[OhCanada-Participant]

ESPN hates this guy for not having a three point shot. Its hard to watch. I’ve said it plenty of times before Simmons is a real treat to watch in the playoffs for me. He’s one of the most physical players in the NBA and one of the best defenders. He’s unselfish, lets his coach put him in any position even off the ball as a rebounder in the Rodman role and doesn’t throw him under the bus. Dudes a monster and an extremely unique player reminds me of Rondo in alot of ways.

So during this pandemic/lockout it looks as though he has gotten alot bigger. Maybe he gained 10-20 pounds of muscle by just hitting the gym and taking care of his body. And he gets ripped for not working on his jumpshot. I’ve been saying for years Simmons should stick to his guns and be the best he can be. If he’s not comfortable shooting jumpers theres still alot he can improve to be effective. I personally love seeing him do this.

[sniperParticipant]

I totally agree, Simmons is top-5 defender and top-5 playmaker in the league. Who else fits that description? And it’s not like he hurts you with his shot selection — he’s a 59% shooter on 11 FGA per game. He just doesn’t shoot 3s.

And nobody would mind if the 76ers could put 4 good to great shooters on the court next to him. The problem is their best 3pt shooters other than Harris are pretty marginal players otherwise. They are paying big bucks to Richardson and Horford for their defense and basketball smarts, but put them on the floor with Embiid and there’s three guys who the other team is happy to let launch 3s. Losing JJ is a big part of their setback this year.

[armchairgmParticipant]

I would say he is a top 5 playmaker, but top 10 defender which is still a great player.

[2quick4uParticipant]

The problem with Simmons is not his 3p shot but his poor FT shooting which makes him disappear in 4th quarters and also his lack of post game and his lack of aggressiveness to attack the basket consistently. This man should be unstoppable with that 6’10 frame and that type of athleticism, especially in today’s game with such space and with these defenses without any type of contact allowed..

Simmons really becomes a problem for his team in 4th quarters as he becomes useless without the ball in his hands and he eats a lot of space.. if Simmons doesn’t improve his FT shooting and therefore becomes relevant when it matters he will end up being traded.

[holefillers1Participant]

Simmons FT % was up over 67% during the last 20 games he played this year. Seemed like he was starting to figure it out at the line. That’s on over 7 attempts as well. Lebron is below 70% this year. He was below 67% the year before. If Simmons can hang around 70% on 7+ attempts per game then all is good.

[2quick4uParticipant]

Yes Lebron is shooting 70% just like Giannis is shooting 63% but these 2 players keep being aggressive and keep attacking the basket no matter what even, or especially, in 4th quarters and they are not afraid to fail, to take responsibility and to charge the team on their shoulder when it matters most, something that Simmons is afraid of.. so it would definitely be great if he could shoot at 70% but the problem is not just that, the real problem is that Simmons needs to overcome his fears in order to be agressive the whole game and take charge of the team when it matters most, that is, Simmons needs to become a leader and play like a leader if he ever wants to achieve his potential and become important in the league.

[holefillers1Participant]

That’s true but one thing I will say is that is kind of hard to do when Joel Embiid is essentially the man on that team. When has Lebron or Giannis ever been the second best player on their team?

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

No one is denying that Simmons is a unique talent. He has the physical profile, basketball i.q. and skill level to do things on the court that few other players in history could. Simmons is talented enough that he could still potentially be a Hall of Fame player even if he never develops an outside shot.

However, you can’t just ignore his unwillingness to shoot the ball from anywhere outside of the paint, because it negatively impacts his team. It mucks up the spacing on the floor and hinders his ability to play effectively with embiid on the floor. Its become almost a selfish position to take. Simmons won’t shoot the ball because he isn’t confident in his shot and is afraid to look bad. He knows the importance of developing his shot and becoming a threat if the team is going to reach its full potential. Its been stressed to him by Brett Brown for years. He’s been instructed to take shots when he’s open (even if he doesn’t make a high percentage of them) and he still won’t do it. They don’t even necessarily have to be three point shots. The problem is not that Simmons can’t make shots. Its that he refuses to even try to develop that part of his game even though he knows how important it is for the team. All the footage of him knocking down shots in practice or in the off season means absolutely nothing until he develops the intestinal fortitude to shoot the ball in an actual game. There are a lot of players who came into the league with questionable outside shots and gradually improved that part of their game as their careers went on. Keep in mind that Simmons has had plenty of time to work on his shot (including an entire redshirt season) and made virtually no progress whatsoever.

If a guy refused to give effort on defense because he had slow feet and didn’t want to get embarrassed or look bad, would we make excuses for that guy and say its ok because he can do other things well? No. We’d look at that guy as a selfish player who wasn’t willing to do the dirty work to help his team. Is there really a difference with Simmons?

[ChoppyParticipant]

I agree with you to a point. I do think that the reason he won’t shoot 3’s is a fear of looking bad, or even ‘average’. But I also think that he should be built around to cover his weaknesses in much the same way as other stars are built around. Until they make Simmons the undisputed leader of this team (sorry Embiid, it’s a PG’s League) they won’t go anywhere.
And to answer your question, there absolutely is a star player who refuses to put in effort on defence, and I’ve heard many people defend him on here because he’s such a great scorer. His name is James Harden.

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