Ben Simmons showed up to face the music in Philadelphia on Thursday night, hearing consistent jeers from the home crowd as he warmup up on the court before taking bench to watch the Nets beat down his former team.
But Sal and Gio can't figure out why Simmons was out there if he sat for the entire season before being traded, citing mental health concerns. Simmons hadn't been traveling with the team in recent games but did go to his former city, with head coach Steve Nash saying the reasoning was because flights were hard on Simmons' ailing back, but a drive to Philly wasn't as strenuous.
"I believe if he really was struggling with being in Philadelphia, he would not have been there," Gio said during Friday's show. "That's not a place you put someone who is rehabbing physically and mentally."
Simmons addressed his mental health skeptics at his introductory press conference after being traded to Brooklyn, saying "they should be happy I'm smiling right now," because things got dark in his final months in Philadelphia. But Sal, filling in for Gio, can't get past all that comes with Simmons, from his playoff lapses last season to the drama that unfolded with the Sixers before finally being traded.
"How can that be healthy mentally for him?" Sal said. "I give him credit for at least showing up, but come on, you're a basketball player. Are you gonna play at some point? Have you ever seen anything like this before with this guy? He can't play, he can't shoot, what is happening here?"
Simply put, Sal is not a fan of the Nets newest acquisition.
"He can't shoot the basketball, but he keeps himself stylish and clean," Sal said. "He's a word that I'd like to say built can't on the air. He's as soft as possible. I can't stand Ben Simmons."
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