anonymous
Years ago

Ben Simmons' major flaw is not his jump shot

Just an observation of Ben Simmons from the early part of the season and his young career so far.


Ben is a super talented basketball player with a unique skill set and physical abilities and is still only 22 years old and still developing but he has a major flaw (and surprisingly its not his jump shot ) that is both hurting himself and his team.

Its his lack of a right hand dribble and driving right.

Ben is super left hand dominant to the point where he is limiting his options for scoring/creating.(not counting his right hand finishes, only dribbling/driving).

He makes a lot 'straight line' drives to the basket going left and although he gets away with it a lot due to superior size/athleticism, a lot of times he becomes predictable and easy to defend, resulting in having his shot blocked, missing a contested shot, or having to pull up and pass out.

If you watch him closely he never takes more than 2 dribbles on his right before bringing the ball back to his trusty left.

Holistically speaking being so left hand side dominant means he also doesn't work the ball naturally into the space available right that would normally allow for most effectiveness. Instead the ball ends up going back into congestion to the left leading to less effectiveness.

One of my pet hates in basketball (and Both Simmons and Dante Exum do this at times, only for a dribble or 2 of course) is dribble the ball on the side closest to the defender. The ball should always be dribbled on the side of the body that is furthest away from the defender. Its a bad habit that needs to be eliminated.

If you look at Lebron James and most top players they are 50/50 right and left. One top player that mostly drives left is James Harden (and this gives me hope for Simmons). But the reality is Hardens right hand is just as good as his left and he just prefers/ends up driving left and his set up moves (jump shot/right dribble) are legitimate and allow him to drive left effectively. In Bens case he has very little set up moves resulting in straight line left handed dives that i mentioned before. Forget about the jump shot, if Ben had legitimate right hand side ability then that alone would be sufficient for him to become the dominant NBA force we are all hoping for.

It may be too late to add these new skills during this current NBA season but I only hope that the Sixers coaches and trainers see what i'm seeing and help him develop in these areas in the off season and in years to come.


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Anonymous  
Years ago

I'm sure NBA coaching teams have picked up things that some bloke on an Internet forum has mate

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Anonymous  
Years ago

It's a good point though. And the off season is not long so Ben would have been very focussed on his shooting this year.

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robt  
Years ago

Hey, I liked a lot of what some bloke on the internet just said (in that sense, he's a bit like you and me) and especially the way it was delivered.

Honestly, I hadn't noticed any of what that bloke said about Ben S but I'll have a look.

Do you actually know that that bloke was on something special or, like me, do you not like crits of your (and my) superstar?

Right or wrong? It's his oppinion. "I may not agree with your oppinion, but I will defend ...etc."!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I never said he couldn't have an opinion (only one P there champ), just that I’m sure his coaching know about his flaws.

"I only hope that the Sixers coaches and trainers see what i'm seeing". I’d call them and point it out just in case they’ve somehow not picked up what he can’t do while seeing him train almost every day for a couple seasons.

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PlaymakerMo  
Years ago

How are you sure his 'coaches' (no ING there champ) know about his flaws? I hope you have more to go on than the assumption that they're in the NBA, therefore they know what they're doing.

OP's observation is super-basic, but these are the kinds of things professional players (that give a shit) study about their opponents to familiarize themselves with their tendencies. If accurate, it's a good point.

I suspect OP could be correct, as Ben's ambidexterity has a few quirks that manifests in other ways.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Are you actually suggesting they haven't realised the "super-basic" stuff pointed out by OP?

Familiarise has an S. We’re not in America chief.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

If you liked my Ben Simmons analysis, here are some other things I've noticed:
- Steph Curry is good at shooting
- James Harden likes to flop

I hope NBA coaches have realised this too.

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PlaymakerMo  
Years ago

If accurate, OP raises some more good points.

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Perthworld  
Years ago

The struggle is real.

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MACDUB  
Years ago

Unfortunately, I feel like Simmons' tendency to go left/restricted ability to dribble left handed is innate to his game.

It's potentially a habit that may be hard/impossible to kick.

He is borderline ambidextrous (he can shoot right really well) so for me again I don't think his lack of a right hand penetration game is because of a lack of a right hand - that is why I think his tendency to go left is a more inherent habit in his game.

One of the problems with being so dominant at a young age as he was is that he probably made a living of being able to penetrate left hand so easily - and when something becomes so successful it becomes a habit.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

"Familiarise has an S. We're not in America chief."

No champ, but Ben's opponents are, so they would familiarize themselves with his game.

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Greggo  
Years ago

Really good OP. Some real stupid comments to follow.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Some people have a childish obsession with spelling mistakes on the internet and if they don't know how to contribute to a discussion will resort to that.

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Bear  
Years ago

Amazing how someone with allegedly no shot and one hand dominant can not only make the NBA, but command the number one pick and a multi million$ dollar contract for the next decade and possibly beyond.

Observations are clearly going to be constant on someone with his profile, just like Blake Griffin when he started out, look how he has improved his game since, not too late for Ben relax...

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Anonymous  
Years ago

""Familiarise has an S. We're not in America chief."

No champ, but Ben's opponents are, so they would familiarize themselves with his game."

What does this have to do with you spelling a word incorrectly in Australia?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

You might want to have a look at who wrote it, champ.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

It doesn't matter to Ben, the afl think he’s coming back to play for the drug cheats.:):)

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PlaymakerMo  
Years ago

Wouldn't have a clue about anything to do with PlaymakerMo to be honest. Not sure I’d want to with a flog name like that.

If it’s not too hard, can you try to call me something other than champ for a fourth time when you reply something super witty.

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anonymous  
Years ago

anonymous who wrote the original post here:

Having read at my post again, I might have come across as being quite critical and negative towards Ben Simmons, so I just want to say that I may have been a bit harsh in saying he must develop a right hand in order to be great, because theoretically Ben could still be great as only a dominant left hand player. If he just refines some things he already has and maybe adds or tweaks a couple of things here or there than im sure he will be just fine.

I tend to agree with MACDUB who wrote:

"Unfortunately, I feel like Simmons' tendency to go left/restricted ability to dribble left handed is innate to his game.

It's potentially a habit that may be hard/impossible to kick.

He is borderline ambidextrous (he can shoot right really well) so for me again I don't think his lack of a right hand penetration game is because of a lack of a right hand - that is why I think his tendency to go left is a more inherent habit in his game.

One of the problems with being so dominant at a young age as he was is that he probably made a living of being able to penetrate left hand so easily - and when something becomes so successful it becomes a habit".


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John  
Years ago

Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the OP, but will say, Manu Ginobili managed to carve out a pretty decent career being known as exactly that "goin left everytime".

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