Stop Teasing us Ben
With 0.9 seconds remaining in overtime last night against the Milwaukee Bucks, Ben Simmons nonchalantly drilled a meaningless 26-foot contested three-pointer over a lunging Jrue Holiday.
http://twitter.com/TheNBAHustle/status/1372365452161085442
In the Sixers last two losses (Feb. 27 against the Cavaliers and last night), Simmons pulled up from behind the arch in the final seconds of overtime and hit them. By now, we’ve all seen the pregame shootarounds and workout videos, where Simmons makes a series of threes in a row. But when will we see him shoot it more often?
Simmons is 3-8 from behind the arch this year, suitable for a 37.5% clip (I know, small sample size). We have seen his shooting mechanics improve since he’s come into the NBA, but it still seems like his confidence to shoot them in games is, at best, inconsistent.
It’s time to stop teasing us with garbage time, silky smooth threes, Ben. We want more, and we expect more. Joel Embiid discussed it last year.
“We’ve just got to look at ourselves and see what we can do individually,” Embiid said. “We’ve got to help each other even if it means being outside of your comfort zone, for the greater (good), to help the team win. Meaning that, if you’ve got to space and shoot it, you’ve got to do it.”
It was a problem then, and it will be a problem yet again in the playoffs this year. We all know what Simmons can do. Everything, except shooting outside the paint.
This year’s 37.5% three-point percentage would indeed dip with an increase in three-point attempts, but it doesn’t matter. To unlock the Sixers’ full potential this season, Simmons needs to simply make defenses respect him when he’s outside the paint. Sure, some jumpers may look ugly, you may airball a few, but just shoot them when you are open, Ben.
You won’t find a bigger Ben Simmons fan than me, but it’s time for him to stop showing us flashes of his jumper in meaningless points of games and start attempting at least one three per game.
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Categorized:Sixers