Is Ben Simmons simply not talented enough to warrant the hype he's received?

[Lockdown504090]

He was averaging 16/8/8 with almost 2 steals and a block (while dealing with a revolving door of teammates) for three years, asking if he wasn't talented is kinda silly.

His inability to shoot free throws and therefore end of game benching just destroyed his confidence.

playing with a guy who doesnt compliment his game at all id add. if he was playing with brook lopez or al horford during those years hed probably be considered a boarderline superstar.

[PennSports]

Nate McMillan is a basketball terrorist for sending this guy to the line to miss 40 free throws in a single series lol

completely broke him. People talk about passing up the dunk but Nate sent him to the shadow realm

[DaddyCool19]

If he was atleast capable of shooting around 65% from the free throw line and attack the rim like a madman, which should be possible with his athleticism and skill, there wouldn't be that much room for criticism.

[PennSports]

He was averaging 16/8/8 with almost 2 steals and a block (while dealing with a revolving door of teammates) for three years, asking if he wasn't talented is kinda silly.

His inability to shoot free throws and therefore end of game benching just destroyed his confidence.

playing with a guy who doesnt compliment his game at all id add. if he was playing with brook lopez or al horford during those years hed probably be considered a boarderline superstar.

If you see a glut of exclusive stretch 5's with elite rim protection then 28 teams would like to know your location. If you can't fit with Embiid who can you fit with? A 3 level scorer/elite rim protector who can be his own offensive system because you are too cowardly to shoot. Sounds like a good fit for Ben, not so much for the Sixers. Its not even that he didnt fit on the sixers, he doesnt fit with anyone. He is surrounded by 3 and D guys right now and is sitting his ass on the bench because his coach cant handle his passivity. He also literally played with one of your examples in Al Horford

[BrianFitz]

He definitely doesn't warrant having a general board thread made about him today that's for sure.

If Muscala can get a thread so can Simmons.

Sure thing buddy ... because Muscala gets daily threads correct?

[BrianFitz]

He's not supposed to be good this year, he's had back and knee problems, plus he's restricted by playing with 2 superstars.... including ball-dominant Kyrie.

Lmao you just have a laundry list of excuses for Simmons. Haven't you been telling us that he's been playing great this year, but now he's not?

Ben10Simmons no longer has the excuse that since he's playing with Durant and Irving, Simmons isn't needed to score the basketball at all anymore. The rest of the season for the nets, Simmons, and Ben10Simmons should be interesting in that respect.

It won't be interesting at all. He will flat out lie in order to derail any rational take against Simmons. There is no reason to ever interact with this absolute troll. If ever he can't defend a particular problem with Simmons he just says "he's not SUPPOSED to be able to do that because ..." and then just insert whatever insanity might fit next.

[tcheco]

He has the talent, he just doesn't have any heart at all.
He will get easy assists and rebounds, but when it matters, he will be too scared to step it up.
At his prime, he was an ELITE role player

[kuclas]

Nate McMillan is a basketball terrorist for sending this guy to the line to miss 40 free throws in a single series lol

completely broke him. People talk about passing up the dunk but Nate sent him to the shadow realm

Simmons was sent to the line like 29 times during his rookie season (24 times in the 4th quarter) as wizards almost rallied from the big deficits vs sixers.

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2746900-ben-simmons-heads-sets-rookie-record-for-single-game-free-throw-attempts.amp.html

It’s not new. The hack a Ben. What makes it so effective is the sixers had no other true creator on offense to bring up the ball. The hack a Shaq while effective never cost the lakers cause they still had Kobe and fisher to run the point. Sixers didn’t have anyone to bring the ball up (well maxey was rookie but was under utilized cause doc didn’t trust young players). Sixers actually won game 6 with Simmons on the bench a lot due to foul problems.

[cam24thomas]

^ And Sixers won Game 6 of the 2019 Playoffs vs. Toronto because Ben scored 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and was +4.
And in Game 7 Ben had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and was +2.

[PennSports]

Nate McMillan is a basketball terrorist for sending this guy to the line to miss 40 free throws in a single series lol

completely broke him. People talk about passing up the dunk but Nate sent him to the shadow realm

Simmons was sent to the line like 29 times during his rookie season (24 times in the 4th quarter) as wizards almost rallied from the big deficits vs sixers.

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2746900-ben-simmons-heads-sets-rookie-record-for-single-game-free-throw-attempts.amp.html

It’s not new. The hack a Ben. What makes it so effective is the sixers had no other true creator on offense to bring up the ball. The hack a Shaq while effective never cost the lakers cause they still had Kobe and fisher to run the point. Sixers didn’t have anyone to bring the ball up (well maxey was rookie but was under utilized cause doc didn’t trust young players). Sixers actually won game 6 with Simmons on the bench a lot due to foul problems.

Yea but they ended up winning that game, and the series before where the wizards also tried hack a ben. Losing in such humiliating fashion (32% on almost 100 attempts that postseason) must feel a lot different. It is such a ridiculous outlier and so far below the bar of what is considered acceptable. Combined with his lackluster performance where all his numbers dropped again in the 2nd round i think it just broke him.

Fun side note about the game in the regular season vs the Wizards... Adam Silver was at that game and had an interview before half time where he bragged about fixing the Hack a Shaq rules. Ben would then go on to take 24 free throws in that same game in just the 4th quarter alone.

[MavfanAus]

He's not supposed to be good this year, he's had back and knee problems, plus he's restricted by playing with 2 superstars.... including ball-dominant Kyrie.

Lmao you just have a laundry list of excuses for Simmons. Haven't you been telling us that he's been playing great this year, but now he's not?

Ben10Simmons no longer has the excuse that since he's playing with Durant and Irving, Simmons isn't needed to score the basketball at all anymore.

Its now Jacque Vaughn's fault apparently

[Time for Change]

Ben has talent, although he hasn’t been positive enough on the court to warrant the accolades like all-nba and all-star appearances. The hype comes from the fact that he averaged 16/8/8 as a rookie, and with a normal player who will continue to improve and add to his game for several years he projected to be a monster in his prime. The problem was he never had the desire or intention to get better.

I do wonder if the early hype and accolades ruined him. He’s got no internal motivation, so external motivations like awards and contract money are important, but he already had those without needing to work on his game.

New question, is Simmons a Hall of Famer? The dude is a 10-15 minute bench player and gets almost as many threads as LeBron. He’s probably going to impact the next CBA too.

[ropjhk]

He was obviously talented at non shooting basketball skills but he was also overrated as a player. His inability to shoot the ball and his day 1 attitude were enough for me and many others to realize that he was never going to be one of the best players in the league.

[TinmanZBoy]

Free throw shooting is a mental thing too… the dude is just a big baby, can’t be counted on

[Tacoma]

Basically...

Positives:

• Good defense, rebounding and passing

Negatives:

• Can't or afraid to shoot (incl. free throws)
• No heart/passion
• Questionable work ethic / doesn't care
• Mental block / lost confidence
• Hasn't improved or regressed since rookie season
• Sensitive to criticism / doesn't respond to coaching
• Difficult to build a team around him to cover his holes/weaknesses

All the comments have revolved around one or more of these points. At this point, we're just beating a dead horse.

The positive hype he had at the beginning has now become negative hype. And it was/is warranted.

[Pharmcat]

He’s just a guy now

[jmo21]

Look at this quote from Jacque Vaughn from last nights game:

"It's going to be some work that we have to do," Vaughn said. "Because you just take a look at what the lineups could potentially look like. You put another big next to Ben, then you got to figure out what the spacing is around him. Then if you put another playmaker next to him, then you got to figure out what Ben looks like without the basketball. Then if you go small with Ben, then you have to figure out can you rebound enough with him?"

The quote is right tho, the sixers could not play Ben with Howard nor Horford. JV started staggering minutes for Ben and Claxton at the beginning of the season and as soon as Claxton started to emerge Ben saw his minutes reduced.

100% man, JV has filleted Ben good and proper there.

[lonzo_pelota]

If only he had some morsel of confidence/aggression to dunk on Trae Young that one time....

[ReddoverKobe]

Mr triple single might be the most talented player in the league. I mean did you see his stat line against the knicks?

13 mins, 3 pts, 3 rebounds and 2 ast. Now think if he played 40 mins, that's like 9 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assist! No player can do that. Case closed.

[Harry Garris]

He was averaging 16/8/8 with almost 2 steals and a block (while dealing with a revolving door of teammates) for three years, asking if he wasn't talented is kinda silly.

His inability to shoot free throws and therefore end of game benching just destroyed his confidence.

And he was doing that with no jump shot and as a terrible FT shooter. That’s wildly impressive. Especially because being able to shoot isn’t a function of talent, Ben could have taken that incredible foundation he already had, added a jump shot, and become one of the best players in the NBA.

That’s not how it played out but you have to admit that was a possible outcome of his career.