Jahlil Okafor & Ben Simmons Should Study Each Other

Ben Simmons and Jahlil Okafor are both solid players, but they could both become even better if they studied each others’ habits.

Jahlil Okafor and Ben Simmons. Two guys who have for one reason or another have been the talk of the town for Philadelphia 76ers fans in the past year. As far as play styles and the way they move on the court, these guys couldn’t be any more different.

When looking at opposites, however, there is always a middle ground. That middle ground is what both these guys should strive for and in their case it means being a little bit more like the other.

There are certain things both guys could learn from the other to make themselves better overall players.

What Okafor could learn from Simmons:

Being Unselfish

Being more unselfish is definitely a quality Okafor should take from Simmons. While I understand that Okafor is a big man and not a point guard, it doesn’t hurt to spread the ball more. A guard on the 76ers not converting on a pass given to them has not been uncommon in the past few years so I see why Okafor would be reluctant to pass out of the post.

When you’re as good as Okafor in the post it can be hard to trust and pass out to a guy who turns the ball over a lot and consistently misses wide open shots. But for Okafor and the team to start progressing he needs to have more trust in his teammates.

While it’s a great luxury that he can twirl his way out of and score on triple teams, it’s not practical to be doing it every play when your teammate is open for three. If defenders realize that Okafor will try to get a shot up no matter how many guys are defending him then they will crowd him and make him turn the ball over.

By becoming a more serious threat to kick the ball out, defenders will have to stick closer to the shooters and won’t be able to double or triple team Okafor. When this happens Jah would only be guarded by one man and we all know when Jah is guarded one-on-one it’s usually an easy two points.

Okafor has the gift of drawing immense attention to himself on offense. Instead of using that gift just for his benefit, he should look to use it a little bit more for his teammates as well this upcoming season. With the upgrade in the amount of shooters from last season to next, this decision should be worth it.

Aggressive Rebounding

Being more aggressive on the boards is also something Okafor should take from Simmons. While Simmons is a great rebounder, there is no reason for Okafor to average less per game than him. I do not want to see Simmons average more boards than Okafor next season because that just means to me that Okafor wasn’t trying hard enough.

The only advantage Simmons has on Okafor as far as getting rebounds is his vertical leap. But when you take into account that Okafor stays near the basket much more than Simmons, has much longer arms, is taller, is stronger and much harder to move, and has bigger hands and touch, then you realize why he should be getting more rebounds than Simmons. Okafor needs to take more pride in rebounding as a big man and I want to see him average at least nine or 10 rebounds in his second season.

What Simmons could learn from Okafor:

Post Moves/Aggressive Scoring/Finishing With Both Hands

These three things could all be lumped into one group and they are the things that Simmons could get much better at. Who better to learn these from than Okafor? Just like passing more will help Okafor’s scoring, scoring more will help Simmons as a passer.

If Simmons isn’t a threat to score consistently, effectively, and from different ranges, his teammates will be open a lot less which limits his passing. That would lead to him forcing things which could mean plenty of turnovers.

Learning how to play down low more against NBA players is something that could really help Simmons out in the scoring department. We didn’t really see Simmons post up much in the Summer League which was the only negative to me.

His post game doesn’t matter as much if guys like Okafor and Joel Embiid are on the floor but there might be a time when one or both of those guys are either injured or traded so it’s in the team’s best interest for him to still learn.

Some of the NBA’s all time greats like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James all had a good post game even though they were perimeter oriented. There are few big men in the league right now better to learn about the post game from than his own teammates in Okafor and Embiid.

While Simmons clearly won’t be as good as them down low due to height, length, strength, and repetition reasons, he could still be very effective considering he is much higher on the passing/court vision hierarchy than them.

Another thing that comes with being a good scorer is finishing with both hands. While Simmons shoots the ball with his left hand, he almost always finishes at the basket with his right even when he is going left. This leads to some off-balance and awkward looking shots that sometimes clang off the rim or backboard.

While a soft touch is a lot of times something you either have or you don’t, Simmons could learn from Okafor how to use both hands, how to use the rim as protection from shot blockers, and how to flip the ball up at different angles. These quick fixes could help Simmons finishing game greatly.

Being Coachable/Willingness to learn/Work Ethic

Jahlil Okafor possesses these three qualities and Ben Simmons should strive for this also. I’m not saying Simmons isn’t coachable or doesn’t have a work ethic. What I am saying is that by season’s end we will have the verdict on it.

When guys have big holes in their games at the beginning of their rookie season, you usually see that hole start to close as the season goes on if they are a hard worker. For example, Nerlens Noel at the start of his rookie season couldn’t catch the ball if he had super glue on his hands. By the end of the season he was catching anything Ish Smith threw up even if it was a bad pass.

You rarely saw Okafor shoot jumpers in college just like Simmons and the ones he did take looked kind of ugly at the beginning of the season. But by the time the All-Star break came around, Okafor was making long two’s like it was nothing. He even hit a three in one game.

Embiid was practically unknown to the casual basketball fan at the start of his freshman season. He was very raw at the start and had pretty bad body control. By the end of it he was the projected number one pick before he injured his foot.

I guarantee you the first time Embiid did a dream shake was not versus New Mexico on live TV. He spent countless hours in the gym practicing before he started showing off moves like that in-game, and countless hours getting jump shots up before taking and making them in a real game.

Simmons has a clear issue with his jumpshot. He air-balled multiple times when he was wide open in the Summer League already. He threw up ugly runners and layups off the wrong foot or hand a handful of times in a couple games these past few weeks. But none of that matters. What really matters is what that jumper looks like by the end of the 2016-17 NBA season. What his game will look like then compared to now will say a lot about him.

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If Okafor and Simmons can both take certain things and learn from each other’s game, they will both be outstanding players.