You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.

— Kobe Bryant lol.

With the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft the Philadelphia 76ers selected Ben Simmons from Louisiana State University (LSU).  Simmons did not participate in his first NBA season due to a foot injury sustained during the NBA Summer League.  The city of Philadelphia was able to get a small glace at their potential future after suffering many years of defeat and misery being labeled one of the worst teams in the Association. Coming into the NBA Simmons has been compared to multiple Hall of Famers such as the legendary Magic Johnson and The King LeBron James because of his height and skill set. 

Simmons is so multidimensional he can do everything on the court. Simmons can get to the bucket at will, find an open teammate in transition, and can guard all five positions with his 6’10 frame.  Currently playing in his third season in the NBA Simmons has won Rookie of the Year honors, made his first NBA All Star appearance last season, and averages nearly a triple double making him one of the bright young stars in the league.  With Simmons being crowned the heir apparent to LeBron James and with his ties to Philadelphia he was given the nickname “Fresh Prince.”

Like some of the greats with similar skill sets to Simmons the only thing that makes them a more complete player in the NBA is the ability to make a consistent jump shot.  For the longest Jason Kidd was called “Ason” because he had no J!  LeBron didn’t develop a consistent jump shot until year ten!  Magic Johnson too became a better shooter later in his illustrious career!  So what would one assume about Ben Simmons?  The assumption is that he will develop the jump shot later in his career correct?  History always repeats itself and from the looks of it history will repeat itself once again.  No one has ever entered the NBA a complete player for example, KG needed to get stronger, Stephen Curry needed to improve his ball handling, Michael Jordan himself needed to improve to finally get past the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs.  So why at the age of 23 years old would anyone expect Ben Simmons to be a completely polished player when the man hasn’t even entered his prime yet?  Most players truly enter their prime at the age of 25 plus Simmons is only two years away from shattering that glass ceiling and breaking through becoming the player we all hope that he can be.

The Philadelphia 76ers were selected by many to represent the Eastern Conference in this year’s NBA Finals but so far they’ve performed extremely mediocre which has raised many questions.  Can Joel Embiid stay healthy? How to properly space the floor with Al Horford? The lack of shooting in a jump shooting league? Is Brett Brown the right coach to lead the 76ers to the promise land?  Will Tobias Harris live up to his max contract?  The most important question of all is will Ben Simmons consistently shoot a jumper?

That has been the question the past two years for Simmons; he’s been able to perform so well in many other categories which helps the team in a number of ways.  However, his lack of shooting and aggressiveness also hurts the team in many different ways as well.  Simmons refusal to shoot the ball causes a multitude of issues on the offensive end for the 76ers most notably the floor spacing.  No one is asking for Simmons to be Stephen Curry or Ray Allen because that’s not realist then again at least shoot the jumper to keep the defense guessing.  He doesn’t even have to make every shot that he takes though at some point they will begin to fall.  It frees up the offense a bit and it forces the defender to respect the jump shot versus playing 12 feet off of him. 

Simmons shooting the jump shot would be the ultimate antidote for the majority of the problems that the 76ers face.  We’ve all seen the summer workouts watching Simmons shoot jumpers left and right destroying actual NBA competition.  As a 76ers fan I myself was salivating watching him shoot those jumpers hoping it would translate into a late run in the playoffs. Hoping to finally see my boys hoist that Larry O’Brien trophy and bringing an NBA Championship to the city of Philadelphia.  On the positive side teams play 82 games so there is still plenty of time for the 76ers to gel and address many of those issues that they currently face.  The easiest fix without making any trades or changes to the coaching staff would be for Ben to shoot the J!  The real question is does he have the hunger and passion to do so?  Only time will tell if Simmons is able to take that leap into NBA Superstar status.     

Mark S. Thompson