Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons has received a lot of criticism for not shooting the ball in a league so predicated on shooting, but he is like the queen on the chessboard in terms of how many things he can do on the basketball court.
However, due to his lack of shooting, does that make him less of a young talent that teams would want to build around?
In a survey of 15 talent evaluators performed by HoopsHype, Simmons was tied for 9th in the voting with Brandon Ingram of young talents to build around.
The deal on Simmons:
Simmons led the league in steals (2.1) while earning 1st Team All-Defensive and 3rd Team All-NBA honors.
“Simmons is 6-foot-10, has the second-best vision of the list, maybe best,” one executive told HoopsHype. “He’s fast as s— with the ball.”
Coming into the league, some compared Simmons to Magic Johnson, which was deemed “f—— blasphemous,” by one Eastern Conference executive. Through his first three seasons, Simmons has averaged 16-8-8. Not too shabby for a player who is still working on developing a consistent mid-range and 3-point jumper.
Simmons is a supreme talent and at only 24-years old, he has accomplished a lot in his NBA career. He has been named to the All-Star game twice and he recently was named to the All-NBA Third Team while being named to the All-Defensive First Team for the 2019-20 season. However, the lack of a jump shot appears to be hurting his stock and has him behind talents such as Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, and Jamal Murray. [lawrence-related id=37817,37811,37812]