Airball Confirms Ben Simmons Is Already In Mid-Season Form

The NBA season is quickly approaching and from the looks of it, Ben Simmons is already shooting like it's mid-January as evidenced by an embarrassing airball.

A video has been making the rounds of Simmons and his Brooklyn Nets cohorts during an open practice. It looked like everyone was having a grand old time, but then Simmons decided to take a shot from what appeared to be just a hair farther than Pop-A-Shot distance.

That's... that's bad. Especially from an NBA player. Sure looked like the Australian-born point guard didn't put enough Vegemite on that one.

You've got to think a few Nets fans had thousand-yard stares after seeing that one, hoping that shot won't be representative of the team's season.

I'm not going to pretend that I could've done any better than Simmons, but I would've at least made damn sure I drilled the backboard.

Ben Simmons Broke The 'Backboard Rule" Of Shooting Hoops In Public

If you're going to miss, you've got to make sure you miss because you put too much mustard on that ball instead of not enough.

Everyone knows that if you're shooting hoops anywhere where people might be watching. Whether that's shooting hoops in the pool, playing horse in the driveway at your cousin's graduation party, or wowing an arcade crowd at the fore-mentioned Pop-A-Shot — all you've got to do is hit the backboard.

If you at least drill the backboard people may still think you could drain a three, from several feet beyond the three-point line. If you air one out from within ten feet, no one will make eye contact with you for the rest of the barbecue, or in this case, Nets' open practice.

We all know that Ben Simmons has a tough time shooting three-pointers, but he could've fooled a couple of people if he would've just hit the backboard.

Simmons and the Nets will open their season on October 19 against the New Orleans Pelicans.

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.