Ben Simmons Shows 'Why He Was an All-Star' in Nets' Preseason Win vs. Bucks

Ben Simmons is doing Ben Simmons things again.

The Brooklyn Nets power forward had a strong performance in Wednesday night's 107-97 preseason win over the Milwaukee Bucks, rattling off seven points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and two steals while playing his usual brand of excellent defense.

It was a very Simmons-esque performance, as he only attempted five shots, making three, and didn't shoot from beyond the arc.

But the Nets don't really need him to be an offensive juggernaut, with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the roster, and NBA Twitter was impressed with his showing on Wednesday:

Of course, Philadelphia 76ers fans and some NBA pundits may warn Nets fans of getting too excited. After all, Simmons also played excellent defense and was an adept playmaker in his Sixers days but never got past the second round of the playoffs.

But Simmons' deficiencies—his unwillingness to shoot from the perimeter and his penchant for going long stretches without aggressively attacking the basket—are less likely to be a major issue in Brooklyn, which will be less reliant on him as a scoring option due to Durant and Irving.

There may ultimately be concerns about playing him and Nic Claxton together, given that neither spaces the floor, and Steve Nash may eventually need to experiment with more small-ball lineups that utilize Simmons as a de facto 5.

But it all looked good on Wednesday night, albeit in a meaningless game. Simmons has teased the NBA community with his immense potential in the past—we've all seen the offseason reels of him sinking threes, only for them to never materialize in games—but the Nets may be uniquely positioned to get the best out of his skill set.

And if they do, the rest of the NBA is in serious trouble.