It appears that the Brooklyn Nets aren’t just the troubled ones around Ben Simmons as apparently, the Australian national basketball team endured a major blow as well in the franchise star’s recent basketball shutdown.
Australian Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian revealed that Simmons was gearing up to play for their forthcoming rally in the 2024 Paris Olympics until his back woes reappeared and sidelined him for the rest of the season.
“I really feel that he’s committed to Australia,” Goorjian told SEN 1170 Afternoons. “I thought he looked really motivated, this is like a new day, [but] everyone starts thinking, ‘Here goes Goorjian again,’ because I’ve been positive about this [international play of Simoons] the whole way through.
“When I met him face to face… he looked me in the eye, and he shook my hand and said, ‘I want to be a Boomer.’”
Tough luck for both Ben and the Boomers
The Nets ruled Simmons out for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign as he opted to consider taking treatments that will address the ailing nerve impingement in his lower back. He recently underwent a microscopic partial discectomy to alleviate the said complication.
Since being acquired by the team in the midpoint of 2021-22, Simmons only managed to appear for just 57 regular season games as back issues have completely ruined his availability and play for Brooklyn.
Goorjian felt awful that he hasn’t yet gained a fair chance to handle Simmons as he is now back and finally assuming the Aussie’s hoops program once again.
“Since I’ve been involved with the Boomers to now, he hasn’t played in the NBA. If he’s not playing in the NBA he’s not playing for the Boomers, nor do we want a guy that isn’t in a position to play, that’s not fair to the other players,” Goorjian said.
Simmons and the Boomers’ international play
Simmons’ commitment has been a hot topic of discussion throughout the years for Australia as he has yet to suit up for the nation since the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship. He passed up the opportunity to play for them in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics upon a chaotic 2021 postseason run with the Philadelphia 76ers as he hoped to “work on his game.” He eventually drew flak as he was instead spotted on a vacation in London with his girlfriend.
Australia, who finished as the best Ocenian team in last year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup, will enter the Summer Games’ men’s basketball arena as a member of Group A, in which they’ll face Canada and the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament winners emerging from host nations Spain and Greece.
The Boomers claimed a bronze medal run in the previous Olympic Games, their highest finish in tournament history.