The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the top teams in the East thanks to the star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The two of them are among the top players in the game and they have each been named an All-Star multiple times.
However, while Simmons is a talented player, there are some obvious flaws in his game that get exploited a lot out on the floor on offense. The biggest example was Game 4 against the Washington Wizards when he only scored 13 points while taking only five shots while the team lost Embiid to a knee injury in the first half.
Washington used the Hack-a-Ben strategy and Simmons was not able to make enough free throws to force the Wizards out of that’s he went 5-for-11 from the line. He is also shooting just 25% from the line now in the series and he shot 53.3% from the line after the All-Star break to finish up the regular season and his lack of offense is an issue right now with Embiid day-to-day with the injury.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith hopped on First Take and he claims that Simmons’ lack of a jumper and subpar free-throw shooting will cost the Sixers a championship despite coach Doc Rivers saying that he is not worried about Simmons’ jumper:
As I told Doc Rivers in interviews, and I’ll tell Doc Rivers on these cameras right now, to minimize the importance of that? No we not flowing with that. Ben Simmons is the reason why when Max started off the season and you were talking about Philly, I’m like nah, nah. Ben Simmons, to me, is going to cost the Philadelphia 76ers a title. All because he has no shooting ability. If you’re a guy, you’re the Shaquille O’Neal’s of the world or others, where you were require participation with somebody giving you the basketball, OK, that’s a bit different. When you are the primary ball-handler, when you run the offense, when you’re the point guard, and you are no threat from the perimeter at all, to the point where you don’t even attempt shots from the perimeter, that’s a problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnWrq9uJK4
Simmons will eventually have to contribute more in terms of his scoring, especially with Embiid out for the moment, and he will have another opportunity to do so in Game 5 on Wednesday. The pressure will be on both him and Tobias Harris to give more scoring.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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