Ben Simmons has been under immense scrutiny over the last few months. Despite having a very strong regular season with the 76ers, Simmons crumbled in the NBA Playoffs.
During the regular season, Simmons was excellent, as earned his third consecutive All-Star nomination while being a solid contender for Defensive Player Of The Year.
But during the NBA Playoffs, Simmons took a step down with his play. He had a poor series against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. But thanks to Joel Embiid stepping up for the 76ers, his performance went under the radar.
But when Embiid got hurt and the spotlight was on Simmons, he couldn’t deliver. The 76ers lost in 7 games to the Atlanta Hawks. Simmons was bad down the stretch during all the games for Philly.
The most notable incident was during Game 7 when Ben Simmons passed up an open dunk in the fourth quarter. Simmons was a detriment to the 76ers in the second round. And many fans have been hoping he gets traded from the franchise.
Simmons’ offensive output has reduced over the last few seasons. In fact, one stat from Simmons’ series against the Atlanta Hawks puts into perspective just how poorly he performed.
As pointed out by StatMuse on Twitter, Ben Simmons took only 1 shot across 6 consecutive fourth quarters between Game 2 and Game 7.
In comparison, Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem took twice as many shots in 3 minutes of the only quarter he played during the regular season.
Udonis Haslem took more shots in the only quarter he played this season (2 shots in 3 mins) than Ben Simmons did the last 6 4th quarters (1 shot in 44 mins).
(Submitted by @Ajaypal) pic.twitter.com/Ih1Rn2an4e
— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 21, 2021
Many fans have grown tired of waiting for Simmons to live up to his potential. He entered the league as one of the most exciting talents. But since then, he hasn’t made any strides to improve his game.
