The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the more talented teams in the league led by two bright stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. They are also led by a new coach in Doc Rivers who plans on getting the most out of the young duo.
For Simmons, everybody wants him to be more aggressive on offense. He is already a top 15 player in this game, but he has the tools and the skill to go even higher on that list if he just showed off more of his game on the offensive end of the floor.
Veteran Danny Green has officially been in Philadelphia for less than a full month, but he is a guy with three championship rings. He stated before the season started that he wants to push Simmons to shoot the ball more and he still wants to do that with his new teammate.
“I just think he has to be more assertive at certain times,” Green said at Tuesday’s morning’s shootaround. “Be more patient, but at the same time, trusting his abilities. Not just things he’s good at doing, but things that we know that he’s not used to doing and that’s shooting the jumper.”
Obviously, Simmons’ strengths are attacking the basket. That is something that Rivers has been preaching since he took the job. He wants the 6-foot-10 talent to just attack downhill and the jumper will come.
On the flip side, everybody has seen the videos of him working on his jumper. Everybody has seen the form and how many 3s he drills in practice and in pregame warm-ups. Green just wants Simmons to pull that out a bit more in-game action.
“I think he can shoot it pretty well,” Green added of Simmons. “I’ve been trying to get him to shoot it a little more here and there, but that’s a process in itself. Hopefully, we can learn the offense first and we’ll figure out his comfortability within the offense and expand his game a little more.”
Another thing to consider is that Simmons is not exactly a point guard in the truest sense of the position. The man is 6-foot-10 and he’s a freight train going to the basket. He is a guy who will attack the basket and he just so happens to be a terrific playmaker.
The hope is that once he fully understands his position and he will get into his spots, then everything else will come naturally.
“I think now it’s just him grasping and understanding a system and forming into, which he’s not naturally, a point guard,” Green added. “He’s a great playmaker as Doc would say and he’s good at making plays, but he’s still learning how to put sets together, put people in places, which is going to be different for him. Especially with the new system.”
The Sixers will continue this process on Tuesday when they host the Toronto Raptors at home.
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