In the wake of the Sixers‘ second crushing Game 7 loss in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the last three years, all eyes are on Ben Simmons, whose poor foul shooting and reluctance to put up shots – especially in the fourth quarter – helped doom Philadelphia.
“I ain’t shoot well from the line this series,” Simmons said on Sunday after the Sixers’ loss, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “Offensively, I wasn’t there. I didn’t do enough for my teammates. … There’s a lot of things that I need to work on.”
Simmons made just 15-of-45 free throws in the seven-game series vs. Atlanta and connected on only 34.2% of his total foul shots in the playoffs, the worst mark ever for a player with more than 70 attempts in a single postseason.
He also seemed eager to get the ball out of his hands in fourth quarters, for fear of being fouled. At one point late in the Sixers’ loss on Sunday, Simmons passed up an open dunk attempt to get the ball to Matisse Thybulle, who was fouled and subsequently made one of two free throws. Joel Embiid singled out that play in his post-game comments to reporters, McMenamin notes.
“Man, I will be honest. I thought the turning point was, you know, when we, I don’t know how to say it, but I thought the turning point was just we had an open shot and we made one free throw and we missed the other and they came down and scored,” Embiid said.
The 76ers have invested heavily in Simmons, who is owed nearly $147MM over the next four years. He was supposed to be a franchise cornerstone alongside Embiid. However, when head coach Doc Rivers was asked after Sunday’s game whether Simmons can be the point guard for a championship team, Rivers didn’t commit one way or the other.
“I don’t know that question or the answer to that right now,” he said.
Here’s more on the Sixers’ three-time All-Star:
- While Simmons took responsibility for his offensive struggles, he also pointed out that he had 13 assists and played good defense on Trae Young, who was just 5-of-23 from the floor in Game 7, McMenamin observes.
- Asked if he wants to stay in Philadelphia, Simmons replied, “Yeah, I love being in Philly. I love this organization. The fans are great people. I had a bad series. I expect that (boos). It’s Philly“ (Twitter link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype).
- Michael Scotto of HoopsHype spoke to NBA executives about whether the Sixers should trade Simmons this offseason and received mixed feedback. A pair of execs said they’d explore a trade, while two others said they’d probably hang onto him for now — one of those two suggested a position change. “I’m not sure I’d trade him, but I’d make him a power forward and get a point guard,” that exec told Scotto. “Ben has totally disappeared. He needs to be more aggressive, especially in the playoffs. He’s content getting assists, rebounds, and defending, but to win in the playoffs they need more from him.”
- While trading Simmons might seem like an inevitability after this postseason, it won’t be easy for the Sixers to move him in exchange for a star after the way his value dropped during the playoffs, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. Including him in a package for Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard would perhaps be a best-case scenario, but neither of those players seem available for now, according to Hollinger, who wonders if a swap involving Zach LaVine might make the most sense for the 76ers and the Bulls.
You think!?
It’s not all Simmons fault
Fault allocation
Simmons 25%
GM 35%
Coach 40%
I think Moray actually did a darn good job this year
If one can remove hindsight, yes he did. He definitely deserves a shot to fix the situation too.
i mean, what is the move that so obviously needed to be done in hindsight? hindsight says even Harden doesn’t fix this team, because he just got injured anyway and then the Sixers would be down all the assets that would have been dealt for him and still not have a healthy star player on the court with Embiid.
Morey isn’t the GM
No way that allocation is accurate. The GM and coach weren’t scared to go up and take jumpers. The GM and coach weren’t shooting 34% from the FT line… The team around him was very good but (on the court) he was the biggest part of why they lost. It wasn’t Doc or Morey
And I should preface all this by saying I’m glad Philly is out, I very much dislike them.
According to espn Jay Williams at 5:30pm
76ers should finish Hawks at game 5 or 6
Jay Williams said
Rivers blew up 26 points and 18 points without any adjustment
Boy, Ben Simmons better learn how to shoot soon, or Phili will never have a shot at a title with this core.
happy national $#!+ on ben simmons day.
Sixers had 7 games to get it right. Can’t put all of this on Simmons.
First it was Brett Brown. Now it’s Ben Simmmons. What will next year’s excuse be?
nonsense, you must not listen to WIP. it’s Ben’s fault when they lose and when they win its in spite of Ben. the armchair GMs that think this guy is a bad player or worth nothing are mental. as Ive said, he’s just miscast and a bad fit for this specific team.
I think Ben deserves a lot of blame – but WOW. Rivers and Embiid both just completely through him under the bus. I mean, I get it, but damn.
Especially Embiid.
Like he might as well have answered that question with, “Well, I think the turning point was, you know, I don’t know how to say it, but F*** BEN SIMMONS!!!”
I didnt quite get that impression. a lot of the criticisms that people believe he was hinting to Ben with could be applied to other guys, and some of them himself. Embiid pushed his body as much as he could this year, i think he was just tired.
That was nothing wrong with Brown. Media always want pin failures on coaches. This dude had 6 years to step up his game and get a jumper and now he finally realizing that he was his team downfall. If you can’t shoot the ball then get out the way, don’t pretend to be a playmaker smh
Brown made a lot of poor rotation decisions, but at least he had more complicated pieces to figure that out, whereas they got rid of that issue, and made it more obvious, and Doc Rivers still didn’t know what to do b/c he got fired for that exact reason in LA
as someone who watched Brown’s teams for years, I can tell you he wasnt a bad coach. my thought really was just that they had the ability to upgrade over him, and they took that chance. at this point though, i cant say the change was for the better. a better gameplan by Glenn in any of the first three losses and they probably win the series.
Been on the league for years and hasn’t developed a jumper. What he do all summer? Should be improving every year. Scared to shoot it from downtown. Even Embiid realizing he ain’t getting nowhere with this sidekick. Trade him.
It’s actually more than even a lack of improvement. He’s notably regressed as an offensive player, even in the regular season.
Three years ago this guy was playing LeBron ball with Bellinelli, Ilyasova, Saric, et al – and now people are saying he should be a PF. How does that happen?
I don’t understand it, either. Bad coaching? Bad player development? I hesitate to say it, but is he lazy? Disinterested? Even guys like Brook Lopez and Serge Ibaka have gone from never attempting threes to having a decent shot (in the case of Lopez, attempting hundreds per year). What’s Ben’s excuse?
After his first year, I thought it was mind-boggling to have a guard not even attempt a three in a league that has become so three-heavy. And then he just… stayed the same. He has to be the most confusing/baffling player in the league. Props to his defense and rebounding/passing, but he needs to improve, and fast.
the reason I dont harp on thr shooting thing is that in theory, it should be so easy even just to do it a little to appease the fans, that there must be something else to it. as in if it would be so easy for him to start shooting, why wouldn’t he have done it by now?
Yup – I’d love for someone to do a statistical analysis on where he ranks in overall shooting for a perimeter player. Because at this point I think he’s below Rubio territory, who had to be one of the worst of all time.
Even when people make the Draymond comparisons, I’m not sure they realize much of a better shooter Draymond is then Ben. If Simmons was a 72% FT / 30% 3P shooter like Dray he’d literally be averaging 22/9/9’s with his level of athleticism.
Embiid needs to order a Code Red until he shoots if they keep him on the roster.
Mixed feelings about trading him now. Would be getting pennies on the dollar. But if he doesn’t get better shooting his trade value will continually decrease.
Hopefully this is his wake up call to improve his shooting, otherwise I don’t know if he ever will.
I said this before Game 7, but I’ll repeat it here.
Morey balking at Simmons + Maxey for Harden is on track to go down as a What If on the level of “What if OKC never traded Harden?”
Now, not even 6 months later, what’s Simmons’ adjusted value? CJ McCollum?
Maybe Simmons makes the necessary adjustments this (condensed) offseason, but as of right now I think you have to look at the Harden thing and just shake your head vigorously.
Agreed. At the time it was somewhat perplexing they didn’t pull the trigger especially considering they probably wouldn’t have had to give up many picks.
They also have Thybulle who would have been the primary defensive stopper. My guess is Morey was hesitant bc Harden is like 7 years older but still, he went for it all quite often in HOU.
Did you guys not watch James Harden in the playoffs? What makes you think Philly would have been better off with him instead of Simmons?
I did. Did you watch him during the season? He was playing some of if not the best basketball of his career.
Injuries happen. But add Harden to Philly and subtract him from Brooklyn, then going into next year you’d be hard pressed to say a team with prime Harden and Embiid on it isn’t a top 4 contender for a ring.
Instead they’re going to be calling up Portland and seeing if they can get CJ McCollum for Simmons.
Which scenario would you prefer?
I mean Harden was playing through injury, basically playing on one leg so it’s not fair to judge him based solely off the playoffs. He was averaging 25 and 11 before injury.
I wouldn’t trade Lavine for him. I would trade Coby White and a filler contract. Maybe sign and trade with Lauri.
The Sixers would not accept your offer
You are correct. Someone would give more. From the Bulls perspective, that would be about what I would offer.
I think Bulls won’t take Simmons
76ers draft picks have little value
Rofl at the title
This has been kind of exhausted the last few days, so saying the same things doesnt really do anything…
I personally wouldnt trade him, but I would hire a competent coach that knows who plays on his own team, and hope Simmons at least becomes more willing to attack the paint in matchups he has an advantage in. As I’ve said, it’s not even necessarily making shots, as it hurts more not being willing to look for them. I did say before the series that Atlanta at least could make it interesting matchup wise, but even without Danny Green Philly should have had the pieces to beat them in 6 games
Not sure yet exactly what they need to add b/c they have multiple young pieces that will hopefully get a chance to show what they did earlier in the season, and build on that, and they’re very versatile if you have a competent coach
He’s not a PG. Not many teams that have 2 decent PG’s to trade one for Simmons, especially one that makes that much money (for nothing). Kemba would’ve been a good target. Should be an interesting offseason.
Bad contract from the beginning. He’s barely a starting player. He gives you very good production in other key areas. I see him about as good as a Motrezll or a Horford. Great to have, bad to build a team around.
I think building a team around Simmons is fine. The issue is that the team is built around Embid, and they need Simmons to be a 3-and-D point guard as a result. He can’t do that.
If he was point forward, he’d be fine. But Philly can’t let him play around the rim without messing up things for Embid. So here we are.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Simmons is not a bad player, Simmons/Embiid is just a bad pairing. That is why drafting for talent is not as good as drafting for need. Philly had 5 top 6 picks in their “process drafts” and there are 5 positions on a basketball team. It doesn’t take a genius to know that they not have selected players that don’t fit together. Or at the very least, they should have traded the talented players they picked for positions that fit together well.
Your points make sense.
My only counter would be; All five positions on the floor need to shoot well in the current NBA to spread the floor.
If Simmons can’t shoot, he’s not a core player and a liability on offense.
Also, his free throw shooting is totally unacceptable for a Pro.
I don’t believe you need 5 guys who can shoot to spread the floor, if you have a competent coach at the helm who understands how to coach a different style.
A trade to a low-tier, rebuilding team would be the best for Simmons.
He needs a HARD reset, to save his career.
Agreed. He needs to play on a team where his shortcomings aren’t under a microscope. He also would benefit from some creative offensive coaching.
San Antonio seems like a good fit for him – Popp would find a way to make it work – but I can’t imagine they’d offer up a lot.
More likely, Simmons is stuck in Philly. Which is a shame for all involved.
I actually thought of the SPURS also, just because of Pop’s system and Chip Engelland, a master, guru shot doctor who NBA fans might not know about.
The trade pieces would be the tricky part, just because of the SPURS cost-controlled PG’s and Ben’s huge salary.
GSW gotta come out of this offseason with one of these guys lol, there’s so many to pick from!
I wonder if Rivers’ act will ever grow old on the NBA establishment. Doubt it, in their world, he’s apparently a made man entitled to a no show job.
If another HC answered the Simmons’ question the way Rivers did, it would be immediately tagged as the HC throwing one his players under the bus. All of sudden truth (as those hearing it determine) is a defense.
Agreed and I’m glad Kenny Smith called him out on it last night.
It’s comical because all season all I heard in every article about Simmons was that it was Rivers who wanted Simmons to stay – that he wasn’t hearing it with Morey potentially shopping him.
Now he doesn’t know if he can be a PG on a championship team. Convenient, because I’m pretty sure most of the league believes they could have had Harden for Simmons less than 6 months ago.
Doc isn’t a good coach.
Simmons is getting crushed, but what has Doc brought to Philly? The Clippers have played better having moved on from Rivers.
He’s a name. That’s it.
Ben Simmons needs to learn to shoot the ball.
Nate better not play Brickdan Brickdanovic in conference final!! He almost costed us the series. Dude turned into Joe Harris. Divac was not a good GM but him not overpaying this clown was really smart. Trade his ass and get us a Bullock or Cedi Osman!
Sixers’ Simmons: “There’s A Lot Of Things I Need To Work On”
Yeah like packing your bags and leaving town and rescinding your baloney contract!
Ben Simmons is a Bum!
Maybe trade Simmons to Sacramento for Buddy Hield? Now there’s a guy who will shoot every time he touches it. The Kings can move Haliburton to SG and Simmons to PF (replacing Bagley).
Sacramento is the kind of team that might take a flyer on Simmons, and that has the assets to make it easy for Philly. But I’m not sure Fox wants to share the ball with Simmons – I’m not saying he’s selfish, I just don’t know.
Also, neither can shoot, so probably not a great fit. I’d say Fox for Simmons makes more sense.
Let Sacramento build around Ben as the centerpiece and Philly gets a PG who can create a shot down the stretch.
I was just saying this last night. Simmons for Buddy Hield can work. Would they do Simmons for Fox??? I’m not so sure.
I think this is the best 76ers can get
Forget about Lillard and LaVine
You do real thing, you don’t image
Here’s why I would consider it if I was Sacramento: Simmons, frustrating as he is, still has a higher ceiling than Fox.
If he can become even a decent shooter he’s pretty much a top 10 player with his elite passing and defense. To me that might be worth the risk – whereas as good as Fox is what’s the team realistically doing in the next 2-3 years with him as their best player? Maybe a play-in game or two? Are any big team FA coming to team up with him?
With Simmons you have a rare opportunity to buy low on a guy who could be one of the truly elite players in the league.
Or: he could continue his forays into becoming one of the worst shooters of modern NBA history.
Fox is a better player than Simmons. I doubt they would move Fox for Simmons. Buddy probably, Barnes def and MB3 he’s already on the plane.
If the Kings swapped Buddy for Ben their line-up would probably go:
Fox
Haliburton
Simmons
Barnes
Bagley (unless he’s moved)
They would have no money for Free Agents. So you’d be saying that that line-up is a playoff caliber starting 5.
I think a 3-team or even 4-team is the only way this gets done properly and it ends up with him on a team like Portland, LAL, Dallas, LAC.
You read my mind.
Sixers should’ve offered more for Harden.
Don’t talk about it, be about it. You have yet to expand your game. The fan boys of course make tons of excuses for you as well. That nonchalant attitude will not cut it.
I’d say the first thing he needs to work on is getting his home on the market. Why wait until the last minute on something that is inevitable.
LOL
Also, guys like that don’t worry about buying/selling real estate. That’s a problem for the staff. :)
Prior to this series, I thought Ben’s problem was with the three-pointer. He has only attempted 34 threes in four years. But to discover that a PG shoots 60% from the line makes him an incredible liability at crunch time. Then the bottom fell out in this series and he shot 35% from the line. I don’t see that there is a way for him to recover in Philly.
Sixers should of kept Butler or traded Simmons for Harden. Would Philadelphia trade Simmons for KP? What’s really the value of Simmons now?
this team wouldnt have been in this mess if not for the Butler situation. it was Butler that wanted out. that’s why they didnt bring him back, gave Harris that big contract, and the pieces dont fit well enough.
True Butler gets curiously little flack for his stints in Philly and Minnesota.
no one ever wants to hear it, but as far as im concerned the biggest two to blame if the process fails in the end will be Butler and Fultz. the former for screwing up a good thing (and it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see he probably didnt make the right move in hindsight) and the latter for having provided the upside that the team needed to fill out roles properly. if Fultz panned out or Jimmy was still here we wouldn’t be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. whether or not one believes Ben should shoot better, they weren’t hoping to have to bank on their hopeful #2 scorer to be a guy that did not come with a jumpshot to begin with.
‘Prior to this series, I thought Ben’s problem was with the three-pointer.’
It’s much worse than that. He doesn’t shoot at all beyond 10′. The last three years, 91.6% of his shot were from within 10′ of the basket. His average shot distance for his career is 4.4′ from the basket. Those numbers most closely match Dwight Howard’s on the Sixers. Obviously, Simmons gets a lot of shots close because he can create them, but he literally does not shoot jumpers.
KP is way too injury prone. While Simmons is limited as a shooter, an injured player would be worse.
My preference would be Beal, then McCollum. That doesn’t mean that those teams would be interested in Simmons.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Lakers make a move for Simmons because he and LeBron share the same agent. LeBron probably thinks he can fix him.
Sign and trade with Schroder only gets so far. Lakers already have a massive payroll and no real trade bait. I’d say include Kuzma but he can actually shoot the ball sometimes.
There’s no way that he will suit up for Philly again. He will get boo’d out of the building. Philly fans don’t forget easily, no matter how unsmart they may be
Simmons’ struggles offensively aren’t their only issue by a longshot.
They get exposed by athletic teams like the Hawks.. They also lack good ball handlers. Embiid should not have to dribble the ball so much while surrounded by defenders with the game on the line. It’s going to often result in a turnover.. They need more players who can create their own scoring opportunities.
A quick dribble-drive player would do them good, along with more athleticism to keep up with teams like Atlanta.
Someone mentioned them not keeping Jimmy Butler but he wasn’t interested in returning.
Butler would have made more money with 76ers, but Simmons and Embid both wanted to be Batmans and Harris too, and none of them wanted to work hard enough to win.
Simmons was terrible, but Embid and Doc blaming him for the loss is even lamer when neither of them are winners.
And yet it was also entirely expected from both of them. These are not leaders nor individuals with the required heart or mentality to win a championship. I’ve always disliked both of those clowns.
How long before we get a Joe Cowley article saying the Bulls should trade for Simmons after a whole year of saying they shouldn’t give that same 35 mil to Zach Lavine (who’s actually good at basketball)?
Would you want Simmons on the Bulls?
I don’t think Simmons is “bad” at basketball. You have to surround him with a couple shooters and play hard types. He doesn’t fit on Philly as currently constructed. Probably doesn’t fit in Chicago with Vooch either.
Taking into account the contract, no. Contract aside, still maybe no. The D and passing would really help the Bulls, but the unwillingness to shoot is a huge issue at this point because I think he’s genuinely unplayable in the 4th quarter when you really need him. Zach and Vooch can cover up a lot of that throughout a game, but the opponent’s answer when it matters is hack-a-Simmons. And at this point I don’t trust Simmons to figure it out.
Simmons knows he needs to work on things but refuses to do so. Philly needs to ship him out asap
Ben is NOT a PG ……. Ben is NOT a PG.
Only been saying it since yr 1. Morey is overrated and so is Doc. All Morey ever did is ruin Yaos career. And washed Hardens jock. Westbrook on this team instead of Simmons and they win three rings. I said Sixers should get a PG even Russ can do it. When Wizards were falling. I said go get Russ. I know I’m more advanced than most. Maybe now you will believe.
Ben Is NOT a PG. And why after 4 yrs you shoot .35% in playoffs. PLAYOFFS. WahtTF. Bens gotta go. Embiid might not hold up for 5 yrs. So you better get this right. Sixers were lucky to get Harris. Go and get Russ NOW.
Westbrook might be the only player Sixers fans despise more than Ben, which boggles my mind to be honest.
Yea, you can’t trade for Russ. Idk why but fans in the lower levels pick fights with him. Yes he’s a smug SOB, but even with all his stat padding antics, and terrible shot selection, he’s always going 100% every game. He won’t lose you a game for lack of effort or being too scared of the moment.
Which is why Buddy Hield trades also make sense, chuckers are gonna chuck. Imagine before this year, no one would say you’d trade Ben Simmons in a deal for Buddy straight up. And now you’d be like well maybe they would need to give up a 1st + Ben to get Russ and more for any other relevant player.
Simmons for Kuzma, KCP, & Schroder
Burn that trade idea pls
Why? Do you think the sixers will refuse?
Oh YEAHHHHH baby!!!!!!!!