Ben Simmons has been talking about the ‘Hack-a-Ben’ tactics since his rookie year, and people haven’t forgotten about that. Even after he vowed to improve his numbers at the free-throw line, the Australian point guard has done the opposite season after season.
Back in 2017, the player claimed he would work on his shooting woes, but we’ve seen no improvement from him so far. An old video of Simmons talking about his FT line struggles has gone viral now. In the video, the then-rookie said the ‘hack-a-Ben’ strategy wouldn’t work for so long since he’d start making those free throws consistently.
“It’s not going to happen for that much longer… I’m gonna knock ’em down.”
Ben Simmons says “Hack-A-Ben” wont last long 🔥🔥
“Its not going to happen for that much longer… Im gonna knock em down”#HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/DppTXls8r9
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) November 30, 2017
Well, that obviously didn’t age well, and now fans are blasting Simmons over those words. His 32.8% are the worst FT% by a player in a single playoff run (min 50 attempts, according to StatMuse.
Worst FT% by a player in a single playoff run (min 50 attempts):
27.3 — Ben Wallace in 2006
32.8 — Ben Simmons this playoffs
37.3 — DeAndre Jordan in 2016 pic.twitter.com/PLyx2QwG3s
— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 17, 2021
After his struggles affected the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 of their second-round series, he received many bad comments. They blew a 26-point lead over the Atlanta Hawks, with Simmons going 4-14 from the line.
This is not a good situation for the Sixers. They need all their players to be on the same page, and Simmons must improve his numbers, or this will continue happening for the rest of his career.
Philadelphia visits Atlanta in Game 6 tonight, hoping to show different things to force Game 7.
