Ben Simmons has been under heavy scrutiny over the last few months. Since the Philadelphia 76ers suffered a shock second-round exit in the NBA Playoffs, basketball fans have questioned Simmons’ ability to be a superstar in the league. The biggest complaint surrounding Simmons is his weaknesses as an offensive player. Simmons had a poor showing on the offensive end of the court during the series against Atlanta.
And because of that, the issues in Simmons’ shooting have come back to light. Simmons has always been a poor shooter and hasn’t shown any improvement in that aspect since entering the league. And now, comments from Kobe Bryant a few years ago about his jump shots have come back into prominence.
In 2019, Kobe Bryant spoke to SLAM about Ben Simmons. He said that Simmons needs to develop a jump shot for his career to take the next step. If Simmons was not able to do it, he would end up regretting that. Kobe was surprised that Simmons hadn’t been able to make that jump at that point.
But at the same time, Bryant did say that he thinks Simmons could do it, comparing him to Jason Kidd, who also struggled with making jump shots early on in his career. But despite Simmons not getting a jump shot, he has been able to do a lot with the 76ers.
“He’s got to get a jump shot. It sounds stupid and all that but I’m dead ass serious. Because if not, he will regret it when his career is over. I think his development will come in shooting obviously. At some point, he’s got to be able to shoot that ball. Jason Kidd, when he came in the league, wasn’t a great shooter, but he worked to the point where he became one of the best three-point shooters we’ve had in our league in history…That will be his next progression. That being said, even without that, he’s been able to dominate and take Philadelphia to a place where it hasn’t been in a very long time.”
Simmons’ future is a subject of huge debate at the moment, with many fans and insiders expecting him to be traded this offseason. If Simmons does get a chance to start fresh in a different franchise, it will be interesting to see if he is able to make improvements in his jump shots and overall offensive game.
