The Philadelphia 76ers have two of the top young stars in the NBA in the form of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The two of them are top 15 players and are so talented, but yet they get criticized on a daily basis.
Embiid continues to hear criticisms about his weight and about whether he takes the game seriously despite averaging 23.4 points and 11.8 rebounds. Simmons continues to be dogged with questions about his jump shot despite constantly stuffing the box score night in and night out.
Former 76ers guard T.J. McConnell–now with the Indiana Pacers–joined Sixers Wire on The Bell Ringer Podcast to discuss the criticisms the two young stars receive.
“I look at it as when you’re a great talent, a great player, like those two are, you’re going to face criticism,” said McConnell. “People are going to nitpick your game, no matter what it is. Do I think it’s fair? Absolutely not.”
Fans and analysts alike like to tear down Simmons simply for not taking a jump shot. It is an important aspect of the game, especially in today’s era, but he does everything else so well that maybe the jump shot concerns are maybe overblown.
“Ben gets triple-doubles like easily. He’s an All-Star. One of the best point guards in the league,” McConnell continued. “He’s got to just kind of block out the noise and keep doing what he’s doing. I think it’s unfair. He’s a great player.”
McConnell did add that Simmons constantly works on the jump shot and the criticisms are a bit nitpicky:
He does everything at such an elite level and that’s what happens. People are going to nitpick the one thing that you struggle with and he works and works and works and that’s all you can really ask for. He is elite at just about everything else. He runs a team, gets people involved, he can defend, and there’s no such thing as a perfect player. He’s been great up to this point and he’s continuing to work. That’s all you can really ask for.
As far as Embiid is concerned, people want to tear him down and try to discredit what he can do on the basketball court, but McConnell shot that down as well.
“With Joel, I think he is the most dominant big in our game today and from inside and out,” he finished with. “Like I said, do I think the criticisms are fair? No, but it comes with the territory of being a great player.”
McConnell is not wrong in that sense. The great players do get criticized on a regular basis much more than the average player and that is something that the two of them will hear for the majority of their careers. As long as they continue to work hard and develop, then they should eventually bring a championship to Philadelphia. [lawrence-related id=31398,31389,31376]