Before the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics did battle on Saturday night, a familiar topic was brought up surrounding the Sixers.
That topic, of course, was Ben Simmons’ jump shot. Yes, the one aspect of his game that has dogged him throughout his first three years in the league that has people suggesting he should not be playing point guard, to begin with.
However, Simmons is an All-Star player for the second season in a row and he has earned the respect of his peers. One of them being Celtics coach Brad Stevens who does not care for Simmons’ lack of a jumper.
“I don’t really think it matters,” he said pregame. “There are enough guys who can shoot the ball. He can find them. He’s a two-time All-Star, already, at age whatever. He’s pretty damn good.”
The Sixers have begun to make changes to their offense which includes having Simmons as a roller rather than a distributor, but that doesn’t change the fact that he does so many things well when he does have the basketball in his hands. He can score on his own, he can set up others, and he has begun to get to the foul line more often. There is more to basketball than just shooting jumpers.
“While everyone focuses on his shooting, he does almost everything else at the most elite level,” Stevens continued. “He’s great at understanding what he does best. Somebody’s not guarding him, he goes into a hard drive and a spin and you can’t stop him, because he gets a head of steam or he goes into a handoff for a shooter and you’re not there to help because you’re back. He’s managed the one thing everybody talks about and makes his team better and that’s why he’s so good.”
Simmons then put on a solid performance against the Celtics scoring 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting and he had nine rebounds and five assists as well. He does so many different things well on the floor and it makes him one of the more dangerous players in the league. He also has come into his own on the defensive end as he has become elite on that end of the floor.
“He’s a good defender, great at understanding the game, and he puts a lot of heat on you both as a screener and a roller and a driver,” Stevens added. “He can catch and pass or he can catch and finish.”
At the end of the day, when the playoffs roll around, everybody knows that Simmons is going to need to have some type of a jump shot to keep defenses honest. It would allow Joel Embiid to operate on the low block and allow him to do what he does best which is dominate down low and draw fouls.
According to coach Brett Brown, the key is to allow Simmons to work on the jumper on his own terms and allow him to do it freely.
“We get the maniacal exposure, it’s head-scratching to me at times that this topic receives,” explained Brown. “I think that on his terms, he will find his place. He’s taking the space and what he has done with it is he has scored out of it. He’s been shot out of a cannon, playing downhill, and just chewing up vacancy. There will be a time, when that happens will be on a lot of people’s minds, but I think it will be done on his terms. I try to coach him and place him properly and we hope to see it.”
Philadelphia will need Simmons to continue to take the steps forward on the offensive end and it will allow them to make a move up in the standings. They are currently the 6 seed in the Eastern Conference after the loss to the Celtics and they will have a chance to gain some ground against the Miami Heat on Monday. [lawrence-related id=24754,24736,24737]