Sixers

Jared Dudley Elaborated On His “Average” Ben Simmons Comments Ahead of Game 5

By Russ Joy

Published: Apr 23rd, 2019 · 8:17 AM EDT

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Sometimes when you’re an average-at-best player -like Jared Dudley- spouting off about your playoff opponent’s All-Star point guard, you end up with your foot in your mouth. If that All-Star point guard happens to hear you call him “average”, he could very well turn this into The Rock vs. Michael Cole.

That’s exactly what Ben Simmons did in Game 3, when he posted 31 PTS/9 AST/4 REB/3 BLK/2 STL in a 131-115 beatdown of the Brooklyn Nets. In Game 4, Dudley taunted Simmons with his arms outstretched after hitting an open three. Brooklyn also lost that game, one in which Dudley was ejected for shoving Joel Embiid in the back and causing a certifiable ruckus.

Anyway, with the Nets on death’s doorstep, Brooklyn’s favorite walking thumb decided to clarify his comments that Ben Simmons was “average” in the half-court:

When asked about Ben Simmons today, Jared Dudley offered some perspective on the Nets’ approach in defending the Sixers star and reiterared, in detail, why he sees Simmons as ‘elite’ in transition and ‘average’ in half-court offense: pic.twitter.com/JaI54g7TIZ

— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 22, 2019

To be clear: Dudley claims he was wearing the hat of a coach/analyst breaking down what he sees in Simmons’ game. That’s probably smart, since he doesn’t back up his assertions with his play. The man hasn’t averaged more that eight points since 2012-13 and shot over 40% from deep since 2015-16. That said, he seems like a delightful man and his analyst voice will sound great next season when he’s breaking down film on the G League’s Long Island Nets for a weekly hit on his Soundcloud channel or something.