76ers need Ben Simmons to stay consistently aggressive on offense in well-organized to reach their potential
Ben Simmons has observed himself as an elite NBA player. Simmons is in his fourth season in the directed, and he already has Rookie of the Year honors, two All-Star nods, and a First-Team All-Defense selection to his name. He's annually beside the league leaders in assists per game (he's fifth in the NBA this season with eight assists per game), and he has Defensive Player of the Year potential. So far this season understanding, Simmons appears to have stagnated offensively, as he hasn't been playing with the same composed of consistent aggression that we've grown accustomed to seeing from him. While what could be explained as sporadic timidness on offense from Simmons hasn't discontinued the Sixers from stacking up wins early in the season, it could ultimately obtain a concern for Philadelphia, especially come postseason play.
The fact that Simmons is having a down year offensively becomes evident when scrolling his basic comprising stats. Simmons still hasn't expanded his repertoire to implicated a perimeter shot, and so far this season he's averaging a career-low in points per game (13.0), field goal causes per game (9.2), and field goal percentage (52 percent). He's also averaging a career-high 3.5 turnovers per game.
The trend corpses when you wade into the advanced stats allotment of Simmons' Basketball Reference page. While his Defensive Box Plus/Minus (a stat that measures a player's defending impact) is at a career-high (2.6) this season, his Offensive Box Plus/Minus (a stat that measures, you guessed it, a player's offensive impact) is at a career-low (.1). In turn, his resulting Box Plus/Minus, and his Value Over Replacement Player (or VORP) are both also at a career-low. His turnover percentage is also at a career-high 23.6. This is all a adore way of saying that Simmons has been struggling on the offensive end.
The main sigh appears to be a lack of aggression. Simmons' serve numbers are still high, but he hasn't consistently hunted his own shots. Simmons attempted 10 or more field goals in just two of his past eight games. In a combine of those games, the Sixers were minus MVP candidate Joel Embiid, and they would have benefitted from Simmons stepping up on the offensive end. Instead, in losses to the Pistons and Grizzlies minus Embiid, Simmons took a total of 18 shots and made eight of them. This is a troubling trend given the fact that the Sixers are at their best when Simmons is in box mode like he was early on alongside the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night when he went lustrous at LeBron James in order to convert two early baskets:
When Simmons is aggressive like that it draws defenses in and, in turn, opens things up for the others on the floor. For Simmons, inhabit aggressive and hunting for his own offense doesn't equate to chucking up shots from the perimeter. It plainly means using his rare combination of size, expeditiously and athleticism to get into the paint, attack the rim, and exploit mismatches, like he did anti the Lakers when he had the smaller Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on him late in the binary quarter:
Simmons has the ability to make incompatibility plays consistently, but sometimes this season it appears as belief he isn't even considering trying to score:
So, why has Simmons seemed to struggles on the offensive end this season? There are a few factors that could potentially be at work. First, Simmons is in a new controls under a new coach. Before this season, Brett Brown was the only coach that Simmons ever sterling up for. Now, he's the lead guaranteeing in Doc Rivers' offense, and he could aloof be in the process of finding his footing. There's also the possibility that he's aloof dealing with some lingering soreness from the knee surgery he underwent over the offseason -- belief Simmons has denied that this is the case. Lastly, he could be in his own head a bit while hearing his name mentioned in James Harden-related rumors bet on this season. Though he took the status in stride, feeling like you might be contained could be jarring, especially for a player that's never been traded.
Whatever the reasons, Simmons' reach when it comes to being aggressive can be adjusted, as it's at least partly mental. For Simmons, walking the line between selves aggressive and setting the table for his teammates has been a bit of an internal struggles this season.
"Personally, myself I might get caught up in trying to get guys shots and gets guys into a rhythm," Simmons said while the Sixers 107-106 victory over the Lakers. "It's not easy selves a point guard and doing that so it's just trying to find that balance of when to be aggressive and get to the rim and regain and find my guys."
And that's what it's all about: balance. Simmons doesn't need to try five 3-pointers, or 25 shots a game. He just ensures to remain consistently aggressive over the flows of contests, while continuing to spread the ball around. Sixers coach Doc Rivers insists that he doesn't care throughout a dip in Simmons' offensive production, and that complains sense since Simmons is still a obvious player even when he isn't piling up the points. But, the Sixers cause especially tough to beat when Simmons is tying out in transition, playing downhill, putting pressure on the defense and attacking the rim, and his aim should be to do so consistently.
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