After a collection of videos posted by Ben Simmons this offseason showed him shooting threes and jumpers in pickup games, there was real optimism that he might add shooting from outside of the paint to his game this season.
Now 13 games into the season, however, nothing has changed. Simmons is still passing up open shots from three and seems more hesitant than ever to shoot the ball.
Center Joel Embiid was recently asked if the team encourages Simmons to shoot the ball more, and his answer was pretty crystal clear.
"Yeah of course, everybody does. We have been encouraging him since he has been here, but you u know, that is him. He is comfortable playing certain ways. For us to win we are going to need him to shoot, but you know I am fine with him playing his game, not forcing anything. But hopefully, at some point. I am sure he is going to pick it up," Embiid said. "But he is fine, he is doing a great job of being a point guard, not forcing anything. So I am fine letting him grow into himself and not force anything. I mean, I know a lot of people want him to shoot, shoot, shoot, but if he is not comfortable, he shouldn't do it. We have a lot of scorers on the team, so we are going to figure it out."
While Embiid sandwiched his answer with compliments for Simmons, his message was obvious — Simmons must begin to shoot the ball for this team to win. Of course, Embiid is correct. As the team's best player, there is no question Embiid's life is made tougher by having a point guard that refuses to take the most important shot in today's NBA. Simmons is elite at many things, but his complete refusal to try to stretch the floor by taking wide-open threes is hurting the team. The issue will continue to be debated amongst Sixers' fans, but Embiid clearly falls on one side of the debate.
Now, the question isn't whether Simmons needs to shoot, it is if after two-plus seasons without one real three-point shot ever attempted, if he ever will.
And if he doesn't, it is fair to wonder if a team that started the season with championship aspirations will be able to reach them with Simmons at point guard.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
