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Team Australia would like Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets to play for them, but they aren’t going to beg.
The team’s head coach, Brian Goorjian, told ESPN, via NBACentral, that he is not in the business of recruiting the three-time All-Star and former Rookie of the Year.
“I’m not recruiting you. It’s important for the country [to know], we’re not going, ‘please, Ben, please, we don’t have anything if you don’t play’. We’re not like that at all,” Goorjian said.
Simmons is sitting out of the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup and it sounds as if his home country never got their hopes up about him in the first place.
Australia’s head coach Brian Goorjian says he’s not going to beg Ben Simmons to play for the national team
“I’m not recruiting you. It’s important for the country [to know], we’re not going, ‘please, Ben, please, we don’t have anything if you don’t play’. We’re not like that at… pic.twitter.com/yTEoxD9KEN
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 11, 2023
Team Australia is well-known for not giving any players preferential treatment, even if they have found a place in the NBA.
In other words, if Simmons wanted to play for the team, he would have to earn it.
However, it doesn’t seem like he wanted to play for Australia.
Simmons hasn’t participated with the team for ten years when he played in a FIBA Oceania Championship game against New Zealand in 2013.
Since then, the Nets star has repeatedly stated that he would play for the team but he has repeatedly come up with reasons why he couldn’t.
Back in 2019, he said he had a desire to play in the 2019 FIBA World Cup but then dropped out at the last minute.
So Team Australia likely wasn’t planning on Simmons suiting up this time.
But it sounds like their coach has made peace with that and is going to focus on the team that he has instead of the NBA superstar that he doesn’t.
The post Australia Coach Comments On Ben Simmons Not Playing In World Cup appeared first on The Cold Wire.
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