{"id":847239,"date":"2026-09-30T05:13:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/847239\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T05:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:13:56","slug":"western-notes-simmons-zion-morant-grizzlies-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/847239\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Notes: Simmons, Zion, Morant, Grizzlies, Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking on Monday to local reporters at the Kings\u2019 media day, Ben Simmons<\/a> said the decision to sit out last season and let his surgically repaired back fully heal was the best one he could\u2019ve made for his career, adding that there\u2019s a \u201cnight and day\u201d difference in his mental health since the last time he was on an NBA roster, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t touch a ball for the whole year,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI didn\u2019t watch basketball. I just focused on getting my body right and my mind right. I knew at the time when I was ready to go, it would click, and that\u2019s what happened. I missed playing the game a lot, but it\u2019s hard to do when you\u2019re not physically right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons, who also missed his rookie season in 2016\/17 due to a foot injury and the entire 2021\/22 campaign due to a holdout and back problems, made it clear that his most recent hiatus from basketball was about getting his body right. He aggressively pushed back against the perception that he isn\u2019t passionate about the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t about if I wanted to play,\u201d he said. \u201cAll these people talk about I don\u2019t love the game. That\u2019s bulls\u2013t. I love this game. If I didn\u2019t, I wouldn\u2019t have taken that year to focus on myself and get back to where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons\u2019 minimum-salary deal with the Kings is non-guaranteed, but the three-time All-Star has high expectations for himself this season, telling reporters that he feels like his old self and that his goal is to \u201cdominate\u201d whenever he\u2019s on the floor (Twitter video link<\/a> via James Ham of The Kings Beat).<\/p>\n

Here are a few more items of interest from around the Western Conference:<\/p>\n

Former No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson<\/a> has made a pair of All-Star teams since entering the NBA in 2019, but the Pelicans haven\u2019t won a playoff series during that time and have finished below .500 in five of his seven years in the league. The forward admitted at media day on Monday that his career hasn\u2019t played out like he hoped so far. \u201cI\u2019m not where I want to be,\u201d Williamson said, per Brett Martel of The Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not where I need to be.\u201d He\u2019s hoping to begin to change that in 2026\/27. Head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said Williamson is in \u201cimpeccable\u201d condition<\/a>, while new head coach Jamahl Mosley said the 26-year-old has been receptive to ideas about how to expand his game, according to Martel. \u201cThe challenge for him that we want to put on his plate is, how do you make your teammates better?\u201d Mosley said. \u201cCan you continue to expand your game more to where it\u2019s not just being predictable to what you\u2019re going to do night in and night out?\u201d
\nJa Morant<\/a>\u2019s fit in Portland is one of the biggest questions that will determine how the Trail Blazers\u2019 season plays out, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian<\/a> (subscription required) writes in his recap of Monday\u2019s media day. For what it\u2019s worth, Morant indicated he\u2019d be open to a reserve role if that\u2019s what head coach Micah Nori decides (Twitter video link<\/a> via SportsCenter). \u201cI think winning is the most important thing for me, so whatever role I have to play to get that done,\u201d Morant said on Monday. \u201c\u2026 If I\u2019m starting, if I\u2019m not, it\u2019s the same thing. \u2026 I have no problem with either.\u201d
\nThe Grizzlies have hired Julius Thomas as an assistant coach, writes Jonah Dylan of The Memphis Commercial Appeal<\/a>. Thomas, 29, previously worked under Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo overseas with Telekom Baskets Bonn in Germany and Paris Basketball in France and finished last season as Paris Basketball\u2019s interim head coach. \u201cHe will work mostly on the offensive side as kind of my right-hand man,\u201d Iisalo said. \u201cHe has extensive knowledge of that system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking on Monday to local reporters at the Kings\u2019 media day, Ben Simmons said the decision to sit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,2643,294,178,6321,293,177,4070,6,814],"class_list":["post-847239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-memphis-grizzlies","tag-basketball","tag-ben-simmons","tag-grizzlies","tag-ja-morant","tag-julius-thomas","tag-memphis","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-memphisgrizzlies","tag-nba","tag-zion-williamson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117358288145026279","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}