Ben Simmons was the runner-up for defensive player of the year, is a multiple time all-star and a former All-NBA player. However, after an embarrassing showing in the playoffs, and another disappointing exit for the #1 seed Philadelphia 76ers against the Atlanta Hawks, many people are left wondering how effective Simmons could really be on a championship contender, and what his value could be in a trade.
To nobody’s surprise, the topic of today is shooting. Simmons’ shot has been inexistant since as long as people can remember, and in today’s league it’s a problem that gets magnified that much more. Proof of that is the fact that Simmons is a tremendous player in every area but shooting, yet he has become basically unplayable late in games.
The reason for that hasn’t been the lack of a 3-point shot, but rather the lack of even a semi-respectable free throw shot. He shot 25-for-73 from the stripe in the playoffs, a 34.2% clip. For reference, the league average from 3-point land is 36.7%. There is no excuse for being less efficient from the free-throw line than the league is from deep. There just isn’t.
It’s pretty weird too. Simmons went from shooting 41/58 (70.7%) from the line in his first playoffs, to 23/40 (57.5%) 2 seasons ago to the current 34.2%, which is the worst percentage in a single offseason. To really grasp how bad this is: Steve Nash (46) and Damian Lillard (47) have missed less free throws in their entire playoff career (both over 400 attempts) than Simmons missed these playoffs (48).
The terrible free throw shooting would be one thing if it only meant that Simmons can’t hit free throws. But it means more than that. The passiveness Simmons shows in the 4thquarter, because of the fear of getting fouled, means Simmons is worth no more on the offensive end than the average Joe in late-game situations. He doesn’t space the floor whatsoever and he plays hot potato with the ball in fear of going to the line.
It makes the game that much more difficult for Joel Embiid, who understandably voiced his frustration in a not so subliminal way, after Ben Simmons, standing at 6’10, passed up a wide-open dunk under the rim when 6’1 Trae Young was coming from the other side to foul. This was late in game 7. There was no way Young would’ve gotten to Simmons before he went up, and if Simmons went strong, there was nothing Trae could do to stop the ball from going in.
But that’s the thing with Simmons. When playing for all the marbles, he doesn’t go strong. He isn’t aggressive. He hides and tries to make an impact with his defense. What might be even more disappointing, is his reaction after the game. When asked about why he isn’t the same player in the postseason as he is in the regular season, he answered “How many assists did I have?” (13) and “What did Trae shoot?” (5/23), implying that he wasn’t all that bad.
Granted, they’re good numbers, but nobody cares about FG% in a game 7 or how many times you handed the ball off to your big man going to work. It’s about emptying the clip, giving it all and being fearless, and Simmons just wasn’t that. He attempted 3 4th quarter field goals in the entire series, none in games 4-7. He shot the ball 4 times in game 7. His field goal attempts went from 10 in the regular season to not even 7 in the Hawks series. For someone who has such a huge size advantage at the 1 and who has 4 floor spacers around him, it’s simply inexcusable, seeing as though he’s on a max contract.
Immediately after the series, a lot of people, including his head coach Glenn Rivers, had strong takes about Simmons. Rivers said that he doesn’t know whether Simmons can be the point guard on a contender. Media members were piling on, and of course social media ate it all up and didn’t pass up on the chance to make memes. Now, maybe some of it was an overreaction, but it showed that people won’t trust Ben Simmons anymore until proven otherwise.
Maybe he needs a change of scenery to start proving the doubters wrong. Maybe he needs to switch shooting hands (Simmons is ambidextrous). Maybe he needs to let go of his brother as a shooting coach and get Phil Beckner, shooting coach of Damian Lillard, Mikal Bridges and Anfernee Simons to name a few. One thing is certain: Change is needed, because the player he is now is the same player he was 4 years ago, with more experience and intelligence. As far as the improvement of his raw game, nothing has changed.
So, the question then becomes, how much of a risk would teams be willing to take in a trade? Simmons is a very good player and a liability at the same time. He wouldn’t be that liability, even despite a non-existent 3-pt shot, if his free throw shot just becomes halfway decent. It would allow him to have the ball in his hands more to make plays late on and it would allow him to exploit mismatches and be aggressive.
For Philly, it should be a no-brainer to move Ben Simmons for a shot-creating guard. The Blazers are the current betting favorites to get Simmons, because of their own struggles with C.J. McCollum and the defense. Another team that would be interesting to watch is the Wolves, who have the best floor spacing 5 in Karl-Anthony Towns and can move D’Angelo Russell to the Sixers in return.
Now, these trades probably wouldn’t be straight up. Simmons has more potential and is way younger than McCollum, while Russell has had a few problems staying healthy and has kind of become a forgotten player in Minnesota, due to the fact that the Wolves-core was barely ever healthy at the same time. Some pick might be needed, but if the Sixers really don’t believe in Simmons anymore, they might just settle.
The question marks around Simmons are there, for good reason, and the only way that he’ll make them go away is if he puts in countless hours of work this offseason. He won’t be babied by the organization anymore, he won’t get free passes, the fans aren’t going to buy in to the hype… Everyone needs to see the results, and the only person that can make sure of that is Ben Simmons.
Courtside 