The Ben Simmons Megathread

[XDevilBoiX]

What matters most is he should stick with shooting left or right. Can’t be consistent and improve to be a better shooter using left for ft and right for jumpers/floaters. This is all on the coaches for not telling him.

[nurseryc]

Simmons jump shots looked great against the Celtics. Even his form on his free throws looked good.

[LordCovington33]

Simmons jump shots looked great against the Celtics. Even his form on his free throws looked good.

Taking 30 free throws in-game must have made him more comfortable going to the line.

[nurseryc]

Simmons jump shots looked great against the Celtics. Even his form on his free throws looked good.

Taking 30 free throws in-game must have made him more comfortable going to the line.

Yes. It made a massive difference as he then hit 75% of his free throws against the Celtics. Kid has future NBA MVP written all over him

[Zeus LA]

Simmons jump shots looked great against the Celtics. Even his form on his free throws looked good.

Taking 30 free throws in-game must have made him more comfortable going to the line.

Yes. It made a massive difference as he then hit 75% of his free throws against the Celtics. Kid has future NBA MVP written all over him

I see you've parlayed the Bogut hype-train into the Simmons hype-train. First time I've ever seen 3-4 FT jettison a player to MVP status.

[Sasashi]

Simmons' even-keel temperament and collected demeanor remind me of Julio Jones. He's just intrinsically motivated to be one of the greats. Doesn't need the emotional outbursts or anything. Just takes care of business.

It's pretty noticeable that Simmons is all business. Embiid is the personality, the voice but Simmons seems very cold blooded on the court. He has that silent assassin vibe....not outwardly, no friendliness, no contrived relationships with opponents. You can also tell he is super competitive, I've noticed when he gets stripped or blocked, you could see his anger transfer onto the court and gives extra effort the very next play to return the favor.

Very different personality when compared to Embiid, but they work well together.

[76ciology]

Remember that time I said we need to explore the guy being defended by opponents PG as a screener on Simmons?

When we need baskets down the stretch we run these two sets which looks promising.

Read on Twitter

AB switched on Ben. JJ took advantge of his switched defender who is a step late to make his 2 man game with Biid more effective. Actually, I find JJ being a more effective PnR ball handler with Biid.

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Ben should explore running pick play with a smaller player. That would create chaos on opponents D. I also think Ben can be a better roll man , if ever, than Biid.

[JoJoEmbiid]

Am I the only one who wants to see some more lobs? I feel like most of Simmons passes are headed to the three point line when they could go inside for easy buckets inside. Obviously I'll take a JJ three, but I still feel like there are some buckets on the table. I also want to see some more hard drives where he uses his size and speed like LeBron does, and I loved it when he was doing it early because he drew so much attention that they'd typically get the board if he missed.
Obviously happy with Ben, but I see areas that he could tweak that don't involve a jump shot.

*side note- why does Embiids vertical seem so much higher on defense than offense? Feel like he flies on D, but has come up short on some lobs thrown to him.

[MNSixerFan]

Am I the only one who wants to see some more lobs? I feel like most of Simmons passes are headed to the three point line when they could go inside for easy buckets inside. Obviously I'll take a JJ three, but I still feel like there are some buckets on the table. I also want to see some more hard drives where he uses his size and speed like LeBron does, and I loved it when he was doing it early because he drew so much attention that they'd typically get the board if he missed.
Obviously happy with Ben, but I see areas that he could tweak that don't involve a jump shot.

*side note- why does Embiids vertical seem so much higher on defense than offense? Feel like he flies on D, but has come up short on some lobs thrown to him.

I think the hack a Ben game F him up mentally big time. He pretended like didn't, but you can tell now he's not wanting anything to do with shooting free throws he hasn't driven at all the last few games.

[CoreyGallagher]

It's been two games since the Wizards game, two games against the Celtics and Pistons, one of which he didn't have Embiid for.

He drove 24 times in the Celtics game per NBA.com.

[JojoSlimbiid]

My only issue with Ben's play thus far as been picking up the dribble in the middle of the floor way too much. Leads to him passing to guys unprepared and causing turnovers or guys who aren't in a position to have success.

Also the FT shooting.

[sixerswillrule]

It should be becoming clear that we need another ball-handler/scorer and that a team of purely 3&D players around Simmons and Embiid is not the way to go. Simmons is naturally a pass-first player and in games like last night where he's extra passive there's too much responsibility for Embiid on offense. It's possible Simmons one day becomes a dynamic threat in the half-court, but we traded up for Fultz for a reason. Hopefully it'll prove to be the right decision.

[phiphan]

Am I the only one who wants to see some more lobs? I feel like most of Simmons passes are headed to the three point line when they could go inside for easy buckets inside. Obviously I'll take a JJ three, but I still feel like there are some buckets on the table. I also want to see some more hard drives where he uses his size and speed like LeBron does, and I loved it when he was doing it early because he drew so much attention that they'd typically get the board if he missed.
Obviously happy with Ben, but I see areas that he could tweak that don't involve a jump shot.

*side note- why does Embiids vertical seem so much higher on defense than offense? Feel like he flies on D, but has come up short on some lobs thrown to him.

Embiid's feel/timing for lobs is really bad. His general positioning around the rim on dribble penetration is also not good.

[Unbreakable99]

Two Sixers in the top 16 in mvp voting to this paper.

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[Jams60]

Thread has died for a while. What are people’s take on his current form? Ben seems to have hit a bit of an inconsistent patch based on stats and comments I’m reading. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to watch many games lately, reduced to highlights.
Is this a common rookie occurence?
He is playing a lot minutes, is he tired?

[nurseryc]

Thread has died for a while. What are people’s take on his current form? Ben seems to have hit a bit of an inconsistent patch based on stats and comments I’m reading. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to watch many games lately, reduced to highlights.
Is this a common rookie occurence?
He is playing a lot minutes, is he tired?

His incredible play has become the norm and what’s expected. It’s not as exciting to talk about anymore resulting in the thread dying somewhat

[PLO]

link to ESPN story on SImmons

[Kolkmania]

Thread has died for a while. What are people’s take on his current form? Ben seems to have hit a bit of an inconsistent patch based on stats and comments I’m reading. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to watch many games lately, reduced to highlights.
Is this a common rookie occurence?
He is playing a lot minutes, is he tired?

His incredible play has become the norm and what’s expected. It’s not as exciting to talk about anymore resulting in the thread dying somewhat

Yeah it's kind of incredible.

However he's been more inconsistent lately, rotations due to injuries and opponents adjusting their gameplan are big factors. Apart from the Pelicans game he has been relatively quiet at the offensive end since the Wizards Hack-A-Ben game, gets rarely to the line as well.

Last 10 games he's averaging 38/39 minutes per game, that's way too much imo.

[Simmons25]

link to ESPN story on SImmons

Very cool and not surprised at all that Simmons was elite at Aussie Rules. I've said before the athleticism and ball handling/hand eye co-ordination skills between Australian Rules Football and Basketball are very similar. Quite a few elite basketballers in Australia growing up ended up playing in the AFL instead and a few US college players came over to play AFL. Ben chose basketball because obviously his roots but sounds like he easily could have been an elite footballer.

If it wasn't for Australian Rules Football being such a massive sport in Australia (Not rugby... rugby is nothing like it and unathletic by comparison) the Australian national basketball team would probably be a clear #2 in the world behind the US. It's unfortunate in a way that all the most athletic 6ft 4" to 6ft 10" aussie kids end up playing AFL and not basketball.

Nic Naitanui is a good example... good basketballer and reminds me of Embiid. Took up the game late (being from Fiji) and is a cult hero. Plays the AFL equivalent position to Center... is one of the tallest players yet has the biggest leap and is the quickest at the club. Would have made an awesome basketballer.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[cksdayoff]

link to ESPN story on SImmons

good read. technique and natural instincts are everything