Ben Simmons is healthy and his jumper might not be far behind
- As uncertainty continues to cloud the NBA and its potential return, one thing is for sure, when play finally resumes, Ben Simmons will be lacing up.
Tuesday morning, ESPN released a profile on Simmons and his struggles developing a jump shot. Simmons sat down with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullen and gave his most personal account on why he isn’t shooting three’s yet. While the article dealt predominantly with Simmons’ jumper, it also provided an update on his back injury:
The hope of a mid-April return for the playoffs has been deferred, although sources tell ESPN that Simmons will be good to go as his lower-back impingementhas all but dissipated. “If the season resumes,” says a team source, “we’re expecting to have him.”
For those of us desperate for some good news, soak this in. The dream of a miracle post season run isn’t dead yet. Remember, the Sixers’ starting five has only played 22 games together as a group. When the Sixers’ starters actually play together, they have an 8.5 net rating, which would be second-best in the league, ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 7.1 net rating.
It’s impossible to tell what capacity the NBA will return when play resumes, if it resumes at all. In the event the playoffs go on as planned, a healthy Sixers team would be a very difficult out.
After the injury update, the article goes on to depict Simmons in a way rarely seen; human.
MacMullen makes it clear that Simmons struggles with confidence. He is the type of person who does things in their own time, when they are ready. As a child, he waited to play organized basketball – despite showing advanced skills at a very young age – because the environment was too intimidating. Eventually as a teen, Simmons played a much older New Zealand team. They would try to intimidate him, but it didn’t matter because he knew he was better. Growth takes time.
Simmons knows what he need to work on and will get there eventually, the thing that seems to hold him back most however, is his fear of failure. He questions every shot he takes, wondering if he can make it or if there is a better play to be made. He’s afraid to shoot because he doesn’t want to miss. Brett Brown mentioned that Simmons doesn’t have much margin for error while developing. Had he been drafted during the heart of the Process, Brown has no doubts he’d be slinging three’s by now.
Unfortunately, Simmons didn’t have the luxury of most lottery picks and found himself at the forefront of a contender as a rookie. He gained confidence in the things he was good at, but everything else – specifically his jump shot – fell to wayside. Simmons understands that his shot is one of the only things holding him back from truly being great, but he’s just waiting until his shot is great to officially unveil it:
“I could be one of those guys shooting 30% right now. But I’d rather be one of those guys shooting 40%.”
