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Tim BontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown said Thursday that Ben Simmons has had a “paradigm shift” in his thinking about taking 3s.
Simmons wasted no time proving that his coach was right.
Playing in a new position, with breakthrough power, as part of Philadelphia’s new starting lineup in the team’s opening action from the NBA bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort, Simmons took two 3-pointers and scored one, on a 90-83 scrimmage win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Just playing around,” said Simmons. “We’ve been practicing, working to find that corner. I’m very comfortable there, and I’ve been shooting those shots, so I’m glad my teammates find me.”
Both triples came in catch-and-shoot situations in the corner. The first, which came in the first quarter, saw Simmons hesitate before finally deciding to shoot, seriously failing.
In the second, which came in the third quarter, Simmons caught the ball and immediately moved in his shooting motion, calmly drained the shot and jogged back down the court.
“I got excited [watching it] “Don’t flinch,” said Brown. “The sport said to him: ‘I am open, nobody is watching me, shoot’, and he did it. There was no doubt about what would come next or” What decision should I take now? “
Brown has been full of questions about Simmons and his jumper all year. When asked about it on Thursday, he walked away from his previous public statements, even when he expected Simmons to take at least one per game earlier this season, and said the entire issue has been overly discussed.
“I mean, since we all know each other and I will say it again, I think this area is possibly one of the most overrated topics that I have been a part of in training,” Brown said. Thursday. “So to quantify, I want to see an X number of jump shots … Ben Simmons is going to play basketball and the sport will tell him what to do or not to do.”
“[But] I feel like his spirit, his mindset coming here, him willingly finding space and finding 3, that has been a paradigm shift. That has been a change of attitude, a philosophical and internal decision that he has made, because I just saw a player who is arrogant and only plays and when the game says that you should shoot because nobody is with you, he does it, and he doesn’t ” Don’t blink and his teammates adore him, and so does his coach. “
Since Simmons’ 3-point shooting has been such an important topic of conversation for so long, the fact that he took two of them overshadowed everything else that happened in the game. But just as important, if not more, to Philadelphia’s chances of making a deep playoff career inside the bubble was the success the team’s new five players had together.
The group, Shake Milton, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Simmons and Joel Embiid, had never played together in a live competition before Friday’s game. And while they only played together for just under 6 minutes, and it was only a knockout, the Sixers had every reason to be encouraged by what they saw.
In the 5 minutes, 33 seconds that group played together, Philadelphia outscored Memphis by four points. More importantly, though, Simmons looked very comfortable playing forward power. Simmons, who finished with nine points, seven rebounds, nine assists and three steals in 22 minutes, spent a lot of time operating from the elbow, catching the ball there and starting the offense.
“I’m happy with that,” said Simmons. “I can protect 1-5, I can play everywhere, but trapping in those positions, I love those places. I work in those places and my footwork there. I just have to keep working and take what they give us.”
Overall, Philly was dominant in the first half, jumping to a 54-28 lead at halftime after forcing 14 turnovers (which turned into 19 Sixers points) while shooting 51% from the field and forcing The Grizzlies go 10-35 (28.6%) from the field and 4-for-15 from a 3-point range.
Embiid sat in the second half to rest, and the rest of the Philadelphia starters were out before the end of the third quarter, as Memphis kept its starters until the end of the game and narrowed the gap in the closing minutes.
On the other continuous line of the Philadelphia training camp, Embiid and Al Horford played 3 minutes, 44 seconds together during the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. Brown said he hopes to continue playing Embiid and Horford together late in the first and third quarters and early second and fourth quarters in the future, saying he likes the flow of having them together in those parts of the game.
And, after the game, Harris continued to answer questions reiterating that Kentucky State Attorney General Daniel Cameron needs to arrest the officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor earlier this year.
“We need justice for Breonna Taylor, and I will continue to preach that message after every game,” said Harris. “If you want to hear it, I’m always here to give interviews and use my platform in the best possible way, but those people must be held accountable, and that’s my message.”
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