Simmons needs a shot of confidence

LAS VEGAS - The hope is that Ben Simmons will grow his shot to respectability, so that defenders aren't constantly backing off him and clogging a lane that the Sixers hope will be filled by the massive Joel Embiid.

The hope is that the reluctance Simmons showed to pull the trigger when open from 12-feet and beyond in his first three summer-league games will dissipate and that he will gain enough confidence to let it fly without hesitation or remorse.

He may have given us a glimpse of what is to come in Sunday's 83-70 loss to the Bulls when he shot 7-for-13 for 18 points in a Las Vegas Summer League game.

The known is this: Simmons' elite passing will make the offensive life of the 76ers much better, and allow teammates to settle into specific roles where they can rely on their strengths. Shooters will only need to shoot and not have to look to create their own shots as much. Slashers can work on coming off picks and getting to the basket with the knowledge that the ball will be coming their way, ready or not. And big men can expect to get the ball where and when they need it.

Seems like a lot to put on a 19-year-old rookie, and it is. But Simmons' passing ability is already at an elite level, and envisioning what the future could bring is more tangible for the organization now than it has been at any time during this rebuild. And while the roster is still loaded with, perhaps, too many big men, Simmons just may be the guy who will make it easier for coach Brett Brown to figure it out.

"When you get a player like Ben, because it's not a completely defined position, we're all sort of searching to anoint him in a particular isolated role, and it's not fair," Brown said. "Because his skill package lets coaching staffs, lets teammates, lets management be creative on how we piece this together. It is completely a positive that he has this type of skill package but it also ends up a very big responsibility to surround him with players that can complement each other. Because it's such early days, we think we know, but each time you see him play you learn more. I feel like it's getting clearer as time unfolds, but right now we're just trying to learn about each other."

What will make that learning move along quicker would be if Bryan Colangelo, the Sixers president of basketball operations, can somehow find some shooters to sprinkle around Simmons. If not, defenses will sag in the lane, making it hard for Simmons to drive and either finish or find someone else. It will make it hard for Jahlil Okafor or Embiid to make their post moves.

It is also why Simmons needs to find confidence in shooting, and then find the ability to make shots.

There is little doubt that being able to make jumpers is the biggest weakness that comes with the 6-10, 243-pounder's game. During his lone season at LSU, Simmons scored the majority of his points in the paint - either by posting smaller opponents or taking the ball to the rim himself - or by getting to the foul line. He attempted just three three-pointers on the season. He would often look to force a pass when an open, or maybe even slightly contested, jump shot would have been wiser.

That hadn't changed in the first three summer-league games he played.

"First and foremost, let Ben be Ben," said Sixers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce, who is handling head-coaching duties during their time in Las Vegas. "He's been reluctant and that's been the criticism on him coming out of college. That's not going to change overnight. We want to encourage him to be aggressive. We're going to encourage him to be confident. Some of that will have to do with his shooting, but really just let him play his game and then we'll start working on areas of development as the summer goes along."

Encouraging confidence is a tricky thing. While Pierce and the rest of the organization would like Simmons to attempt more midrange shots, if they aren't falling, his confidence may wane. But if he does start showing some consistency from that range, and defenders start respecting it, it opens up a whole new world for Simmons in driving to the basket easier as defenders try to close out. He seems to be most dangerous when he's on the move to the basket.

"I've got to take more shots," Simmons said before his team faced the Chicago Bulls. "Just take more and let it fly. People are always going to say something about the games because they are able to with Twitter and whatever social media. Obviously every game I play I'm trying to win and do my best. As long as I'm working hard that's all I can really ask of myself."

With the way of the NBA now, a 6-10 athletic forward is expected to be able to step out to the three-point line and drain threes like a shooting guard. That isn't Simmons' game right now and might not be for quite some time. But Pierce's comments suggested that the team is going to try to get him there at some point.

"You'd like him to be a 40 percent three-point shooter," said Pierce. "I've only had him for a week. I think all of us have seen him shoot in practice three times. It's hard to say that. There's a guy like Kawhi Leonard who had the same criticism coming out of college and I think he was in the top five in the league shooting last year in three-point percentage. You always want him to be as good of a shooter as he can be. It's not going to be his strength. His strengths are going to be passing, facilitating, playmaking. That's going to be an added bonus whatever the number or percentage is."

In the meantime, the goal is to keep the confidence of Simmons skyrocketing. That means, as Pierce said, letting Ben be Ben. It means that come October there could be a lot of fans yelling at him from the stands to "shoot the ball."

But he probably won't. Not now, at least. And it's another reason the team needs to have capable shooters surrounding their prized rookie. If Simmons is going to slowly improve his outside shooting, Robert Covington and Nik Stauskas and Jerryd Bayless need to take the pressure off him by being consistent themselves. And Simmons has to look to chuck it up more.

"I still believe the game has to move, not just static isolation," said Brown. "As good as Ben is, I still want to have an environment where guys are passing and moving and playing. And we can't forget our bigs. They're going to need to touch the ball down low. Piecing this all together is going to take time and meshing skill packages is going to take time. I do believe others are going to reap the benefit of playing with him. But I think how this all comes together is going to take some time."

Yeah, but it just got a lot easier with Ben Simmons in the mix.

@BobCooney76

Blog: philly.com/Sixersblog