The Ben Simmons Megathread

[HotelVitale]

And what concerns me about the Sixers shooting coach John Townsend... is that without Townsend "fixing" his shot... Ben was actually taking jumpers in Summer League last year and hitting them and looking smooth doing it. He was hitting these just after being drafted and without Townsend trying to fix his shot. He looked much smoother taking those jumpers (especially towards the end of Summer League) than he does this year where his hand placement seems to be all over the place.

Careful there, if I remember right he shot 20-some% on jumpers at SL. (Mantra of a prospect watcher: watch whole games, not highlights.) And I don't think his form was much better than it's been this year on this little elbow jumpers he sometimes takes.

[Ericb5]

Typical stuff from Splinters O'Connor. I've listened to most of his ringer podcasts and he can't talk about Simmons without focusing on the things hes not as good at.

Derek Bodner is almost as bad, it's like they can't come to grips with the fact they made some wrong calls with Bens ceiling.

I didn't even realise it was Kevin O'Connor that wrote that story but now the puzzle is finally coming together.

Kevin is the same flog who I see on twitter continually keeps posting about Ben Simmons being right handed and big noting himself over the fact he was the only one to see it.

I asked him why he continues to talk up that Simmons is right handed as if it was some sort of mystery that he and only he managed to discover... when Ben himself has confirmed several times years ago he is right handed. Good old Kev asked me for "sources Ben said that" which I duly gave him... and he comes back with "Yeah that's what I saw"

Now it all makes sense. He is one of the people who thought Simmons was going to be a bust... and is now doing whatever he can to highlight Simmons weaknesses.

I don't know how anyone could argue that Simmons would be a bust and maintain any credibility whatsoever. He was as can't miss as any prospect that you ever see.

[ivysixer2000]

I think most of us who studied Ben prior to the draft knew he shot with his right about 95% of the time within 5 feet. That was pretty much known even for those who didn’t really look at Ben. I just hope he improves his foul shooting. He loses so many points from the line. It’s infuriating. Why can’t he shoot well. Just make shots.

Because he doesn't have a consistent stroke that he is confident in. Too much f'ing around with his shot. It needs a complete overhaul.

It's definitely not a touch thing. With the touch he has around the rim taking hook shots and floaters... you can't teach that. He should be a 85% FT shooter with the touch he has. It all comes down to consistent mechanics.

It just sucks because he’s so damn good but if he could shoot like Kyrie he could be the greatest player ever lol. He had a whole year to work on his shot. I thought he should be better from the line. How can he not get better from the line when he had the entire season to work on it? This offseason I don’t even want him working on his jump shot. I only want him working on one thing to come into next season. Free throws. If he is a 76-80% foul shooter he will score 6 more points per game just from that. And it would probably help him on offense because he would be more aggressive going at players drawing fouls.

Cause Ben had one season, he should've developed everything huh.....it took Jordan 5 years to develop a reliable 3pt shot. Tim Duncan was in the league for 10 years before he reliably stayed around 70% free throw shooting.

In alot of your posts I see you lack patience, but at the end of the day you will have to learn it or you will always be frustrated and spend your whole life here complaining about nothing.

[eagereyez]

Jordan had a filthy mid-range game and Duncan was pretty good from mid-range as well. They had a much better base to work with than Ben. I still firmly believe that Simmons should switch shooting hands. The Sixers should have had him do that immediately, instead they wasted an entire year.

[Unbreakable99]

I still would like reporters to really inquire to Ben why he shoots the way he does. I'd love nothing but 5 minutes of questions asking him when he decides to shoot left or right and stuff like that. He's just so different. I love him as a player though but he could be so unstoppable with a reliable jump shot. I know things are good now but in the offseason he really needs to work on his shooting. Just work on free throws. That's it this summer. Nothing else. FREE THROWS.

[ivysixer2000]

I still would like reporters to really inquire to Ben why he shoots the way he does. I'd love nothing but 5 minutes of questions asking him when he decides to shoot left or right and stuff like that. He's just so different. I love him as a player though but he could be so unstoppable with a reliable jump shot. I know things are good now but in the offseason he really needs to work on his shooting. Just work on free throws. That's it this summer. Nothing else. FREE THROWS.

This I also don't get, why do you think its a reporters job to drill these guys on what you want to know.....I'm sure that reporter wouldn't be a favorite of Ben's anymore, bet he might never further his career based on that drilling with Ben or anyone else on the team.

We don't have to know everything, and its not the reporters job to do it. Its the coach's job to try to improve Ben, and drilling him on a national stage certainly isn't going to help Ben. I know in the social media age we think we have to know everything right that minute, but guess what, we don't. And that line of questioning won't help, not like it helped Shaq shoot free throws.

Give him time to work on it instead of concentrating on weaknesses at every chance.

[Sixerscan]

Kevin O'Connor is going to sue Simmons for something just so he can get him in a deposition and ask him why he doesn't shoot with his right hand for 10 hours.

[Unbreakable99]

Kevin O'Connor is going to sue Simmons for something just so he can get him in a deposition and ask him why he doesn't shoot with his right hand for 10 hours.

If it goes to trial this will be O’Connor.

[MR28]

Didn't one of the guys on twitter say then Ben was shooting right handed after practice recently and airballed half his shots?

[c3neely]

If youre right handed as a kid...but have shot left handed since you were little... Then youre left handed. There is no going back now. If you have bad form shooting left handed (he does), dont out think yourself. Fix his form from the free throw line (they haven't). **** a 3 point shot, how about shoot 70% from the line and hit some elbow jumpers?

[Unbreakable99]

The media is already trying to cause friction between Ben and JoJo lol.

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[XtremeDunkz]

lol what is the point of that article? We don't have to choose.

[Sixerscan]

Read on Twitter

I'm out on Ben.

[Simmons25]

And what concerns me about the Sixers shooting coach John Townsend... is that without Townsend "fixing" his shot... Ben was actually taking jumpers in Summer League last year and hitting them and looking smooth doing it. He was hitting these just after being drafted and without Townsend trying to fix his shot. He looked much smoother taking those jumpers (especially towards the end of Summer League) than he does this year where his hand placement seems to be all over the place.

Careful there, if I remember right he shot 20-some% on jumpers at SL. (Mantra of a prospect watcher: watch whole games, not highlights.) And I don't think his form was much better than it's been this year on this little elbow jumpers he sometimes takes.

I watched every minute of every game in Summer League and I don't recall him being a Lonzo jump shooter... but I am likely wrong. I do remember though thinking he was getting better the longer it went on.

[Simmons25]

If youre right handed as a kid...but have shot left handed since you were little... Then youre left handed. There is no going back now. If you have bad form shooting left handed (he does), dont out think yourself. Fix his form from the free throw line (they haven't). **** a 3 point shot, how about shoot 70% from the line and hit some elbow jumpers?

Yeah I've said this before. I think getting him to switch hands now is probably going to be ridiculous to expect. By the time he gets around to learning how to shoot right handed reliably he will be 33 and his career almost over.

I guess though you could use Joel as an example. He didn't even pick up a basketball until he was 15... so he effectively had no shot in high school and when he did he wasn't very good. He learnt to shoot... but we didn't see it until he was 23. That's 8 years of practice.

Does Ben have 8 years starting today to develop a jump shot? and will it ever be any better than it would be just fixing it with his left. By changing him to his right you are basically saying Ben isn't taking a jumper in a game for the next 5 years whilst they work on it.

[76ciology]

The media is already trying to cause friction between Ben and JoJo lol.

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Typical media tactics.

[Simmons25]

Bleacher report have to do something... to take away from the fact their boy Lolzo is a bust.

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[76ciology]

With maxing Ben Simmons in mind, do you call timeout or let him attack downhill wHen down by 3 and with little time remaining?

[76ciology]

Bleacher report have to do something... to take away from the fact their boy Lolzo is a bust.

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Typical media tactics.

[Unbreakable99]

With maxing Ben Simmons in mind, do you call timeout or let him attack downhill wHen down by 3 and with little time remaining?

What does maxing Simmons have to do with calling timeout or not? But to answer your question it depends. There will Ben other shooters on the flooor with him.