The Philadelphia 76ers have been eliminated from the playoffs in Round 2 for the third time in four seasons and the player bearing the brunt of the criticism right now is All-Star guard Ben Simmons.
Simmons had himself a tough postseason run. He only averaged 11.9 points and he shot 34.2% from the free-throw line as the starting point guard on this team. Due to his lack of success at the line, it seemed that it affected his aggressiveness as he did not want to get fouled and go to the line.
In Round 2 against the Atlanta Hawks, Simmons averaged 9.9 points and he shot 33.3% from the line. He also took only 6.4 shots per game which is unheard of for an All-Star player with his size and skill.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith then reported something that seemed a little troubling. Smith received a text message from somebody close to the Simmons situation and he reported this:
I just received a text from somebody very, very close to the situation in Philadelphia, about Ben Simmons. This is a quote, this is not me, this is them. Quote, he doesn’t work, he doesn’t listen, and everyone around him is family, and he’s constantly babied.
I received this text about Ben Simmons from somebody very close to the situation… pic.twitter.com/OVB2rF7aKw
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 22, 2021
The Sixers clearly have to fix this problem and get the most out of Simmons on the offensive end. Coach Doc Rivers says that he has a plan for him this summer and he expressed his belief in his star guard while team president Daryl Morey then backed that up on Tuesday. Time will tell if their work will improve anything when the 2021-22 season begins in October.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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