Either Ben Simmons is returning to form or the Utah Jazz's perimeter defense is worse than we thought

The Utah Jazz are either next-level bad on defense, or Ben Simmons is returning to his former glory. Either way, that's not good for the Jazz. We wrote earlier that should the Nets ever get to a point where they bought out Simmons, the Utah Jazz should sign him. That got a little pushback, but clearly whoever didn't like the idea didn't see what Simmons did to the Jazz on Monday.

Keep in mind, that everything you're about to read came in just 18 minutes. Simmons shot 5-5 for 10 points, he pulled down eight rebounds, and had 11 assists. Again, he didn't even play 20 minutes of action last night. Yet, he nearly pulled in a triple-double and would've if he had hit the 20-minute mark. The Jazz's defense hasn't been good this year, but they haven't been that bad. Right?

Simmons is not a scorer and if your view on basketball simply surrounds someone's ability to shoot, then you're going to be coming up short. Basketball is so much more than just being able to score, which no one is claiming Simmons can do on a frequent basis. He struggles at that, we know that. But could you imagine having a forward come off the bench and put up 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists every night?

Plus, have someone good enough to play lockdown defense? Yes, if Simmons is your primary scorer, you're going to struggle. The Philadelphia 76ers had him as their second shooting option behind Joel Embiid, and he couldn't be that player. Yet, the Jazz wouldn't need him to be one of the five or even six best shooters on the team, allowing him to be able to do other things off the ball, like defense.

He proved what his value can be among an NBA team. The only thing holding him back from being the most in-demand trade target this winter is his nearly $40 million contract this and next year.