Simmons to Be Welcomed Back to Boomers' Setup

Australian Boomers coach Brian Goorjian says he'd welcome NBA star Ben Simmons with open arms, if he is to return to the national team. 

Simmons has battled with injuries during his time with the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets. He's now back on court with the Nets, and is slowly working back into form. 

He hasn't played with the Boomers since being drafted at the NBA, but recently said he “one hundred per cent” wants to, in an interview with The Good Weekend Magazine.

“He’s welcome to our program when he’s ready and healthy, and he’ll be a big piece,” Goorjian said on The Huddle Podcast.

“He’s been through a lot. He’s had his injury, he’s had the bad finish with Philadelphia, and the way forward was about how he went about it.

“He’s going through a process, and where he is at the end of this will determine whether it’s now or whether it’s down the road.”

Goorjian has coached the Boomers on multiple occasions, from 2001 to 2008, before returning for the 2020 Olympics where Australia secured a bronze medal, the nation’s first medal in Olympic men’s basketball.

Goorjian sympathised with Simmons and respected his decision to pull out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to being in a “bad place”.

“Everything that’s happened with Ben and the Boomers during my time of him not participating was, if it were my son, I would’ve advised the same. What he went through ... if it were my son, I wouldn’t have put him in the Boomers and thrown him in there,” Goorjian said.

The coach added he has never questioned Simmons’ commitment to the Boomers.

“He communicated all the way through about his love for the Boomers and wanting to play with these guys, he was one of the first congratulations,” Goorjian said.

“One of the first things that I received in the team when we got to the village was from Ben.

“He had to organise and get himself right, he’s got to get himself healthy. He’s got to get himself playing well, and really, he did the right thing by the Boomers.”

Goorjian believes the basketball world needs to be patient with Simmons as he comes back from injury.

“He’s not Ben Simmons yet, and when he is Ben Simmons, he is a dominant player in the NBA and internationally,” Goorjian said.