re: I no longer question Ben Simmons' greatness..

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played off him hurting his ability to take his guy off the dribble

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he led the sec in fta per game. He was taking people of the dribble all the time.

There isn't really any point debating it any more. People on here are convinced that his jump shot made him ineffective and that he didn't hustle or whatever. He gets blamed for the shortcomings of a coach that never knew what to do with defense and couldn't control his players.

Simmons was selfish because he was forced to do absolutely everything for a lousy team. When he proved incapable of single-handedly winning every game, he was the problem, not the diva guard that jacked up every shot or the clueless coach.

Preseason rant: Losing Simmons will be addition by subtration. Here's a funny thread in hindsight

Reality: Losing Simmons was subtraction by subtraction.

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he led the sec in fta per game. He was taking people of the dribble all the time.

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in sec play? when we got into conference play it was obvious the way to defend whim was to sag off him and let him dribble and drive...he usually dished (some of you forget this was a huge knock on him for not finishing hard around the basket)

on fastbreaks he was amazing with the ball...in half court sets he wasn't when on the perimeter

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I question his greatness though because he never learned anything. His jumper was still not a go-to shot

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Developing a jumper or a 3 point shite isnt something you can do over the span of a college basketball season.

Magic Johnson had no jumper coming into the league. Neither did Lebron.
It took MJ until he was 32 years old to develop a consistent 3 point shot.

Simmons didnt shoot because he probably figured that he could find someone for a better shot or take someone off the dribble. Doing that is far better than taking shots and missing them.
But people call Simmons great because he is 6'9-6'10 and can take people off the dribble, facilitate the offense,and finish at the rim with either hand. You dont find that set of skills in a 6'9-6'10 player very often.

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People on here are convinced that his jump shot made him ineffective

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In half court sets he was...are you denying that as the season went on teams played off of him at 18' and dared him to penetrate?

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Funny how no one responds

Our fans on this board are basketball illiterate

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We both have been here long enough to realize that 90% of the posters on here are just regurgitating what they saw other rantards post. That how you get so many lsu posters saying Simmons wasnt all that

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In half court sets he was...are you denying that as the season went on teams played off of him at 18' and dared him to penetrate?

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I am. As the season went on, Jones put him on the block to placate Quarterman's desire to handle the ball. His numbers went down because you took a guy that you can't do anything with in the open floor and made him subject to the whim of a selfish guy making an entry pass to a guy who can play with his back to the basket but is a better face up player. The revisionist history is asinine.

M'keh.

I know that shooting from various places on the court is very subtle. Fair enough.
I reworked my shot two times. It took 2 years each time because i practiced baseball all summer.
He could just practice with a coach next summer. Its his job.

If Johnny O'Bryant or Jarell Martin had Simmons' stats and game this board would crown them as the greatest in a quarter century. Because it is Simmons, it is "he was ineffective in the half court."