Ben Simmons is finally addressing the elephant in the room about his game.
In his exit interview on Thursday after his Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in their second-round series, Simmons acknowledged that he had to be more comfortable shooting the ball. He also said he needed to have less of a “pass-first” mindset, per Jon Johnson of SportsRadio 94WIP.
Simmons said he needs to learn to be more comfortable shooting jumpers, and less 'pass first' mentality.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) May 10, 2018
For the 22-year-old Simmons, his elite combination of size, passing skill, and ability to get to the rim is what makes him a truly transcendent player. But his jumper is quite literally non-existent right now as he failed to hit even a single three-pointer on 12 total attempts this year in the regular season and playoffs (which were all end-of-the-clock heaves).
Simmons’ shooting deficiencies did not hurt him much in Round 1 against the Miami Heat, where he put up 18.2 points and 9.0 assists a game. But against a bigger Celtics team with better rim protection, Simmons struggled to adjust when they sagged way off him and took away his passing options by staying home on Philly’s shooters. That resulted in a much less effective series for the LSU product (14.4 ppg, 6.4 apg) and a five-game loss for the favored Sixers.
Simmons also had a team-worst plus-minus of -64 (!!!) for the series and even found himself getting mocked on the Internet. To avoid a repeat performance next year, working on his jumper would indeed be a good place to start.
