IMO Simmons has the making of a true leader, yeah, I know he won't shoot. Embiid can't stay healthy for more than 60 games a year, his stats are down significantly from last year. And his immature antics against KAT showed his true colors IMHO. If Embiid was Hakeem lite, then yes, sure. But he is not.
People's main issue when trying to use efficiency is that they are using it in a vacuum and providing proper context. Efficiency is actually pretty complicated in that it is significantly affected by things like: Volume of scoring opportunities (how many total scoring attempts) Type of scoring (what type of shots, when are the shots taken, what scoring system) Minutes played (fatigue, durability, concentration breakdown) Take Harden for example. He will never have the raw efficiency of Curry who a) is a better shooter and b) is provided a lot of open looks by the system he is in. However, how does Harden score? In ISO which may or may not have been generated by a PnR to force a mismatch. He also scores with incredible volume and usage. Fouls that prevent him from scoring also don't count as potentially successful FG attempts. With these factors in mind, Harden is an incredibly efficient scorer. Does this mean that efficiency doesn't matter? No, of course not. Players who benefit more from systems still have to execute and score. A missed system generated shot vs a missed ISO shot are both still the same. What matters and what should always be considered, is context.
lol you asked if it was ok for your 2nd best player to shoot 9 times a game. Go ahead and quote me where I said Simmons should not take more shots..... I provided an example. A perfect example. A max player, who is the 2nd best player on his team who only shoots 10 times a game for a good team. They want an efficient scorer to shoot more. We want a terribly inefficient scorer to shoot less.
I'm just commenting that Embiid wants Simmons to shoot more threes for the sake of the previous argument. Why do I need to quote you when your argument contradicts mines? Are you taking the opposing side of me saying he needs to shoot more or not? Be clear here. I am saying that Simmons needs to shoot more, you said in your first response that he does not...and then you said that the team is playing well. The example you provided is bad, really bad, because they all want him to shoot more, not only shoot more, but take more threes when they are there for him to take. you said that your 2nd best player should shoot less if it means him being more efficient, you didn't literally say this, but your post says this because you then post their efg and ts as evidence that he's shooting more efficiently than Russ and that's all that matters. Yet, the shot they want him to shoot is not an efficient shot for him...they want him to shoot more threes... he's shooting the 3 at a career .091% and we have to use career numbers because the guy simply doesn't shoot from three. He's made two three pointers his entire career. So basically, he shoots threes worse than Westbrook...and they still want him to take more threes. Like literally from the coaches mouth, he wants him to shoot more 3s...which the number says is a TERRIBLE shot for him. Maybe you know more than Brett Brown though. And maybe he's a better jumpshooter than Westbrook...maybe we'll never know because he's terrified of shooting the ball. It's actually not smart shot selection, the coach of the team is basically telling him it is not, so is Embiid and everyone around the Sixers think he should take more threes and shots outside of his range. This is like saying some lame game managing QB is better than a QB like Watson that takes more risks. The game manager may complete a higher % of passes...but his effect on the game is minimal and it is easier for the defense to defend him. Simmons takes safer shots for him but he needs to step out and take more risks. That team is not doing fine by the way. I would not say they are 'good'. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games and like 9 games out of first and I can't remember the last signature W they've had. They are a huge disappointment right now but they are 'good' I guess relative to the rest of the league since half of the NBA teams are just plain bad.
Quote me where I said Simmons does not need to shoot more. I don’t see anyone asking Simmons to shoot 5-6 3s per game and 5-6 long 2 point jumpers every game, like Russ does. Because you are absolutely right. If Simmons shot the same and as many shots as Westbrook, his efficiency would suffer and it would hurt their team. If Westbrook was a smarter player, like Simmons, and stuck to what he can be really good at. We would be better. The advice for Simmons should go for Westbrook. 1 3 per game. That’s it. Take it to the paint or move the ball. That’s it. Again you asked for a scenario where it’s ok for a 2nd best player to shoot low volume. I provided it. Just because Simmons is a more efficient scorer than Westbrook and their coach and team would like him to increase his volume does not mean they want another Westbrook on their hands shooting a bunch of BAD shots all the time and killing their efficiency. Honestly I don’t see how a comp could be any more perfect. Both are max players. Both are athletic freaks. Both have very shaky jump shots. Both are 2nd best players for their team. Difference.... Simmons maximizes his abilities by playing smart and his coach and team would like to see how far they can push it until the returns start to diminish. Westbrook already pushes it well passed diminishing returns and we NEED him to reel it in.
You said he's fine with what he's doing, his coach and others on the team disagrees. Actually, Brett Brown said he's fine with long pull up twos. No one mentioned numbers because the advice is pretty clear, if he's open he needs to actually consider shooting the shot. He said one three MINIMUM, not "Only take one three." that's such bad advice to give a player during a game "You should only shoot one three a game." You say they don't want another Westbrook but that's funny, Brown has only said great things about Westbrook. Once calling him the most dominant guard ever. So this is more than just a polite usual coach comment of "Oh yeah, the guy is good, he needs to be respected." He thinks Westbrook is one of the best players ever...I think they would like Ben Simmons to play MORE like Westbrook, the fact is what Simmons does isn't enough for the team. It just isn't. We know it isn't because we can look at this team and see it is underachieving. His mentality needs to change...and so does Embiid's but that's another discussion. You can look at his stats and say he's being efficient...but the fact is Simmons efficiency right now is not enough for his team and he has to do more. Him doing more may lower how efficient he is, but that's the challenge of being a superstar player. They want him to take one three a game not because of some math equation. They want him to be more of a threat and as Brown said, to open his game up a lot more and make him a better overall player that means living with the lumps that he's probably going to shoot it poorly but they have to try. No one is going to tell Russ to shoot ONLY one three a game. You'd like him to shoot one three a game, sure, agreed, but it's terrible instructions to tell a player they can only do this an X amount of time in a game because it ignores context and situations. the situation last game called for Russ to hit a big three...and he did. Now we can say "The math says he should have passed it to a better shooter!" maybe, but we don't play games on paper.
Yep and Russ is coming off injury...EG is coming off injury. If Rox supporting cast would make their open shots Russ would take less driving in for layups and dunks at a higher clip consistently seems to be their plan. I think the game against Philly is more of a blueprint of what they want from Russ with the exception of missing his dunks. He makes the dunks he's at 50 percent efficiency with EG making 3's...but problem is when EG isn't making 3's and the rest of the team are shooting bricks THEN Russ is in a position where the load is on him to do so...clearly the 76 sixers blueprint is way more effective and efficient than the latter. Injuries have effected performance obviously as well
This. It feels like I’ve been watching some other rockets team based off some of the anti WB comments. I mean our bench has been injured and wildly inconsistent. WB is a poor shooter, but he would be looking a lot better if guys were hitting open shots.
