The Ben Simmons Megathread

[Negrodamus]

Compared to what Ben was doing in SL and at LSU, 21% layups with his left hand is extremely promising. He's not going out of his way to shoot with his right hand on left handed layups as much. Makes him very dangerous as he gets better with that hand.

[Unbreakable99]

OConnors continuing focus on this dumb hand thing rather than that he's having one of the best starts to a career ever is borderline trolling at this point. He's shooting 50+% from the field, who cares if he would be nominally better if he started shooting right handed 13 years ago?

I actually like that he’s tracking it and I do think it’s important Ben can shoot with his left hand up close.

Why am I not surprised that you are on board with someone obsessing about a minor issue?

I think it's important for every player in the NBA to shoot with both hands up close? Simmons is making 2/3 of his shots within 3 feet. His finishing isn't an issue. It's a very weird nit for a national writer to pick on a 21 year old that's playing at close to an all star level 9 games into his career, or it would be weird if you ignore that (a) he's a Celtics fan and (b) hes severely underrated Simmons for the last two years and had Ingram mocked #1 in that draft. Now that he's clearly looking wrong in that regard, rather than taking the L he's holding onto his hand thing

It’s not minor when he drives left and shoots with his right hand instead of his left. O’Connor has nothing but praise for him through. I think you’re reaching. Simmons does need to be able to shoot with his left to make himself even better imo.

[Ericb5]

Compared to what Ben was doing in SL and at LSU, 21% layups with his left hand is extremely promising. He's not going out of his way to shoot with his right hand on left handed layups as much. Makes him very dangerous as he gets better with that hand.

I have noticed that as well and it surprises me that I haven’t seen him do those awkward cross body wrong hand attempts that he was doing so much of before.


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[Unbreakable99]

This is a very good read.

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"He said he felt the game in the NBA was easier for him to control than in college, because he has the ball in his hands at the point of attack," Patrick told B/R. "Part of that is the talent around him. Part of that is the load he had to carry at LSU."

"I feel more comfortable bringing the ball up," he told B/R over the summer. "I feel limited if you put me at the 4 position"—which happened often at LSU—"I don't feel I can help as much."

"I think I learned a lot more than I would have if I were playing," Simmons said. "It just gave me an opportunity to sit back and learn the game—things like the way the game's run, taking shots with a certain amount of time on the clock, all from sitting there and watching film every day, getting in a routine—just things I need to make sure I stay on top of."

"It's like, I'll come down and sit on the bench after the first half, and I look up [at the scoreboard] and see that I have four points and think, What could I have done better? Could I have been more aggressive?" he said. "But at same time, I'm not trying to be the guy who takes shots just to take them. I'm trying to make sure I get the best shot."

Does Simmons see any similarities between Magic and himself?

"I modeled my game after him" Simmons said. "A big guy who can play the point—only I'm bigger and faster."

[Sixerscan]

I actually like that he’s tracking it and I do think it’s important Ben can shoot with his left hand up close.

Why am I not surprised that you are on board with someone obsessing about a minor issue?

I think it's important for every player in the NBA to shoot with both hands up close? Simmons is making 2/3 of his shots within 3 feet. His finishing isn't an issue. It's a very weird nit for a national writer to pick on a 21 year old that's playing at close to an all star level 9 games into his career, or it would be weird if you ignore that (a) he's a Celtics fan and (b) hes severely underrated Simmons for the last two years and had Ingram mocked #1 in that draft. Now that he's clearly looking wrong in that regard, rather than taking the L he's holding onto his hand thing

It’s not minor when he drives left and shoots with his right hand instead of his left. O’Connor has nothing but praise for him through. I think you’re reaching. Simmons does need to be able to shoot with his left to make himself even better imo.

It's minor because he's not actually struggling at the rim on the whole and maybe like 25% of the NBA uses both hands properly. Lebron was still using his right on what should be lefty layups in the beginning of his Heat days. Watch old clips of magic Johnson he dribbles the ball with his left hand like 10 times a game.

Simmons is a highly skilled fundamentally sound player for his age. I could go down every young player in the NBA and point out things they don't do fundamentally perfectly. It's just really unclear to me how you have a 21 year old who is one of the main focuses of defenses every night shooting 50% with either hand and his conclusion is that is some sort of major issue that needs to be constantly pointed out (beyond being a troll)

[HotelVitale]

OConnors continuing focus on this dumb hand thing rather than that he's having one of the best starts to a career ever is borderline trolling at this point. He's shooting 50+% from the field, who cares if he would be nominally better if he started shooting right handed 13 years ago?

Hmm, why is that trolling? It's an interesting thing lots of people were talking about before and it's extra interesting now since Simmons has had such a huge and effective year. Weird phenomenon, I'm sure lots of people who are just paying attention to Ben now will be struck by it and want to know more. That's what good blog-y journalism does.

I bet that OConnor has written and spoken about this hand thing more than every other writer combined. He's carved out a niche as the "Ben Simmons wrong hand" guy.

Eh, I don't are about this but it seems like his coverage of the topic is pretty neutral and you're just annoyed that he keeps bringing it up. That's not trolling, not even vaguely negative. Just following a storyline. (Also if you think it's not pretty weird that Ben shoots lefty but goes to great lengths not to shoot lay-ups lefty, I don't know what to tell you except, yeah, it's really unusual.)

[Sixerscan]

Hmm, why is that trolling? It's an interesting thing lots of people were talking about before and it's extra interesting now since Simmons has had such a huge and effective year. Weird phenomenon, I'm sure lots of people who are just paying attention to Ben now will be struck by it and want to know more. That's what good blog-y journalism does.

I bet that OConnor has written and spoken about this hand thing more than every other writer combined. He's carved out a niche as the "Ben Simmons wrong hand" guy.

Eh, I don't are about this but it seems like his coverage of the topic is pretty neutral and you're just annoyed that he keeps bringing it up. That's not trolling, not even vaguely negative. Just following a storyline. (Also if you think it's not pretty weird that Ben shoots lefty but goes to great lengths not to shoot lay-ups lefty, I don't know what to tell you except, yeah, it's really unusual.)

With this Halladay news I am so not in the mood to argue this let's just agree to disagree.

[Unbreakable99]

What do you do when your shot isn’t falling? What do you do when you’re on your way to shooting 7-22? What do you do when on the offensive side of the ball things just aren’t going right? These are things I love to know about players. HOW DO YOU HELP THE TEAM WHEN YOU ARE NOT SCORING!? Well Ben just turned in his best defensive peformance of the season. There are two sides of the ball and I was VERY pleased with seeing Ben engaged on the defensive end and making plays like this.

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[CoreyGallagher]

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Just compare these guys as PG's and it can kind of put into perspective how good Ben has been.

[Ericb5]

What do you do when your shot isn’t falling? What do you do when you’re on your way to shooting 7-22? What do you do when on the offensive side of the ball things just aren’t going right? These are things I love to know about players. HOW DO YOU HELP THE TEAM WHEN YOU ARE NOT SCORING!? Well Ben just turned in his best defensive peformance of the season. There are two sides of the ball and I was VERY pleased with seeing Ben engaged on the defensive end and making plays like this.

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That is an awesome example of the advantage of a guy with his foot speed compared to someone like Dario who are both the same size.

[akhan786]

Drive-by Celtics fan just want to gush about Simmons. He's blue-chipper for sure. Franchise blue-chipper.

Please get him a jumpshot (I have hope given his form) and keep your kids healthy so that the playoffs will be fun for the next decade.

[nurseryc]

Simmons has shot 100% from the free throw line in his last two games making 6/6

[Jams60]

[quoteWhat do you do when your shot isn’t falling? What do you do when you’re on your way to shooting 7-22? What do you do when on the offensive side of the ball things just aren’t going right? These are things I love to know about players. HOW DO YOU HELP THE TEAM WHEN YOU ARE NOT SCORING!? ][/quote]

100% agree with these sentiments. Thought I had posted similar thoughts but can’t find them, perhaps it was lost in drafts.
Look back at his 10 games, and generally the worse his scoring is, the more rebounds he makes and the more blocks and steals he has. As you said, he puts in an extra effort to contribute his share.

[Ericb5]

What do you do when your shot isn’t falling? What do you do when you’re on your way to shooting 7-22? What do you do when on the offensive side of the ball things just aren’t going right? These are things I love to know about players. HOW DO YOU HELP THE TEAM WHEN YOU ARE NOT SCORING!? Well Ben just turned in his best defensive peformance of the season. There are two sides of the ball and I was VERY pleased with seeing Ben engaged on the defensive end and making plays like this.

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That is an awesome example of the advantage of a guy with his foot speed compared to someone like Dario who are both the same size.

Watching that clip again just amazes me. You have two defenders like Simmons and Covington, and put them in front of Embiid and you have the makings of a truly elite defensive team.

You can afford to have lesser defenders at the other positions with guys like that, but if you add a bull terrier like McConnell chasing little guys around, and especially if Fultz turns into a plus defender, you can be the best defensive team in the league.



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[LongLiveHinkie]

Ben Simmons is the most impressive rookie the NBA has seen going ALL the way back to Joel Embiid.

[Dundalis]

Some guys assessing Simmons jumper basically saying he's reached his ceiling with his current lefty form, with no room left for much improvement by simply repeating the same action. I'm sure there's a few things that could be improved, like changing the hand position on the ball, keeping the elbow tucked in and not shooting on the way down. The risky decision to change his shooting hand from left to right could be the big talking point over the next 2 seasons. If it's decided that gives him a better chance down the line to be a better shooter I hope they take the risk. The 76ers should devote every resource possible to bring in the best coaches to help rework his shot. There's no player that you could want to devote everything to improving a jumper than Ben Simmons, given how much it would increase his ceiling.

[Ericb5]

Some guys assessing Simmons jumper basically saying he's reached his ceiling with his current lefty form, with no room left for much improvement by simply repeating the same action. I'm sure there's a few things that could be improved, like changing the hand position on the ball, keeping the elbow tucked in and not shooting on the way down. The risky decision to change his shooting hand from left to right could be the big talking point over the next 2 seasons. If it's decided that gives him a better chance down the line to be a better shooter I hope they take the risk. The 76ers should devote every resource possible to bring in the best coaches to help rework his shot. There's no player that you could want to devote everything to improving a jumper than Ben Simmons, given how much it would increase his ceiling.

I think that his form is basically fine. It is slow, but it is pretty clean.

I think what he really needs to work on is centering his body over his feet, and keeping himself square. Every jumper he takes he seems to be a mess from the hips down.

Watch how someone like Malik Monk pulls up for a jumper off the dribble. Not that Simmons will ever be Monk as a shooter, but just trying to mimic his economy of motion and center of gravity should increase his percentages a lot.

I don’t care if he ever becomes a good three point shooter, and he may not, but if John Wall can do it then Simmons can do it.


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[Simmons25]

Compared to what Ben was doing in SL and at LSU, 21% layups with his left hand is extremely promising. He's not going out of his way to shoot with his right hand on left handed layups as much. Makes him very dangerous as he gets better with that hand.

I have noticed that as well and it surprises me that I haven’t seen him do those awkward cross body wrong hand attempts that he was doing so much of before.


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It surprises me as well because I think he was actually very good at drawing fouls and hitting shots this way. He made quite a few and 1's this way in College.

I would have liked to have seen how it translated to the NBA first rather than the Sixers try and fix something that I didn't think was broken in the first place.

[LordCovington33]

Ben Simmons is fourth in the league in defensive points saved. Gobert, Cousins and Drummond in front.

[Ericb5]

Compared to what Ben was doing in SL and at LSU, 21% layups with his left hand is extremely promising. He's not going out of his way to shoot with his right hand on left handed layups as much. Makes him very dangerous as he gets better with that hand.

I have noticed that as well and it surprises me that I haven’t seen him do those awkward cross body wrong hand attempts that he was doing so much of before.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It surprises me as well because I think he was actually very good at drawing fouls and hitting shots this way. He made quite a few and 1's this way in College.

I would have liked to have seen how it translated to the NBA first rather than the Sixers try and fix something that I didn't think was broken in the first place.

I think that this is a good example of something that he could get away with in college, but won’t be able to in the nba. He has to finish with the correct hand to be able to be an efficient finisher.


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