Sixers open with best eastern title odds next year

[Erik]

You keep mentioning TS%. His entire FG% consists of wide open dunks. Don't make him out to be Curry. He's a liability on offense and his defense isn't good enough to balance it. You think teams aren't going to know how to guard him after seeing the blueprint? He's exposed.

You think they couldn't have seen those same games in the regular season when he was awful against Boston also.  It is just plain nonsense.

Because not every team has an athletic big like Horford that can guard all 5 positions, but the championship teams do. The path to get to the finals is through Boston then GSW. Draymond will shut him down as well. He's going to be Russell Westbrook. Pad his stats by abusing small point guards on crappy teams in the regular season and never win a title. This is not an ideal situation for LeBron to go to for his final act. LeBron wants 3 point shooters so that he can go 1 on 1. Him and Ben on the floor at the same time means that he gets doubled on every single offensive possession. He is a liability.

[Moranis]

You keep mentioning TS%. His entire FG% consists of wide open dunks. Don't make him out to be Curry. He's a liability on offense and his defense isn't good enough to balance it. You think teams aren't going to know how to guard him after seeing the blueprint? He's exposed.

You think they couldn't have seen those same games in the regular season when he was awful against Boston also.  It is just plain nonsense.

Because not every team has an athletic big like Horford that can guard all 5 positions, but the championship teams do. The path to get to the finals is through Boston then GSW. Draymond will shut him down as well. He's going to be Russell Westbrook. Pad his stats by abusing small point guards on crappy teams in the regular season and never win a title. This is not an ideal situation for LeBron to go to for his final act. LeBron wants 3 point shooters so that he can go 1 on 1. Him and Ben on the floor at the same time means that he gets doubled on every single offensive possession. He is a liability.

They played the Warriors both times in November.  Simmons wasn't great in the 1st game the Sixers lost by 21, but he was pretty dominant in the 2nd game that the Sixers lost by 8, but Simmons was +7 in 38 minutes, shooting 11 of 15 and ending with 23/8/12.

Against the Rockets, both games were in October, Simmons wasn't very good in the first game, but was again dominate in the 2nd game shooting 10 of 15 finishing with 24/7/9, he was +10, the Sixers won by 8. 

How about the 4 games against the Raptors.  Game 1 in October, he was ok, but the Sixers got rolled by 34 (he was -20 in 33 minutes but finished at 18/10/8).  They lost by 5 and got rolled again in December.  The closer game, Simmons went for 20/6/4 on 9 of 14, the game they got rolled he wasn't very good just 10/5/6 on 5 of 13 (he was -8 in 33 minutes, the team lost by 16).  Sixers won the game in January, Simmons wasn't very good just 12/4/2 on 50%, he was +1 in his 27 minutes (they won by .

Against the Cavs he got better every single game and in the game that decided the 3 seed, Simmons went for 27 points on 12 of 17 from the field and added 15 rebounds and 13 assists.

He was pretty dominant against the Spurs, Jazz, Wizards, Heat, and most of the other playoff teams.  He was ok against some like the Pacers, Bucks, etc.

He struggled with Boston and Toronto, but he struggled with them all year.  He did just fine against the 3 other real good teams and was pretty good overall against everyone else.  A few matchups caused him problems, but it wasn't like he was just picking on the crappy teams to pad his stats.

And this was not only his first year in the league but his first year playing PG full time.

[gouki88]

You keep mentioning TS%. His entire FG% consists of wide open dunks. Don't make him out to be Curry. He's a liability on offense and his defense isn't good enough to balance it. You think teams aren't going to know how to guard him after seeing the blueprint? He's exposed.

You think they couldn't have seen those same games in the regular season when he was awful against Boston also.  It is just plain nonsense.

Because not every team has an athletic big like Horford that can guard all 5 positions, but the championship teams do. The path to get to the finals is through Boston then GSW. Draymond will shut him down as well. He's going to be Russell Westbrook. Pad his stats by abusing small point guards on crappy teams in the regular season and never win a title. This is not an ideal situation for LeBron to go to for his final act. LeBron wants 3 point shooters so that he can go 1 on 1. Him and Ben on the floor at the same time means that he gets doubled on every single offensive possession. He is a liability.

They played the Warriors both times in November.  Simmons wasn't great in the 1st game the Sixers lost by 21, but he was pretty dominant in the 2nd game that the Sixers lost by 8, but Simmons was +7 in 38 minutes, shooting 11 of 15 and ending with 23/8/12.

Against the Rockets, both games were in October, Simmons wasn't very good in the first game, but was again dominate in the 2nd game shooting 10 of 15 finishing with 24/7/9, he was +10, the Sixers won by 8. 

How about the 4 games against the Raptors.  Game 1 in October, he was ok, but the Sixers got rolled by 34 (he was -20 in 33 minutes but finished at 18/10/8).  They lost by 5 and got rolled again in December.  The closer game, Simmons went for 20/6/4 on 9 of 14, the game they got rolled he wasn't very good just 10/5/6 on 5 of 13 (he was -8 in 33 minutes, the team lost by 16).  Sixers won the game in January, Simmons wasn't very good just 12/4/2 on 50%, he was +1 in his 27 minutes (they won by .

Against the Cavs he got better every single game and in the game that decided the 3 seed, Simmons went for 27 points on 12 of 17 from the field and added 15 rebounds and 13 assists.

He was pretty dominant against the Spurs, Jazz, Wizards, Heat, and most of the other playoff teams.  He was ok against some like the Pacers, Bucks, etc.

He struggled with Boston and Toronto, but he struggled with them all year.  He did just fine against the 3 other real good teams and was pretty good overall against everyone else.  A few matchups caused him problems, but it wasn't like he was just picking on the crappy teams to pad his stats.

And this was not only his first year in the league but his first year playing PG full time.

That’s nice, but it doesn’t change the fact that without transition buckets and inside scoring he’s pretty redundant, especially if the ball isn’t in his hands. LeBron and Embiid inside is clogged enough, not to mention Simmons

[Moranis]

You keep mentioning TS%. His entire FG% consists of wide open dunks. Don't make him out to be Curry. He's a liability on offense and his defense isn't good enough to balance it. You think teams aren't going to know how to guard him after seeing the blueprint? He's exposed.

You think they couldn't have seen those same games in the regular season when he was awful against Boston also.  It is just plain nonsense.

Because not every team has an athletic big like Horford that can guard all 5 positions, but the championship teams do. The path to get to the finals is through Boston then GSW. Draymond will shut him down as well. He's going to be Russell Westbrook. Pad his stats by abusing small point guards on crappy teams in the regular season and never win a title. This is not an ideal situation for LeBron to go to for his final act. LeBron wants 3 point shooters so that he can go 1 on 1. Him and Ben on the floor at the same time means that he gets doubled on every single offensive possession. He is a liability.

They played the Warriors both times in November.  Simmons wasn't great in the 1st game the Sixers lost by 21, but he was pretty dominant in the 2nd game that the Sixers lost by 8, but Simmons was +7 in 38 minutes, shooting 11 of 15 and ending with 23/8/12.

Against the Rockets, both games were in October, Simmons wasn't very good in the first game, but was again dominate in the 2nd game shooting 10 of 15 finishing with 24/7/9, he was +10, the Sixers won by 8. 

How about the 4 games against the Raptors.  Game 1 in October, he was ok, but the Sixers got rolled by 34 (he was -20 in 33 minutes but finished at 18/10/8).  They lost by 5 and got rolled again in December.  The closer game, Simmons went for 20/6/4 on 9 of 14, the game they got rolled he wasn't very good just 10/5/6 on 5 of 13 (he was -8 in 33 minutes, the team lost by 16).  Sixers won the game in January, Simmons wasn't very good just 12/4/2 on 50%, he was +1 in his 27 minutes (they won by .

Against the Cavs he got better every single game and in the game that decided the 3 seed, Simmons went for 27 points on 12 of 17 from the field and added 15 rebounds and 13 assists.

He was pretty dominant against the Spurs, Jazz, Wizards, Heat, and most of the other playoff teams.  He was ok against some like the Pacers, Bucks, etc.

He struggled with Boston and Toronto, but he struggled with them all year.  He did just fine against the 3 other real good teams and was pretty good overall against everyone else.  A few matchups caused him problems, but it wasn't like he was just picking on the crappy teams to pad his stats.

And this was not only his first year in the league but his first year playing PG full time.

That’s nice, but it doesn’t change the fact that without transition buckets and inside scoring he’s pretty redundant, especially if the ball isn’t in his hands. LeBron and Embiid inside is clogged enough, not to mention Simmons

That is entirely different argument, then the one Erik is making.

[Celtics4ever]

It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

He can shoot well as long as it is within three feet.  Here was his playoff shooting by range.

0-3 Feet  67%
3-10 Feet 30%
10-16 Feet  21%
16 Feet to three pointer 50%
3 point line   0%

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/simmobe01.html


Zone it up against him and he is in trouble, because he has no range to speak of on his shot.   Up to this point one could conclude he had it easy and could get the hole and never developed his jumper.   NBA has guys who can stay in front of him.  He is still very productive and can put up a ton of stats.

I want to see LeBron go there and kick it out to Simmons and Embiid and watch them miss, and miss and miss.  Most of their good shooters are free agents.

[celticsclay]

It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

He can shoot well as long as it is within three feet.  Here was his playoff shooting by range.

0-3 Feet  67%
3-10 Feet 30%
10-16 Feet  21%
16 Feet to three pointer 50%
3 point line   0%

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/simmobe01.html


Zone it up against him and he is in trouble, because he has no range to speak of on his shot.   Up to this point one could conclude he had it easy and could get the hole and never developed his jumper.   NBA has guys who can stay in front of him.  He is still very productive and can put up a ton of stats.

I want to see LeBron go there and kick it out to Simmons and Embiid and watch them miss, and miss and miss.  Most of their good shooters are free agents.

Yea.. i mean that is ugly. Anyone that tries to present his TS% should be docked tommy points. Its just incredibly disingenuous

[saltlover]

It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

He can shoot well as long as it is within three feet.  Here was his playoff shooting by range.

0-3 Feet  67%
3-10 Feet 30%
10-16 Feet  21%
16 Feet to three pointer 50%
3 point line   0%

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/simmobe01.html


Zone it up against him and he is in trouble, because he has no range to speak of on his shot.   Up to this point one could conclude he had it easy and could get the hole and never developed his jumper.   NBA has guys who can stay in front of him.  He is still very productive and can put up a ton of stats.

I want to see LeBron go there and kick it out to Simmons and Embiid and watch them miss, and miss and miss.  Most of their good shooters are free agents.

Before anyone latches on to that 50% number on long 2s, I want to point out that he took only two attempts from that range, making one.  Not only is he not a good shooter, he’s not even a threat to shoot — he took only three attempts from beyond the foul line in 10 playoff games.

[colincb]

I thought after Moranis was humbled by Simmons getting exposed that he’d change his tune on how good he is. I guess not.

exposed?  He had 1 bad game.  It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

Simmons had a bad series including the second lowest offensive rating at 92 among the Sixer rotation in the series but for Covington. Covington couldn't hit the side of a barn door with a 38.6 TS%  that would have been in the bottom 7% during the NBA's regular season. 

Most notable were was Simmons 26.8% turnover rate which would have been in the bottom 3% during the NBA's regular season and his 1.33 assist to turnover ratio which is brutal for a primary ballhandler. By reference, Smart had a 2.0 ratio during the regular season and he's one of most turnover prone ballhandlers in the NBA. Simmons TS% was below average too.

The Sixers were outscored by 15 in the series led by his team worst -63. He didn't do that in one game either as he had the worst +/- among Sixer starters in 3 of their 5 games and 2nd worst in the other 2. Plus/minus is an iffy stat, but not with results this consistent. Simmons was thoroughly outplayed by Tatum, a true rookie, during the series, by Rozier as our primary ballhandler, and arguably by Smart, a backup ballhandler.

Worse yet, he was exposed. Put a human wall up in front of him and he's no longer special. Secondly, his sloppy ballhandling was heavily responsible for the Sixers choking repeatedly at the end of games, a trend noticeable during the regular season when the Sixers were the worst among playoff teams in close games. IOW, not only can the kid not shoot beyond 10 feet, but his playmaking and judgment leave a lot to be desired.

(A) He also had the 2nd best DRTG on his team (Tatum had the worst DRTG among the regular rotation on the Celtics). 

(B) Simmons TOV% was 25.8 and his AST% was 28.6 so about a 1.108 ratio (the last 3 games he had 4 turnovers in each game, it wasn't like he was cracking double digits here).  Tatum's ratio was only 1.161 (against the Cavs Tatum was 0.778 so god awful).  Horford's was worse than Simmons at 1.106.  Simmons as a primary ball handler (and a rookie no less) turned the ball over a lot.  Not surprising (I mean even the best player in the world had a 17.2 TOV% against Boston in the playoffs). 

(C)Simmons, even with his 0-4 game, 1-2 from the line game, was 4th on the Sixers in TS% in the series.  You take out that game and his TS% was 55.3% or right inline with his season average of 55.7%. 

(D) He obviously had a terrible +/-, but he had a terrible +/- against Boston in the regular season also.  Boston just isn't a very good matchup for him.  It doesn't mean he was exposed or played awful or any such nonsense.  It just means he has a bad matchup (I would argue it is because of the speed of the Boston PG's).  Against the much slower Dragic in the Miami series he played incredibly well with very strong +/- numbers.

(A) Simmons offensive rating was 15.5 points worse than his team’s and his defensive rating was 1.6 better than his team’s. IOW, he was far worse than the rest of his team offensively while he was pretty much in line with the rest of his team defensively. Tatum was much more in line with his team’s performance on both sides of the ball than was Simmons.

(B) Rozier was the Cs primary ball handler and his ratio was 3.25 compared to Simmons 1.108 ratio. More to the other main point I was making, shooting is not Simmons only issue. Simmons’ TO% during the season was in the bottom 10% of the NBA. During our series, he was even worse turning it over at a rate of greater than once every 4 possessions which would have been in the bottom 3% of the NBA during the season.

(C) Given that Simmons takes 46% shots within 3 feet and 79% of his shots within 10 feet, that’s not an impressive TS%. If you compare his total shooting% to a center, he’d be in the bottom third among NBA centers. Worse yet is that you can limit his access to that range defensively without screwing up the rest of your defense because Simmons is the primary ballhandler. While I did not raise this point earlier, Simmons’ need to be near the hoop to score isn’t going to mesh well with having both Embiid and Lebron, nor will his need to be the primary ball handler to be effective when Lebron is a far better option offensively.

(D)"If we're going to do anything of any significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics." - Brett Brown

~~~
In any case, my point was that his lack of shooting range was exploited by the Celtics as well as his shooting from outside 10 feet. Additionally, his sloppy ball handling hurt the Sixers in their 3 close losses and that was maybe the Sixers biggest failing as a team. Get the Sixers in tight games with Simmons and they are a below average team, not a contender As I noted before the first game in response to  a prediction of a 5-6 game series loss by LarBrd33:

There's a foul smell in here. Sixers choke in tight games.

Cs in 7.

I was wrong about how competitive the Sixers were going to be, but getting Brown back helped there.

[gouki88]

I thought after Moranis was humbled by Simmons getting exposed that he’d change his tune on how good he is. I guess not.

exposed?  He had 1 bad game.  It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

Simmons had a bad series including the second lowest offensive rating at 92 among the Sixer rotation in the series but for Covington. Covington couldn't hit the side of a barn door with a 38.6 TS%  that would have been in the bottom 7% during the NBA's regular season. 

Most notable were was Simmons 26.8% turnover rate which would have been in the bottom 3% during the NBA's regular season and his 1.33 assist to turnover ratio which is brutal for a primary ballhandler. By reference, Smart had a 2.0 ratio during the regular season and he's one of most turnover prone ballhandlers in the NBA. Simmons TS% was below average too.

The Sixers were outscored by 15 in the series led by his team worst -63. He didn't do that in one game either as he had the worst +/- among Sixer starters in 3 of their 5 games and 2nd worst in the other 2. Plus/minus is an iffy stat, but not with results this consistent. Simmons was thoroughly outplayed by Tatum, a true rookie, during the series, by Rozier as our primary ballhandler, and arguably by Smart, a backup ballhandler.

Worse yet, he was exposed. Put a human wall up in front of him and he's no longer special. Secondly, his sloppy ballhandling was heavily responsible for the Sixers choking repeatedly at the end of games, a trend noticeable during the regular season when the Sixers were the worst among playoff teams in close games. IOW, not only can the kid not shoot beyond 10 feet, but his playmaking and judgment leave a lot to be desired.

(A) He also had the 2nd best DRTG on his team (Tatum had the worst DRTG among the regular rotation on the Celtics). 

(B) Simmons TOV% was 25.8 and his AST% was 28.6 so about a 1.108 ratio (the last 3 games he had 4 turnovers in each game, it wasn't like he was cracking double digits here).  Tatum's ratio was only 1.161 (against the Cavs Tatum was 0.778 so god awful).  Horford's was worse than Simmons at 1.106.  Simmons as a primary ball handler (and a rookie no less) turned the ball over a lot.  Not surprising (I mean even the best player in the world had a 17.2 TOV% against Boston in the playoffs). 

(C)Simmons, even with his 0-4 game, 1-2 from the line game, was 4th on the Sixers in TS% in the series.  You take out that game and his TS% was 55.3% or right inline with his season average of 55.7%. 

(D) He obviously had a terrible +/-, but he had a terrible +/- against Boston in the regular season also.  Boston just isn't a very good matchup for him.  It doesn't mean he was exposed or played awful or any such nonsense.  It just means he has a bad matchup (I would argue it is because of the speed of the Boston PG's).  Against the much slower Dragic in the Miami series he played incredibly well with very strong +/- numbers.

(A) Simmons offensive rating was 15.5 points worse than his team’s and his defensive rating was 1.6 better than his team’s. IOW, he was far worse than the rest of his team offensively while he was pretty much in line with the rest of his team defensively. Tatum was much more in line with his team’s performance on both sides of the ball than was Simmons.

(B) Rozier was the Cs primary ball handler and his ratio was 3.25 compared to Simmons 1.108 ratio. More to the other main point I was making, shooting is not Simmons only issue. Simmons’ TO% during the season was in the bottom 10% of the NBA. During our series, he was even worse turning it over at a rate of greater than once every 4 possessions which would have been in the bottom 3% of the NBA during the season.

(C) Given that Simmons takes 46% shots within 3 feet and 79% of his shots within 10 feet, that’s not an impressive TS%. If you compare his total shooting% to a center, he’d be in the bottom third among NBA centers. Worse yet is that you can limit his access to that range defensively without screwing up the rest of your defense because Simmons is the primary ballhandler. While I did not raise this point earlier, Simmons’ need to be near the hoop to score isn’t going to mesh well with having both Embiid and Lebron, nor will his need to be the primary ball handler to be effective when Lebron is a far better option offensively.

(D)"If we're going to do anything of any significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics." - Brett Brown

~~~
In any case, my point was that his lack of shooting range was exploited by the Celtics as well as his shooting from outside 10 feet. Additionally, his sloppy ball handling hurt the Sixers in their 3 close losses and that was maybe the Sixers biggest failing as a team. Get the Sixers in tight games with Simmons and they are a below average team, not a contender As I noted before the first game in response to  a prediction of a 5-6 game series loss by LarBrd33:

There's a foul smell in here. Sixers choke in tight games.

Cs in 7.

I was wrong about how competitive the Sixers were going to be, but getting Brown back helped there.

TP for that breakdown. Put it better than I ever could!

[Bobshot]

So Vegas clearly thinks LeBron is going to Philadelphia then.

Has to be this. Philly couldn't even beat the Celtics without Irving or Hayward in the playoffs.

[celticsclay]

I thought after Moranis was humbled by Simmons getting exposed that he’d change his tune on how good he is. I guess not.

exposed?  He had 1 bad game.  It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

Simmons had a bad series including the second lowest offensive rating at 92 among the Sixer rotation in the series but for Covington. Covington couldn't hit the side of a barn door with a 38.6 TS%  that would have been in the bottom 7% during the NBA's regular season. 

Most notable were was Simmons 26.8% turnover rate which would have been in the bottom 3% during the NBA's regular season and his 1.33 assist to turnover ratio which is brutal for a primary ballhandler. By reference, Smart had a 2.0 ratio during the regular season and he's one of most turnover prone ballhandlers in the NBA. Simmons TS% was below average too.

The Sixers were outscored by 15 in the series led by his team worst -63. He didn't do that in one game either as he had the worst +/- among Sixer starters in 3 of their 5 games and 2nd worst in the other 2. Plus/minus is an iffy stat, but not with results this consistent. Simmons was thoroughly outplayed by Tatum, a true rookie, during the series, by Rozier as our primary ballhandler, and arguably by Smart, a backup ballhandler.

Worse yet, he was exposed. Put a human wall up in front of him and he's no longer special. Secondly, his sloppy ballhandling was heavily responsible for the Sixers choking repeatedly at the end of games, a trend noticeable during the regular season when the Sixers were the worst among playoff teams in close games. IOW, not only can the kid not shoot beyond 10 feet, but his playmaking and judgment leave a lot to be desired.

(A) He also had the 2nd best DRTG on his team (Tatum had the worst DRTG among the regular rotation on the Celtics). 

(B) Simmons TOV% was 25.8 and his AST% was 28.6 so about a 1.108 ratio (the last 3 games he had 4 turnovers in each game, it wasn't like he was cracking double digits here).  Tatum's ratio was only 1.161 (against the Cavs Tatum was 0.778 so god awful).  Horford's was worse than Simmons at 1.106.  Simmons as a primary ball handler (and a rookie no less) turned the ball over a lot.  Not surprising (I mean even the best player in the world had a 17.2 TOV% against Boston in the playoffs). 

(C)Simmons, even with his 0-4 game, 1-2 from the line game, was 4th on the Sixers in TS% in the series.  You take out that game and his TS% was 55.3% or right inline with his season average of 55.7%. 

(D) He obviously had a terrible +/-, but he had a terrible +/- against Boston in the regular season also.  Boston just isn't a very good matchup for him.  It doesn't mean he was exposed or played awful or any such nonsense.  It just means he has a bad matchup (I would argue it is because of the speed of the Boston PG's).  Against the much slower Dragic in the Miami series he played incredibly well with very strong +/- numbers.

(A) Simmons offensive rating was 15.5 points worse than his team’s and his defensive rating was 1.6 better than his team’s. IOW, he was far worse than the rest of his team offensively while he was pretty much in line with the rest of his team defensively. Tatum was much more in line with his team’s performance on both sides of the ball than was Simmons.

(B) Rozier was the Cs primary ball handler and his ratio was 3.25 compared to Simmons 1.108 ratio. More to the other main point I was making, shooting is not Simmons only issue. Simmons’ TO% during the season was in the bottom 10% of the NBA. During our series, he was even worse turning it over at a rate of greater than once every 4 possessions which would have been in the bottom 3% of the NBA during the season.

(C) Given that Simmons takes 46% shots within 3 feet and 79% of his shots within 10 feet, that’s not an impressive TS%. If you compare his total shooting% to a center, he’d be in the bottom third among NBA centers. Worse yet is that you can limit his access to that range defensively without screwing up the rest of your defense because Simmons is the primary ballhandler. While I did not raise this point earlier, Simmons’ need to be near the hoop to score isn’t going to mesh well with having both Embiid and Lebron, nor will his need to be the primary ball handler to be effective when Lebron is a far better option offensively.

(D)"If we're going to do anything of any significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics." - Brett Brown

~~~
In any case, my point was that his lack of shooting range was exploited by the Celtics as well as his shooting from outside 10 feet. Additionally, his sloppy ball handling hurt the Sixers in their 3 close losses and that was maybe the Sixers biggest failing as a team. Get the Sixers in tight games with Simmons and they are a below average team, not a contender As I noted before the first game in response to  a prediction of a 5-6 game series loss by LarBrd33:

There's a foul smell in here. Sixers choke in tight games.

Cs in 7.

I was wrong about how competitive the Sixers were going to be, but getting Brown back helped there.

TP for that breakdown. Put it better than I ever could!

Same ColinCB, I am giving you 5 tommy points for this epic takedown on some of the nonsense surrounding Ben Simmons. You were thorough and used excellent stats. Great job man.

[celticinorlando]

Good. I do not think they get James and I do not think they can beat Boston.

[Moranis]

I thought after Moranis was humbled by Simmons getting exposed that he’d change his tune on how good he is. I guess not.

exposed?  He had 1 bad game.  It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

Simmons had a bad series including the second lowest offensive rating at 92 among the Sixer rotation in the series but for Covington. Covington couldn't hit the side of a barn door with a 38.6 TS%  that would have been in the bottom 7% during the NBA's regular season. 

Most notable were was Simmons 26.8% turnover rate which would have been in the bottom 3% during the NBA's regular season and his 1.33 assist to turnover ratio which is brutal for a primary ballhandler. By reference, Smart had a 2.0 ratio during the regular season and he's one of most turnover prone ballhandlers in the NBA. Simmons TS% was below average too.

The Sixers were outscored by 15 in the series led by his team worst -63. He didn't do that in one game either as he had the worst +/- among Sixer starters in 3 of their 5 games and 2nd worst in the other 2. Plus/minus is an iffy stat, but not with results this consistent. Simmons was thoroughly outplayed by Tatum, a true rookie, during the series, by Rozier as our primary ballhandler, and arguably by Smart, a backup ballhandler.

Worse yet, he was exposed. Put a human wall up in front of him and he's no longer special. Secondly, his sloppy ballhandling was heavily responsible for the Sixers choking repeatedly at the end of games, a trend noticeable during the regular season when the Sixers were the worst among playoff teams in close games. IOW, not only can the kid not shoot beyond 10 feet, but his playmaking and judgment leave a lot to be desired.

(A) He also had the 2nd best DRTG on his team (Tatum had the worst DRTG among the regular rotation on the Celtics). 

(B) Simmons TOV% was 25.8 and his AST% was 28.6 so about a 1.108 ratio (the last 3 games he had 4 turnovers in each game, it wasn't like he was cracking double digits here).  Tatum's ratio was only 1.161 (against the Cavs Tatum was 0.778 so god awful).  Horford's was worse than Simmons at 1.106.  Simmons as a primary ball handler (and a rookie no less) turned the ball over a lot.  Not surprising (I mean even the best player in the world had a 17.2 TOV% against Boston in the playoffs). 

(C)Simmons, even with his 0-4 game, 1-2 from the line game, was 4th on the Sixers in TS% in the series.  You take out that game and his TS% was 55.3% or right inline with his season average of 55.7%. 

(D) He obviously had a terrible +/-, but he had a terrible +/- against Boston in the regular season also.  Boston just isn't a very good matchup for him.  It doesn't mean he was exposed or played awful or any such nonsense.  It just means he has a bad matchup (I would argue it is because of the speed of the Boston PG's).  Against the much slower Dragic in the Miami series he played incredibly well with very strong +/- numbers.

(A) Simmons offensive rating was 15.5 points worse than his team’s and his defensive rating was 1.6 better than his team’s. IOW, he was far worse than the rest of his team offensively while he was pretty much in line with the rest of his team defensively. Tatum was much more in line with his team’s performance on both sides of the ball than was Simmons.

(B) Rozier was the Cs primary ball handler and his ratio was 3.25 compared to Simmons 1.108 ratio. More to the other main point I was making, shooting is not Simmons only issue. Simmons’ TO% during the season was in the bottom 10% of the NBA. During our series, he was even worse turning it over at a rate of greater than once every 4 possessions which would have been in the bottom 3% of the NBA during the season.

(C) Given that Simmons takes 46% shots within 3 feet and 79% of his shots within 10 feet, that’s not an impressive TS%. If you compare his total shooting% to a center, he’d be in the bottom third among NBA centers. Worse yet is that you can limit his access to that range defensively without screwing up the rest of your defense because Simmons is the primary ballhandler. While I did not raise this point earlier, Simmons’ need to be near the hoop to score isn’t going to mesh well with having both Embiid and Lebron, nor will his need to be the primary ball handler to be effective when Lebron is a far better option offensively.

(D)"If we're going to do anything of any significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics." - Brett Brown

~~~
In any case, my point was that his lack of shooting range was exploited by the Celtics as well as his shooting from outside 10 feet. Additionally, his sloppy ball handling hurt the Sixers in their 3 close losses and that was maybe the Sixers biggest failing as a team. Get the Sixers in tight games with Simmons and they are a below average team, not a contender As I noted before the first game in response to  a prediction of a 5-6 game series loss by LarBrd33:

There's a foul smell in here. Sixers choke in tight games.

Cs in 7.

I was wrong about how competitive the Sixers were going to be, but getting Brown back helped there.

again how was he exposed?  That was all true during the regular season against the Celtics, especially.  Nothing new was learned in that series about Simmons.

[colincb]

I thought after Moranis was humbled by Simmons getting exposed that he’d change his tune on how good he is. I guess not.

exposed?  He had 1 bad game.  It was an all time epically bad game, but Simmons was just fine in the other 4 games against Boston (17.8 ppg on 51% shooting) and had an incredibly good series against Miami (18.2/10.6/9/2.4).

Simmons had a bad series including the second lowest offensive rating at 92 among the Sixer rotation in the series but for Covington. Covington couldn't hit the side of a barn door with a 38.6 TS%  that would have been in the bottom 7% during the NBA's regular season. 

Most notable were was Simmons 26.8% turnover rate which would have been in the bottom 3% during the NBA's regular season and his 1.33 assist to turnover ratio which is brutal for a primary ballhandler. By reference, Smart had a 2.0 ratio during the regular season and he's one of most turnover prone ballhandlers in the NBA. Simmons TS% was below average too.

The Sixers were outscored by 15 in the series led by his team worst -63. He didn't do that in one game either as he had the worst +/- among Sixer starters in 3 of their 5 games and 2nd worst in the other 2. Plus/minus is an iffy stat, but not with results this consistent. Simmons was thoroughly outplayed by Tatum, a true rookie, during the series, by Rozier as our primary ballhandler, and arguably by Smart, a backup ballhandler.

Worse yet, he was exposed. Put a human wall up in front of him and he's no longer special. Secondly, his sloppy ballhandling was heavily responsible for the Sixers choking repeatedly at the end of games, a trend noticeable during the regular season when the Sixers were the worst among playoff teams in close games. IOW, not only can the kid not shoot beyond 10 feet, but his playmaking and judgment leave a lot to be desired.

(A) He also had the 2nd best DRTG on his team (Tatum had the worst DRTG among the regular rotation on the Celtics). 

(B) Simmons TOV% was 25.8 and his AST% was 28.6 so about a 1.108 ratio (the last 3 games he had 4 turnovers in each game, it wasn't like he was cracking double digits here).  Tatum's ratio was only 1.161 (against the Cavs Tatum was 0.778 so god awful).  Horford's was worse than Simmons at 1.106.  Simmons as a primary ball handler (and a rookie no less) turned the ball over a lot.  Not surprising (I mean even the best player in the world had a 17.2 TOV% against Boston in the playoffs). 

(C)Simmons, even with his 0-4 game, 1-2 from the line game, was 4th on the Sixers in TS% in the series.  You take out that game and his TS% was 55.3% or right inline with his season average of 55.7%. 

(D) He obviously had a terrible +/-, but he had a terrible +/- against Boston in the regular season also.  Boston just isn't a very good matchup for him.  It doesn't mean he was exposed or played awful or any such nonsense.  It just means he has a bad matchup (I would argue it is because of the speed of the Boston PG's).  Against the much slower Dragic in the Miami series he played incredibly well with very strong +/- numbers.

(A) Simmons offensive rating was 15.5 points worse than his team’s and his defensive rating was 1.6 better than his team’s. IOW, he was far worse than the rest of his team offensively while he was pretty much in line with the rest of his team defensively. Tatum was much more in line with his team’s performance on both sides of the ball than was Simmons.

(B) Rozier was the Cs primary ball handler and his ratio was 3.25 compared to Simmons 1.108 ratio. More to the other main point I was making, shooting is not Simmons only issue. Simmons’ TO% during the season was in the bottom 10% of the NBA. During our series, he was even worse turning it over at a rate of greater than once every 4 possessions which would have been in the bottom 3% of the NBA during the season.

(C) Given that Simmons takes 46% shots within 3 feet and 79% of his shots within 10 feet, that’s not an impressive TS%. If you compare his total shooting% to a center, he’d be in the bottom third among NBA centers. Worse yet is that you can limit his access to that range defensively without screwing up the rest of your defense because Simmons is the primary ballhandler. While I did not raise this point earlier, Simmons’ need to be near the hoop to score isn’t going to mesh well with having both Embiid and Lebron, nor will his need to be the primary ball handler to be effective when Lebron is a far better option offensively.

(D)"If we're going to do anything of any significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics." - Brett Brown

~~~
In any case, my point was that his lack of shooting range was exploited by the Celtics as well as his shooting from outside 10 feet. Additionally, his sloppy ball handling hurt the Sixers in their 3 close losses and that was maybe the Sixers biggest failing as a team. Get the Sixers in tight games with Simmons and they are a below average team, not a contender As I noted before the first game in response to  a prediction of a 5-6 game series loss by LarBrd33:

There's a foul smell in here. Sixers choke in tight games.

Cs in 7.

I was wrong about how competitive the Sixers were going to be, but getting Brown back helped there.

again how was he exposed?  That was all true during the regular season against the Celtics, especially.  Nothing new was learned in that series about Simmons.

Simmons had 7 of 81 games during the season where his +/-  was minus-11 or worse of which one was against the Cs.

In 4 of the 5 playoff games against the Cs, he was minus-11 or worse. Sixers were -63 when he was on the court and +48 when he was on the bench. That’s a 111 point swing. On a national stage. Game after game the Cs gave the NBA a blueprint.

You can do a search on "Celtics exposed Simmons" and get pages of links too if you'd like to ignore your fellow CBloggers' opinions, but I'm done beating a horse so dead that it has turned into glue.

[Celtics4ever]

Before anyone latches on to that 50% number on long 2s, I want to point out that he took only two attempts from that range, making one.  Not only is he not a good shooter, he’s not even a threat to shoot — he took only three attempts from beyond the foul line in 10 playoff games.

Well said, Tp