Is Ben Simmons Afraid to Shoot? Warriors’ Jaylen Brown Disrespect Unveils Nets All-Star’s Shooting Concerns

What the Golden State Warriors were thinking when they decided to sag off Jaylen Brown is anyone’s guess. However, JB made sure that would never happen again. In one of the most lopsided victories of this season, the Celtics humbled the Warriors with a 140-88 win, courtesy of Warrior’s defensive strategy going into the contest. In what appeared to be a shootaround practice for Brown, he made the most of the situation, going 11 of 19 from the field and 5 of 10 from 3-point range, ending the night with a game-high 29 points.

According to Gilbert Arenas, this was so disrespectful that he wouldn’t do that if Ben Simmons was at the free-throw line, either. Wait, why Ben Simmons?

Gilbert Arenas might have an answer for Ben Simmons’ shooting struggles

There has been a long-standing narrative that Ben Simmons can’t shoot. The most egregious example of this came during the 2021 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The 27-year-old choked during the final minutes when he passed up an open dunk under the basket with 3:29 left in Game 7. This was the story throughout the series, as he failed to take a fourth-quarter shot in five of the seven games. His late-game struggles were compounded by the fact that he went 15-for-45 from the charity stripe during the semifinal loss. As per NFL legend Shannon Sharpe, the Brooklyn Nets guard’s shooting struggles are not because he can’t shoot the ball, but because he is afraid to shoot the ball. A plausible reason. However, Gilbert Arenas attributes his struggles to make the baskets to his ‘depth perception.’

“His depth perception I think it’s off. Some players are excellent shooters in small gyms. When you put them in an arena for some reason, they can’t gauge that basket no more. So when they get into the game, it’s too far for them…I think that’s actually his problem because when it comes to shooting I’m sitting there like, ‘No, the boy can shoot.’ But when in the game I’m like what’s going on,” stated Arenas in the recent episode of Nightcap. The only solution to this, Gil says, is to practice in the arena as much as one does in the gym.

Whether it is fear or faulty depth perception, this led the defenders to sag off the 3x NBA All-Star when he’s on the perimeter. Similar to what the Warriors were going for but failed.

Jaylen Brown makes the Warriors pay

Even though Brown is by no means an elite 3-point shooter, that does not mean he won’t know down shots when the coast is clear. And Draymond Green pretty much handed him the opportunity on a silver platter. Combine this with the fact that he is the Celtics’ leading first-quarter scorer for the season.

He came in hot in the first quarter, scoring 3-pointers on three consecutive Celtics possessions, which turned a 21-21 first-quarter tie into a 35-21 Celtics lead. The Warriors never recovered from here on. With this, the Celtics improved their winning streak to 11, while the Warriors failed to complete a clean sweep to conclude their East Coast trip.

Read More: Jaylen Brown Challenges Entire NBA After Dismantling Coach Kerr’s “Disrespectful” Gameplan