Focus on Simmons’ jumper will pay off in long run

Ben Simmons wants the ball. Even before he played his first NBA minutes for the 76ers, he ordained himself a point guard — despite what conventional wisdom might have prescribed for the 6-10 specimen.

Simmons wants the spotlight, too. The cameras and the bright lights don’t faze him. Don’t believe it? Just ask him. “I’m used to it,” he says, so cavalierly. “I shot a documentary.”

Through 30 games of Simmons’ career, few would argue that the rookie is on the path to stardom. His swagger and statistics speak volumes.

So what’s missing in this equation? A jumpshot.

Simmons doesn’t have one. If he does, he’s been unwilling to unveil it. Or he simply lacks confidence in it. Either way, that limitation in Simmons’ offensive game needs immediate correcting. It’s not something that can wait until the offseason to be remedied.

The injury history of Joel Embiid, who sat out a third straight night, necessitates the development of Simmons’ jumpshot. Simmons needs to be more than a facilitator who averages eight assists per game. The Sixers could have used that shooting touch from Simmons in their 114-109 loss to the Toronto Raptors, in which they blew a 22-point, second-half lead and lost for the eighth time in nine games.

It’s not as though Simmons can’t get open looks. But those open looks haven’t curbed Sim-

mons’ preference for shots at or near the rim.

“If all you relied on was scoring in open court … and hopefully getting fouled and going to the line, and there was nothing in between,” said Sixers coach Brett Brown, “then it’s going to be a long career and you really are going to be not very impactful in a playoff game. That’s not going to be allowed in May and June.”

Brown admits that Simmons’ jumpshot is a work in progress. Brown and his coaching staff are charting each of Simmons’ jumpers in shootaround and practice situations. They monitor spots on the floor from

which Simmons takes his shots, how regularly those shots fall, and what inertia it took for him to create those shots. They cobble all of that data to measure Simmons’ improvement.

If that sounds too deep, maybe it is. Brown measures Simmons’ success on his volume of in-game shots.

“(Simmons) and I have a personal goal of looking at between three and five shots, not makes,” Brown said. “I really want him taking between three and five, and I hope it tilts more toward five.”

More and more, the Sixers are getting from Simmons what they so desperately need — a close-up look at that jumper.

Simmons got it going early. He cut past Toronto’s defense, moving left to right

through the lane with a behind-the-back dribble, before finishing with an easy layup. On the Sixers’ next trip, he fired away from 14 feet and hit a shot near the free-throw line.

He showed a soft touch on his jumper again in the third quarter. Out of halftime, Simmons used a subtle push to create space on the right side of the lane. He easily rose up and deposited a 13-footer.

It was a glimpse of what Simmons can be.

Truly elite teams, the kind that contend for championships, have more than one reliable scoring option. They have more than one player who can create a shot for himself. They have more than one guy who can carry the scoring burden in crunch time.

In theory, between Embiid and Simmons, the Sixers have two. In practice, though, they really only have one.

Simmons’ physical attributes, ball-handling ability, and elite court vision make him an uncanny athlete. Without a jumper, he is seeing a limited return on those skills. Opposing defenses, when compelled to stop him, have collapsed on Simmons in the paint and rendered him unable to score.

A well-developed jumper will set up Simmons’ ability to facilitate, as well. As teams move toward respecting his midrange game, Simmons will open up looks for Embiid and others.

“(Simmons’) life becomes a lot easier and, in many ways, simpler if this can truly become this season a

part of his game,” Brown said. “We’re not asking him to go to the 3-point line and look to shoot or make a lot of 3s. We are looking at him to play what the defense gives you and what the defense gives you is that a lot. They give you that 16-, 17foot rise-up.”

Even when Embiid has been available, Simmons has shown a preference for passing. He attempted a mere six shots in Tuesday’s loss to Sacramento, launching only two in the fourth quarter of a tightly contested game that was decided in the final minute.

Simmons played all 15 overtime minutes of the Sixers’ triple-OT loss last week to Oklahoma City. The backand-forth game required big play from the Sixers’ primary ballhandler. He attempted

only one overtime shot.

In many ways this season, the Sixers have been impatient.

They don’t want to wait until next season to win; they want to compete now, Brown has said. They don’t want to slowly ramp up Embiid’s court time, either; if anything, they have shown a willingness to accelerate his minutes.

With that line of thinking, they shouldn’t delay their work with Simmons on his jumpshot. They shouldn’t push it off as a project better suited for the offseason.

They need to act now. And to their credit, it appears as though they are. To contact Christopher A. Vito, email christopheravito@ gmail.com.