coming into the new season.

“The parity the fans have been asking for for years is alive and well. It feels like well over half of the NBA’s teams are going to make a playoff push this season. They legitimately think they can compete and make some noise.

Of course, many of them will be wrong. That’s just how the NBA works. Not everyone can have a successful season — somebody has to fail. And no team is perfect — there’s no “super team” out there ready to run through the league. There’s not a single team in the league that is without its warts. They all have questions.”

This year is going to be so much fun.