The Ben Simmons Megathread

[crazy_me_87]

Just a few thoughts a had recently about Ben.

He had a bit of a rough Stretch. Call it Rookie Wall.. call it Defenses having a better clue how to defend him.. call it Post Hack a Ben caution.. whatever. I had to remember that even his 15/8/8 he does over his last 10 are exeptional Numbers.. insane even. He has set the bar for him so high with averaging 19 PPG Game earlier... that i forgot for a moment how Good he was even through the Games he seemed to struggle more. I mean for example 13/11/9 is a Game most Rookies would be praised for.. yet it seems like a "Meh" game for him because we have seen what he can really do.

Also some people(not here.. General Board, Youtube comments etc) have started to question agan(after LSU) if he is a Winner because the Team cant seem to win without Joel. Using that a an argument why he is not the next Magic because he won a Title his Rookie year.. To me thats just stupid.. The Sixers without Joel are just not a very good Team.. Magic played not only with Kareem but also with All Star caliber guys like Norm Nixon and Jamal Wilkes.. Thats just not a fair comparison. Magic would not have led the Lakers to a title without Three other All Stars...

Ben is such a smart Kid... i have no doubt he will develop into a at least passable FT and Jumpshooter. His Defense is actually much further alonge than his offense wich is crazy because he puts up 17.3 PPG on over 50% FG and averages nearly 8 Assists... His ceiling is insane.

[Bum Adebayo]

Questioning if he is a winner is ridiculous, kid always makes winning plays and plays as hard as anyone in the league. The guy never complains, always supports his teammates and is a role model, what more can you ask?

[XDevilBoiX]

Questioning if he is a winner is ridiculous, kid always makes winning plays and plays as hard as anyone in the league. The guy never complains, always supports his teammates and is a role model, what more can you ask?

Wrong question to ask if you read the thread lol

[LongLiveHinkie]

He really just needs a jumper. That's it. He does everything else. And not only does he need a jumper, he needs to shoot with the correct hand. I think when he starts shooting with his right, the jumper will really start to improve, because he has natural touch around the basket with his scoop layups and stuff. He's shown he has a sense for touch and trajectory with his other moves, he just needs to translate that innate ability to shooting. Kinda hard to do when you shoot with the wrong hand.

[vossy_3]

Just a reminder that it has happened before:

Watch on YouTube

I don't get it, that shot looks pretty smooth and fluid why not shoot it in the game?

There’s a lot of talk around that he can’t shoot.

He should take a lot more 15 foot jump shots in games because he actually is quite a good shooter from this range.

[crazy_me_87]

Just a reminder that it has happened before:

Watch on YouTube

I don't get it, that shot looks pretty smooth and fluid why not shoot it in the game?

There’s a lot of talk around that he can’t shoot.

He should take a lot more 15 foot jump shots in games because he actually is quite a good shooter from this range.

He made quite alot of them earlier in the Season. I dont really understand why he stopped doing it.

[76ciology]

When you play Ben with RoCo, Saric and Biid Or Amir. That's 4 defenders who can defend Ben

The problem with this is Ben is not a good ISO player. When teams switch Ben wont be a scoring threat that..

1) prevents him to score efficiently with volume, 2.)puts him on a TO prone position (help defender would semi-sag or be middle of ben and his guy that is easy for athletic nba wings for deflections)
3.)teams wont collapse their D at him that prevents a high volume of good looks to shooters.

You need to choose his partner for the screen play, which for me is his teammate being guarded by opponents' PG. To the extent that we need to explore making him as a roll man like Blake Griffin.

Another option is for Ben to turn into a scorer like in our 114-109 loss against the Raps. Put him at the low block off a baseline screen, that immediately makes him a threat that opponents respect where he can pass out to open guys. Imagine Wiggins but better play making. You also maximize Saric play making that allows him to be effective when he's having an off night.

[76ciology]

I can sense the disappointment with the team.But most of us are have confirmation bias.

Its not Brett Brown or Bryan Colangelo. It’s your unrealistic expectation on Ben Simmons.

With all the exposure he gets, he doesn’t make the team that much better (relative to your expectations) and as a PG he doesnt make the offense a lot better (relative to most star guards).

I could be wrong. But if Ben Simmons is scoring 20-30 points like Donovan Mitchell or Kuzma, we’ll be a much winning team. Yeah, thats why most mention the need of a volume perimeter scorer or keep mentioning lou will.

[BigSleep333]

he bends his knees in that video. why is he shooting his freebies with stiff legs? he just have to recognize you get a better feel for the shot with bending the knees.

i will never understand how a professional basketball player can shoot that bad from the line. i play ball a few times a year and even after not touching a basketball for 5 months, i can hit 65 % from the line. they shoot almost every single day and still are that bad. it was and is always mind-boggling for me.

[Eyeamok]

I don't get it, that shot looks pretty smooth and fluid why not shoot it in the game?

There’s a lot of talk around that he can’t shoot.

He should take a lot more 15 foot jump shots in games because he actually is quite a good shooter from this range.

He made quite alot of them earlier in the Season. I dont really understand why he stopped doing it.

The key is staying constant. Once he gets his shot he has to keep shooting it the same way in practice and in game time situations.

In game time situations you are not in a gym just basically chilling. You are running stopping, the opposing players are running towards you while you shoot your shots. People are taking crap to throw you off your game. The crowd is yelling the music is blasting and your mind is racing at a million miles a minute. Inside the gym you don't really have any of that pressure. The guy that is racing towards you as you shoot is a friend. The guy talking crap to you is a friend. Crowd noise is non existent and so on.

The first step is to have a shot that works then he has to learn to block out the external and internal factors that stop him from executing that shot in a game time situation. And still do his job. All the while being a young 20 something year old still learning his craft. Playing in the most competitive basketball league in the world.

See how easy it is to do.

[Ericb5]

I can sense the disappointment with the team.But most of us are have confirmation bias.

Its not Brett Brown or Bryan Colangelo. It’s your unrealistic expectation on Ben Simmons.

With all the exposure he gets, he doesn’t make the team that much better (relative to your expectations) and as a PG he doesnt make the offense a lot better (relative to most star guards).

I could be wrong. But if Ben Simmons is scoring 20-30 points like Donovan Mitchell or Kuzma, we’ll be a much winning team. Yeah, thats why most mention the need of a volume perimeter scorer or keep mentioning lou will.

Simmons is a rookie PG, and rookie PG's rarely make their teams better. On top of that, he is a very inexperienced PG on the scale of rookie PG's.

Here is the reality. He is a superstar in training, but he isn't a superstar on the court yet. Embiid is already a superstar. Simmons is just a can't miss superstar prospect.

We will be fine.

[Kolkmania]

he bends his knees in that video. why is he shooting his freebies with stiff legs? he just have to recognize you get a better feel for the shot with bending the knees.

i will never understand how a professional basketball player can shoot that bad from the line. i play ball a few times a year and even after not touching a basketball for 5 months, i can hit 65 % from the line. they shoot almost every single day and still are that bad. it was and is always mind-boggling for me.

What about this one, 9 shots and looks so fluid.

Watch on YouTube

There are a lot of questionable things going with his FT's, the elbow is flaring out, the hand placement is on the side of the ball, starts his motion near his set point so there's no rhythm at all, etc.

Woj had a discussion with Brett Brown on shooting coaches, mainly on Chip Engelland, but they addressed our shooting coach, John Townsend, as well. They basically said that there's no perfect form because the body is different for everybody. This could indicate that Simmons shoulder has limited rotation capabilities and therefore they want his elbow flaring out to put less force in his body while he's shooting.

However I'd think that turning his body sideways (therefore he doesn't need to rotate his shoulder as much), bending his knees and shoot the ball in rhythm would improve the results drastically. I have no idea why this matter isn't discussed by the media, it's 1.5 years since the draft and his FT has regressed from college. Perhaps they're in a process where the long term results should bring better percentages, but it's kind of inexplicable.

[Onmyway19]

he bends his knees in that video. why is he shooting his freebies with stiff legs? he just have to recognize you get a better feel for the shot with bending the knees.

i will never understand how a professional basketball player can shoot that bad from the line. i play ball a few times a year and even after not touching a basketball for 5 months, i can hit 65 % from the line. they shoot almost every single day and still are that bad. it was and is always mind-boggling for me.

What about this one, 9 shots and looks so fluid.

Watch on YouTube

There are a lot of questionable things going with his FT's, the elbow is flaring out, the hand placement is on the side of the ball, starts his motion near his set point so there's no rhythm at all, etc.

Woj had a discussion with Brett Brown on shooting coaches, mainly on Chip Engelland, but they addressed our shooting coach, John Townsend, as well. They basically said that there's no perfect form because the body is different for everybody. This could indicate that Simmons shoulder has limited rotation capabilities and therefore they want his elbow flaring out to put less force in his body while he's shooting.

However I'd think that turning his body sideways (therefore he doesn't need to rotate his shoulder as much), bending his knees and shoot the ball in rhythm would improve the results drastically. I have no idea why this matter isn't discussed by the media, it's 1.5 years since the draft and his FT has regressed from college. Perhaps they're in a process where the long term results should bring better percentages, but it's kind of inexplicable.

this is the video i dont get.... he's draining them all net with pretty solid form from range. i get its just practice but his in game jumpers dont even come close to resembling these in the video.... hopefully he finds a sweet spot in a year or two.

[cksdayoff]

so his narrow shoulders may hinder his jumpshot? interesting.

[OzCastiel]

Kid looks like a frightened puppy when defenses don't even bother guarding him and he still is scared to shoot. He needs to work on other aspects of his game instead of just basic stat padding. He no longer looks like the clear cut best rookie despite being in the nba a year longer than the rest of the young boys

[HotelVitale]

I could be wrong. But if Ben Simmons is scoring 20-30 points like Donovan Mitchell or Kuzma, we’ll be a much winning team. Yeah, thats why most mention the need of a volume perimeter scorer or keep mentioning lou will.

Hmm, logically speaking why would scoring an average efficiency 18-20 ppg be better overall than what Simmons contributes? I get the argument that if a player can score really well and consistently late in games (like IT2 last year) that's more useful for average teams to pull out wins, but that's not really what Kuzma/Mitchell do. Those guys are both good and would help our team, but imagine you're also trotting out Bayless for 25-30mpg alongside one of them and giving fewer shots to Covington too.

It's frustrating to lose and it sucks we don't have a consistent scoring option late in games, but don't forget what Simmons does and start thinking other rooks are more perfect than they are.

[Eyeamok]

Last night Ben Simmons shots were awful. Simply awful and I was happy each and every time he put up one of those monstrosities. Because that is how he is going to get better. Keep putting those shots up Ben then go back and look what you did then do it again only better. You will figure it out.

[76ciology]

I could be wrong. But if Ben Simmons is scoring 20-30 points like Donovan Mitchell or Kuzma, we’ll be a much winning team. Yeah, thats why most mention the need of a volume perimeter scorer or keep mentioning lou will.

Hmm, logically speaking why would scoring an average efficiency 18-20 ppg be better overall than what Simmons contributes? I get the argument that if a player can score really well and consistently late in games (like IT2 last year) that's more useful for average teams to pull out wins, but that's not really what Kuzma/Mitchell do. Those guys are both good and would help our team, but imagine you're also trotting out Bayless for 25-30mpg alongside one of them and giving fewer shots to Covington too.

It's frustrating to lose and it sucks we don't have a consistent scoring option late in games, but don't forget what Simmons does and start thinking other rooks are more perfect than they are.

I just find that a good coach would take his chance defending Simmons on single coverage, thus weakening his ability to breakdown the D.

I said it in my other post. If you look at it, Ben is really our third guy on offense. We looked like a winning team when Jj and RoCo were filling that 2nd-3rd options on offense. When they were struggling and we need Ben to step up, he fails to fill that hole because he’s just not that guy (yet).

Thats why you can see people here complains his lack of aggressiveness when asked to be 1st-2nd guy on option. Its not. He’s just not a scorer that every contender needs for their top 1-2 guys on offense. Right now, he’s more of Iguodala than LeBron.

Ben is a really special player. He’s going to be that guy that is going to give as an edge over most teams. He may be a completely different player next season or so.

Its really Ok. Ben is still young. You can’t really predict these young guys. Look at how Oladipo has blossomed this season. And worse comes to worst, we still have Fultz who’s resume really fits that guy we need.

[CoreyGallagher]

I could be wrong. But if Ben Simmons is scoring 20-30 points like Donovan Mitchell or Kuzma, we’ll be a much winning team. Yeah, thats why most mention the need of a volume perimeter scorer or keep mentioning lou will.

With everything else the same? Sure, 20-30 ppg would be beneficial.

However, we're losing because of lack of depth, we lose when we go to our bench, nothing Simmons can do about that. Starters shouldn't have to outscore other starters by double digits so the bench doesn't have so much as a chance to blow a significant lead, that's not normal and that's what often happens.

[76ciology]

I could be wrong. But if Ben Simmons is scoring 20-30 points like Donovan Mitchell or Kuzma, we’ll be a much winning team. Yeah, thats why most mention the need of a volume perimeter scorer or keep mentioning lou will.

With everything else the same? Sure, 20-30 ppg would be beneficial.

However, we're losing because of lack of depth, we lose when we go to our bench, nothing Simmons can do about that. Starters shouldn't have to outscore other starters by double digits so the bench doesn't have so much as a change to blow a huge lead, that's not normal and that's what often happens.

I have to agree with that.

Two facts:
- were one of the worst team in league history in the last 3-4 years
- our salary cap is projected to be like one of those contenders like cavs and warriors

We can’t really hand out 15-20m/3-6 years contract like most mediocre teams. And we will have to overpay 1st to 2nd tier vets. Need to look at a vets point of view, where signing with a team like us isnt as ideal as signing with a play-off team. For example, Jj or Bayless might have a better season with the Warriors, Rockets or Cavs. That said, its really tough to get another off the bench perimeter scorer for every team needs one. Hell even the Warriors, for all their offensive fire power, went out and get Nick Young.

Fultz not playing really left a big hole to our team. Ideally, you can have stability with 2 of Ben/Biid/Fultz on the court most of the time. I just find our team with Ben, without Jojo, not that good that I think Ben needs to have a better impact on offense. That can be done if he can run up the score board and force teams to defend him multiple coverage with very good gravity like how Biid does.