Ben Simmons has agreed to a max extension with the Sixers which will reportedly pay the point guard $170MM over five seasons, beginning with the 2020/21 campaign.
There’s no doubt that Simmons is one of game’s best passers. His creativity and court vision, along with his size, make him one of the most unique players in the league. He’s also one of the league’s best rebounding guards and puts steady pressure on defenses with his ability to get to the rim. His size, quickness and length also make him an effective and versatile defender.
For all of his gifts, Simmons is also one of the most limited offensive players you’ll ever see. It’s almost unfathomable the way the game is currently played that he’s never made a 3-pointer in his career. He has no mid-range game, either. Virtually all of his shot attempts come within 10 feet of the basket.
When he does shoot beyond 10 feet, he’s doing the opponent a favor. Last year, he made 25.7% of his shot attempts from 1o-15 feet and 10.7% from 16 feet and out, according to Basketball Reference. He’s also a poor free throw shooter — 60% last season.
Despite those obvious weaknesses, he still averaged 17.8 PPG in his second year. And he’s got plenty of time to expand his offensive game. Simmons turns 23 this week and will undoubtedly get better with age.
However, Simmons’ deficiencies are magnified in the postseason and that could hinder the Sixers’ championship aspirations in future years. He averaged just 13.9 PPG and 6.0 APG during Philadelphia’s playoff run last season, which won’t cut it for a max player.
Still, superior young talent is tough to find and the Sixers probably couldn’t risk offering Simmons less without alienating him.
That leads us to our question of the day: Did the Sixers make the right move by giving Ben Simmons a max extension?
Please take to the comments to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Short answer, no. Long answer, it’ll be up to Embiid to lead this team to a championship. Simmons might be a good regular season player, but his style of play in comparison to his salary just won’t cut it when the games matter most
Simmons is just about to turn 23. He hasn’t even come close to his ceiling yet. If Philly put him up on the trade market nearly every team in the league would throw big assets at them.
While I agree Embiid is great, he’s often injured. He might end up being Philly’s Bill Walton, a tremendous player who just couldn’t stay on the court. Simmons just might be the safer bet for a max contract.
So because he is young he hasn’t reached his ceiling? I’m not sure I buy that. What did he do to improve last year? As far as I can tell he is what he is at this point. He’s not going to suddenly discover a shot. No way is he worth that extension. But Philly won’t get someone better to come in free agency, so they did what they have to.
If he carries his team to a championship like Walton did, the 6ers will be OK with his durability issue.
Always has been up to Embiid, don’t see that changing.
First, a max deal for a younger player isn’t as much of an outlier as a “supermax” contract is for an older player. He’s going to earn 50% more than a quality NBA starter. Supermax players earn 100% more.
Second, he’s young. He’s going to get better at everything – passing, rebounding, defense, finishing at the hoop, running the offense, and of course shooting. He’s not even close to his prime – if he takes a couple of big steps forward, his contract could be a bargain.
Three, what else was Philly going to do? Hold firm on a below max contract, let him sign a max 3 year contract with a 2nd year player option from another team, and then watch him leave?
Four, I remember Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, and James Worthy couldn’t shoot all that well most of their careers. Worked out OK for them.
The problem is that James Worthy never really shot the ball because that was the era he played in. Jason Kidd wasn’t ever a really good 3 point shooter until the later years, but he still actually took 3’s and hit for league average a lot of years. Grant Hill was never really a shooter and I don’t have as much of an excuse him. The one problem is that Simmons is supposed to play like a guard in today’s era of basketball and that’s hard to do when we he can’t shoot. He’ll always be successful, but his shooting will take him from being either just really good in the NBA or he could be a Hall of Famer.
Fifth, Simmons sucks.
“Four, I remember Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, and James Worthy couldn’t shoot all that well most of their careers.”
Kidd shot 35% from three in his career and is 10th all-time in 3 pointers made. Hill absolutely had a jump shot and a great pull-up. He shot nearly half his career shots from 10′. Worthy also at least had a jump shot.
Ben Simmons has the scoring range and shooting touch of Dikembe Mutombo. He cannot hit anything beyond 10′. Great driving, passing, and finishing, but you’re severely underestimating his limitations on offense if you’re going to put him with Kidd, Hill, and Worthy.
(also, NBA history is littered with players who peaked very early in their career, so there’s no guarantee that Simmons will get better. I think he will, but maybe he doesn’t)
With jimmy and jj gone, his stats will go up. However, the question will be can he perform in the big moments? Can he be clutch when the 6ers need him to be? I dunno if he was worth a max and early returns say no but he does have a lot of room to grow. He is only barely 23. 6ers gotta get past the eastern semis if we’re to believe he is worth it.
Time will tell how this contract looks. It’s obvious Simmons needs a jumper but now that he’s been paid will he be motivated to work on it or just turn into the next Wiggins contract
As I said earlier on another site
Ben Simmons to sign monster five-year, $170 million contract extension with Sixers
It is a monster, but what kind?
Simmons cannot shoot
He doesn’t want to shoot.
He is not in the shoot business!
And the balloon headed powers that be in the Sixer organization gave him all that money because why? I think one reason is that they are insane!
People are gonna disagree with me but until he has a jump shot it’s the worst contract in the league
John Wall still owns that. Followed by CP3. Then Simmons. Unless he finds a jumper.
Ha! CP3 is way older and way more broken down than Wall, and that’s saying a lot. The Rockets were super high when they signed that contract.
Lillard and Westbrook are up there too. They are both good players but their contracts are way higher than most of the other max deals in the league, since those two never changed teams.
Lillard up there? If a 2nd team All-NBA player, who also carried his team to the WCF, is not worthy of a supermax not sure if anyone is. Dame is a top 3 to 5 guard. IMO it’s just Steph and Harden ahead of him.
I am torn. I do not like his game for how it is played now. (I’ve been watching the NBA for 50+ years, so I’ve seen a lot of different styles come and go.) That being said, he seems great as a passer and defender, and the advanced stats seem to like him. I don’t think he is a slam-dunk max, but with 30 teams out there, I think someone would have payed him a max if Philly didn’t, once he became a UFA. I’m not sure Philly had much choice.
Is he worth a max contract? No. Was somebody going to give it to him if philly didn’t? Yes. Had no choice
Ah, but the question was ‘should’ they have given him that contract. No. No they shouldn’t have. Should’ve offered a 3/$75M take it or make a shot deal.
No, they absolutely should have offered it. He’s a top 25 player in this league and it’s his second year. Letting him walk for nothing doesn’t help anyone. With horford/Harris/Embiid making big bucks there is no money to sign anyone else. Keep the core or tear it down. Tearing it down would be idiotic, so you go all in
Simmons is fun to watch and an awesome layup-creator for whatever that’s worth. He is ‘stuck’ with inspiring high expectations which seems like a mixed bag for him… he wants to do it his way while still beating all.
link to hoopsrumors.com
Interesting comments on the announcement page, plus mine.
Repeating what I said, I suspect Simmons of influencing the FO into NOT rostering an in-team competitor who could put him on the bench. This is selfish and bad for the team.
But maybe now that they have him signed, the Sixers will get serious and get a floor leader/shotmaker by the deadline for the playoffs.
Only in basketball can you be this limited of a player but sign a contract paying you $34 million a year more reason for any kid out there who is in grade school to pick up a basketball
Shooting is overrated, he does everything else superbly. I’d rather this than a player that can only shoot & do nothing else.
In what world is “shooting overrated” lmao
I’d rather have a pass first player like Simmons who also plays elite defense and rebounds over a shoot first guy like Wiggins.
Well sure, but I’d rather have a player who is actually good at basketball over either of them.
By what metric is Simmons not good at basketball? His only knock is outside shooting. He was still top 20 in VORP in his second year.
A huge part of basketball is SHOOTING THE BALL. Now if Simmons can develop a jump shot and get over his fear of shooting the ball….. he’d be pretty nasty. (He doesn’t play elite defence btw, at least not in the playoffs, disappeared quite a bit, and they lost) but you philly fans can keep tootin your teams horns and keep trusting the process lol
Chicks dig the long ball
The problem is his compatibility with Embiid. If they could surround Embiid with shooting we might see Shaq/Dream type block dominance… Simmons and Embiid together? Double teaming, congested lane…
I’m not sure adding Al Horford to the starting lineup is going to help… Who are they going to start, 1 Ben Simmons 2 Josh Richardson 3 Tobias Harris 4 Al Horford 5 Joel Embiid? Not convinced with the spacing in that lineup.
The bench looks thin too, 1 Milton 2 J Simmons 3 Ennis 4 Scott 5 O’Quinn? Yikes
J. Simmons isn’t on the team. Their most recent two 1st round picks (Z. Smith and M. Thybulle) will add to their wing depth. Backup PG is a dumpster fire, but they really like Shake. A solid, yet unspectacular Raul Neto will be veteran PG insurance. Their front court is stacked with Harris, embiid, horford, Scott, bolden, and oquinn. Most likely 2 of Embiid, horford, and Harris will be on the court the majority of the game with horford and Harris both being able to slide up a spot. They do not have a proven go to bench scoring option. Late game situations will be tough unless Ben or Harris develops into that role. Last year was rough from a depth perspective, this year they are much more balanced
If they didn’t someone else would have.
Yes,he needs a shot,needs to work on his free throws,and it would be nice to see him drop his turnovers by 1 per game.But the 6ers still went from 28 wins and the top half of the lottery,to 54 wins and the top half of the Eastern conference.He’s a difference maker with room to improve,and if he improves the holes in his game,he becomes a legit MvP candidate.He was getting the max,whether it was from the 6ers or someone else.And if he don’t,then he still has the size and athleticism to slide to the 3 or 4,so he gives the team flexibility options down the line.Not signing him,then you’re left with a team without cap space,and you’re relying on finding a new pg with a top draft pick in the 20s….. Everybody the 6ers invested in should remain tradable throughout their deals.
It doesn’t really matter how many wins they improved, they still haven’t made it out of the second round in “the process” era.
A lot of “IFs”
They went from 5 years of high lottery picks to 2 2nd round exits.Progress when you’re developing and building something always matters…
And that’s alot of “ifs” to become a MvP caliber player,he’s already an all star,and he’s done enough to warrant committing to another 5 years.Close to a triple double average as a pg,but he also has the size to be a pf,and likely average a double double while doing it.His free throw shooting needs work,but he’s not Shaq.He needs to cut down on turnovers,and he should as he gains experience and the team becomes more stable.2 2nd round exits,with alot of roster turnover.The team this year played a whole 20 something games together.
I don’t doubt philly has a great team and they’ll be pretty good, I just think their fans are insufferable and think all their players are the greatest thing on earth when in reality they haven’t done sh*t