*** -- PROCESSING Your Philadelphia 76ers -- ***

eeriepadave

The Juggler said:

eeriepadave said:

Not sure why I thought of this but did anyone remember the show thirtysomething? Forgot it took place in philly, but I do remember recording this episode on my VCR because it involved the Sixers. I have to revisit this show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIQiN3cevHo

Classic! I heard they are rebooting that show too. 

Yeah i heard that too, saw it on the wikipedia page. I wonder who is showing reruns of the show. 

Jearlpam0925

This RiotZact guy makes a shit ton of sense. Well said, sir.

Cliffy6745

This Harden-Durant situation isn’t ideal 

RiotZact

Cliffy6745 said:

This Harden-Durant situation isn’t ideal 

At this point we just have to hope that the personalities cause them to implode. I would imagine that their combined stat lines tonight were historic in some way, and dough boy still has jet lag. 

So when will the Sixers win their first game this year without Embiid? Tomorrow in OKC? I wouldn’t bet on it. They are -3.5 right now and that’s hilarious. It would be just like this team to drop both of these and then sweep the Celtics. Which I am more than okay with by the way. 

The Juggler

Shake almost brought them back by himself. Inopportune time for Ben’s 7th TO....

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

Shake almost brought them back by himself. Inopportune time for Ben’s 7th TO....

But he took another 3 so that will open things up

The Juggler

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

The Juggler

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

eeriepadave

Sixers game postponed tonight due to contact tracing

The Juggler

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

The Juggler

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

Ha.
I wasn't comparing him to Embiid's missed time but to act like Ben hasn't missed games shows you are not paying attention as much as you pretend to. 

Dude---the issue is that he cannot shoot the ball. How do you think it is that an NBA player in his fourth season is incapable of shooting the basketball?  Stop avoiding the issue. He doesn't shoot because he can't shoot. That is unacceptable at this point. And it has hurt them every year he has been healthy for the playoffs when it is much more a half court game. Why do you think he has not improved at this basic element of the sport at this point in his career? It is literally the only thing keeping him from jumping to superstar level. 

You've also avoided the other issue he has of avoiding contact and not going to the rim strong for about the fourth or fifth time.

Cliffy6745

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

If someone on my team can’t do something that is part of the job expectation, I think a point guard shooting outside of 6 feet would fall into that category, you better bet your ass I’m gonna make them work on it (and coach them) but expect them to get better at it and be able to do it in the future

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

Ha.
I wasn't comparing him to Embiid's missed time but to act like Ben hasn't missed games shows you are not paying attention as much as you pretend to. 

Dude---the issue is that he cannot shoot the ball. How do you think it is that an NBA player in his fourth season is incapable of shooting the basketball?  Stop avoiding the issue. He doesn't shoot because he can't shoot. That is unacceptable at this point. And it has hurt them every year he has been healthy for the playoffs when it is much more a half court game. Why do you think he has not improved at this basic element of the sport at this point in his career? It is literally the only thing keeping him from jumping to superstar level. 

You've also avoided the other issue he has of avoiding contact and not going to the rim strong for about the fourth or fifth time.

i guess you forget they got swept when he didn't play in the playoffs last year.   and the year before when he did play if Embiid doesn't get sick like a 4 year old they may have been on their way to the finals.  So I'd argue Embiid getting sick hurt them more than Ben's lack of shooting that year in the playoffs.  

The Juggler

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

Ha.
I wasn't comparing him to Embiid's missed time but to act like Ben hasn't missed games shows you are not paying attention as much as you pretend to. 

Dude---the issue is that he cannot shoot the ball. How do you think it is that an NBA player in his fourth season is incapable of shooting the basketball?  Stop avoiding the issue. He doesn't shoot because he can't shoot. That is unacceptable at this point. And it has hurt them every year he has been healthy for the playoffs when it is much more a half court game. Why do you think he has not improved at this basic element of the sport at this point in his career? It is literally the only thing keeping him from jumping to superstar level. 

You've also avoided the other issue he has of avoiding contact and not going to the rim strong for about the fourth or fifth time.

i guess you forget they got swept when he didn't play in the playoffs last year.   and the year before when he did play if Embiid doesn't get sick like a 4 year old they may have been on their way to the finals.  So I'd argue Embiid getting sick hurt them more than Ben's lack of shooting that year in the playoffs.  

So you've acknowledged Ben missed an entire playoff series while defending him for not missing games. Good lord.

The year before, he basically handed point duties to Jimmy Butler and was essentially useless in the half court because, and I know this will shock you, he cannot shoot the ball. Unsurprisingly when your "point guard" is incapable of shooting or finishing at the rim, it leads to other issues on the team. 

Cliff's right. In any work environment, if you're particularly bad at an important aspect of your job, you either need to improve or you could be fired or demoted.

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

Ha.
I wasn't comparing him to Embiid's missed time but to act like Ben hasn't missed games shows you are not paying attention as much as you pretend to. 

Dude---the issue is that he cannot shoot the ball. How do you think it is that an NBA player in his fourth season is incapable of shooting the basketball?  Stop avoiding the issue. He doesn't shoot because he can't shoot. That is unacceptable at this point. And it has hurt them every year he has been healthy for the playoffs when it is much more a half court game. Why do you think he has not improved at this basic element of the sport at this point in his career? It is literally the only thing keeping him from jumping to superstar level. 

You've also avoided the other issue he has of avoiding contact and not going to the rim strong for about the fourth or fifth time.

i guess you forget they got swept when he didn't play in the playoffs last year.   and the year before when he did play if Embiid doesn't get sick like a 4 year old they may have been on their way to the finals.  So I'd argue Embiid getting sick hurt them more than Ben's lack of shooting that year in the playoffs.  

So you've acknowledged Ben missed an entire playoff series while defending him for not missing games. Good lord.

The year before, he basically handed point duties to Jimmy Butler and was essentially useless in the half court because, and I know this will shock you, he cannot shoot the ball. 

Cliff's right. In any work environment, if you're particularly bad at an important aspect of your job, you either need to improve or you could be fired or demoted.

seriously either get better reading comprehension or stop being an ahole. I never said Ben didn't miss games just that he has both this year and over their career played more games than Embiid.  And they did lose in 4 straight without him.  can't dispute that but I'm sure you will find a way.

again I wish Ben could shoot but for the 50th time you don't ask someone to do something they can't. which is what you and other idiots have advocated him to do.

The Juggler

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

Ha.
I wasn't comparing him to Embiid's missed time but to act like Ben hasn't missed games shows you are not paying attention as much as you pretend to. 

Dude---the issue is that he cannot shoot the ball. How do you think it is that an NBA player in his fourth season is incapable of shooting the basketball?  Stop avoiding the issue. He doesn't shoot because he can't shoot. That is unacceptable at this point. And it has hurt them every year he has been healthy for the playoffs when it is much more a half court game. Why do you think he has not improved at this basic element of the sport at this point in his career? It is literally the only thing keeping him from jumping to superstar level. 

You've also avoided the other issue he has of avoiding contact and not going to the rim strong for about the fourth or fifth time.

i guess you forget they got swept when he didn't play in the playoffs last year.   and the year before when he did play if Embiid doesn't get sick like a 4 year old they may have been on their way to the finals.  So I'd argue Embiid getting sick hurt them more than Ben's lack of shooting that year in the playoffs.  

So you've acknowledged Ben missed an entire playoff series while defending him for not missing games. Good lord.

The year before, he basically handed point duties to Jimmy Butler and was essentially useless in the half court because, and I know this will shock you, he cannot shoot the ball. 

Cliff's right. In any work environment, if you're particularly bad at an important aspect of your job, you either need to improve or you could be fired or demoted.

seriously either get better reading comprehension or stop being an ahole. I never said Ben didn't miss games just that he has both this year and over their career played more games than Embiid.  And they did lose in 4 straight without him.  can't dispute that.

Aaaaand, you're out of excuses for the poor shooting and lack of finishing at the rim. 

pjhawks

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

As if on cue, Simmons had one of those all too familiar games where he refuses to shoot and finish strong at the rim. He has got to be better if this team is going to advance further in the spring:

https://theathletic.com/2327894/2021/01/17/ben-simmons-struggles-underscore-sixers-sloppy-play-in-loss-to-grizzlies/

Simmons’ tough offensive night

Simmons came into the game having attempted just six shots outside of the paint in 360 minutes of play on the season, an astoundingly low number for a point guard who is charged with creating so much of the team’s half-court offense. To Simmons’ credit, he did attempt two such shots against the Grizzlies: two 3s, both of which he air-balled. To be fair, one of them was tightly contested as he desperately tried to beat the shot clock. The other came when he was wide open on a catch-and-shoot 3 late in the game and came up about 6 inches short.

This won’t be a write-up to complain about Simmons not attempting shots from the perimeter, though. Besides the two aforementioned air-balled 3-pointers, Simmons also hit a pair of turnaround jumpers that were just on the edges of the painted area. They’re not high-value shots, but at least he attempted them. That’s not something he is willing to do every night.

No, Simmons’ passivity was on full display when he got into the paint, especially in the first half. Time and again, Simmons would drive into the paint and not even bother to look to score. This drive by Simmons should never, ever, ever be a hook pass to a rolling Dwight Howard in traffic. No space was created. Howard has bad hands; he’s not looking for the ball, and he’s not much of a threat with it that far away from the hoop even if he does catch it. Simmons has the size, speed and athleticism to get to the rim here and force the defense to react, and all too often he lets them off the hook.

This happened repeatedly Saturday night. At one point, Simmons pushed the ball in transition just to get into the paint, turn around and flip the ball to Howard for a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt.

During Simmons’ rookie year, he attempted 6.2 shots per games off of drives, per NBA.com’s tracking data. That’s down to 3.7 attempts per game this year, a near 40 percent drop. He now has an effective field goal percentage of just 46.9 percent in the half court, compared to 52.1 percent as a rookie. He turns the ball over on nearly a quarter (23.4 percent) of his half-court possessions, per Synergy. Out of the 252 players who have used at least 50 half-court possessions so far this season that is the eighth highest rate. Most of the other players near him are big men, like DeAndre Jordan (35.1 percent), Marc Gasol (28.3 percent), Howard (27.4 percent) and PJ Tucker (23.4 percent).

Simmons is so little of a threat to attack the rim right now that defenders are seemingly willing to let him drive into the paint, because he so rarely takes advantage of it. As long as Simmons doesn’t blow by his defender, he passes up the scoring opportunity, kicking the ball out rather than attempt a shot over the contest. And since teams aren’t worried about Simmons scoring over a defender, there’s no reason to double down on him and leave the Sixers’ perimeter shooters open, so the “do a 180” game that Simmons likes to play as he passes out of the paint to shooters isn’t even as effective as it once was. All too often, it’s just eating up valuable time on the shot clock.

When all was said and done, Simmons finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, nine assists and seven costly, largely preventable turnovers. The Sixers turned the ball over 22 times, which was the key in the loss. Simmons was a driving force behind that sloppy play.

After the Sixers’ win over the Heat on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Simmons’ passive play. Simmons had scored just one bucket in the half court, but he ended up with a 10-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, and the Sixers scored 125 points in their win over the Heat, who were hobbled by the health and safety protocols.

“We just scored 125 points. We just shot 54 percent. We shot almost 46 percent from the 3. Ben had a triple-double. You know what I mean?” Rivers said. “We know exactly what we want to do when teams play like that, and we did it tonight. So no issues (with Simmons’ play) for us at all.”

Fair enough. But the Sixers will not be facing off against Gabe Vincent and Max Strus in the NBA Finals, and they’ll need every ounce of half-court shot creation if they’re going to beat Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston or Miami in a seven-game playoff series. What works now isn’t guaranteed to work when the degree of difficulty gets substantially higher. Simmons has high-value scoring opportunities sitting right in front of him every game, opportunities that he frustratingly turns down. It might be easy to overlook that now, when the Sixers are playing a schedule that has been filled with mediocre or hobbled competition to feast against. But even put aside, for a moment, the discussion of how they can get Simmons to grow and step outside of his comfort zone to better accommodate Embiid, the league’s most dominant post-up force, by spacing the floor. For now, at the very least they need to figure out how to get Simmons back to the half-court player that he once was.

The one aspect hanging over this discussion is that Simmons just doesn’t seem like he’s 100 percent healthy right now. Simmons missed two games last week with his ailing knee, the same knee he injured back in the Orlando bubble which kept him out of the 2020 playoffs. Asked after the game, Simmons said he felt good, then went on to say, “at times, (I’m) trying to get my legs under me. It’s tough. We got a back-to-back tomorrow so we’ll see how I feel. But overall I’m feeling solid.”

Whatever the reason — scheme, confidence, a knee which has limited him more than he’s letting on — Simmons is too physically gifted for the Sixers to be playing 4-on-5 as frequently as they do in the half court, with not only compromised spacing because of his lack of an outside shot, but also an unwillingness to put pressure on the rim. While Simmons’ scoring touch or instincts have never, and probably will never, be able to make the most out of his physical gifts, they need more than they’re getting out of him right now. They may not need it against Charlotte or the Miami squad that was missing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, but they will when the playoffs roll around.

Maybe he should just sit out every time he has a sniffle like Embiid.  The story acknowledges he is probably hurt but wants him to still do all the things he did when healthy, huh? That doesn’t make sense but when the media and fans find a target common sense goes out the window.

So now your excuse for him not being able to shoot the ball or finish at the rim is that he is hurt? I forget, what was your excuse for him the last four years (in between the time he missed because of his other injuries)?

Uhh I’ve never made an excuse for him not making outside shots. He can’t do it which is I why I say he shouldn’t do it. If you go back a few pages you will actually see that I said his career fg percentage was actually higher than Embiid’s which of course was Pooh Pooh’d here because it didn’t fit the narrative. And are you really going to talk about Ben missing games?  Really? 

Lol...the fact that he cannot shoot the ball is kind of the problem, fella. He’s 24 years old and in his fourth season and is seemingly incapable of making any shot other than a wide open 3 footer. And, as pointed out, possibly out of fear of having to take a foul shot he all too often does not finish strong at the rim when it’s even remotely contested. 

His fg% is always high because he primarily takes uncontested 3 footers. That’s not a narrative, that’s a fact. 

Ben doesn’t miss games? He missed his entire first season. Last season he missed over twenty games including the entire playoffs.

Stick to your shitty St Joe’s Hawks man. Jeez...

he's played more games in his career and this year than Embiid.  Ben had surgery in the summer and has played more games this season than the guy who didn't have surgery.  but but Embiid is healthy.  So yea...

The argument I've made since day 1 about Simmons shooting is why the fuck do I want him shooting 3s when he can't?.  It's really not hard to understand. You don't ask someone to do something they can't do.  You and other idiots have insisted he needs to shoot 3s. Of course it would be great if he could, but he fucking can't.  I've never said it wouldn't be great if he was or got a lot better at it. But right now he can't do it so I sure as fuck don't want him shooting 3s.  

Have you ever coached or even managed people in any way shape or form in life? Do you ask people to do things they can't do?  Do you go into work and ask clerical workers to put together mortgages for you?   "Well Sally I know you can't do this, but it would be so much better for me if you could, so please go ahead and put together this mortgage package for the Jones'|

Ha.
I wasn't comparing him to Embiid's missed time but to act like Ben hasn't missed games shows you are not paying attention as much as you pretend to. 

Dude---the issue is that he cannot shoot the ball. How do you think it is that an NBA player in his fourth season is incapable of shooting the basketball?  Stop avoiding the issue. He doesn't shoot because he can't shoot. That is unacceptable at this point. And it has hurt them every year he has been healthy for the playoffs when it is much more a half court game. Why do you think he has not improved at this basic element of the sport at this point in his career? It is literally the only thing keeping him from jumping to superstar level. 

You've also avoided the other issue he has of avoiding contact and not going to the rim strong for about the fourth or fifth time.

i guess you forget they got swept when he didn't play in the playoffs last year.   and the year before when he did play if Embiid doesn't get sick like a 4 year old they may have been on their way to the finals.  So I'd argue Embiid getting sick hurt them more than Ben's lack of shooting that year in the playoffs.  

So you've acknowledged Ben missed an entire playoff series while defending him for not missing games. Good lord.

The year before, he basically handed point duties to Jimmy Butler and was essentially useless in the half court because, and I know this will shock you, he cannot shoot the ball. 

Cliff's right. In any work environment, if you're particularly bad at an important aspect of your job, you either need to improve or you could be fired or demoted.

seriously either get better reading comprehension or stop being an ahole. I never said Ben didn't miss games just that he has both this year and over their career played more games than Embiid.  And they did lose in 4 straight without him.  can't dispute that.

Aaaaand, you're out of excuses for the poor shooting and lack of finishing at the rim. 

jeezus christ I never ever made an excuse for him being a poor shooter or lack of finishing at the rim. not fucking once. the only reference ever made was in regards to the actual fucking article that was posted that said he was hurt and probably wasn't finishing because of that BUT said in the same article he should be as good as he has been even though he was hurt. all i did was question the wisdom of admitting a guy is hurt but expecting him to be as good as he was not hurt.  for fuck sakes stop mis-representing what is posted. 

Literally all I've argued about Ben's shooting is you don't ask him to do it if he can't do it.  Yes I wish he could. he can't.  but morons want him to do it anyway.  Until he learns to shoot, he shouldn't be taking those hots. period, end, stop, fuck off