Has Jerryd Bayless Been Working With Ben Simmons on His Jump Shot?

As both of them were out with injury, has Philadelphia 76ers guard been working with rookie Ben Simmons on his jump shot?

When Ben Simmons was initially drafted with the first overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, immediately, anyone who wanted to detract the pick pointed to the idea that Simmons had no jump shot.

This was something that was brought up quite a bit leading up to the draft, as fans looked deeply into the debate of Simmons vs Brandon Ingram and which player the Sixers should choose with their first pick. Ultimately, most fans ended up looking past the jump-shot issue and weighing his other skills heavier than the flaws he had.

Additionally, the idea that he doesn’t have a jump-shot is up for debate. Some argue that Simmons simply didn’t have to run the offense in that way while he was at LSU.

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Nonetheless, most agree that more work on his jump-shot couldn’t hurt. Simmons sat out this entire season due to recovery from a broken bone in his foot taking longer than expected. While this could be viewed as a huge negative, that time off does allow the staff to work with Simmons on his form, hopefully revamping his shot and making it more effective.

Another player who sat out this entire year was Jerryd Bayless. Bayless entered this season with a wrist injury, and it was bothersome for the first several weeks. He finally made his debut shortly into the season, but only played three games (starting in one of them) before the wrist became an even bigger problem than before.

Bayless opted to have surgery done on the wrist since waiting it out was not helping, subsequently ending his season.

So, for a large chunk of this season, Simmons and Bayless were unavailable and away from the public eye. While many of us assumed that they were doing their own things independently, there’s a chance that they were often training and recovering from their injuries together.

Simmons had kind words to say about Bayless during his final interview of the regular season, saying Bayless was like a “big brother” to him.

Ben Simmons calls relationship formed with Jerryd Bayless "like my big brother."
— Jessica Camerato (@JessicaCamerato) April 13, 2017

Clearly the two spent some time together this season. We can only hope that Bayless, who was brought on not only as a compliment to Simmons in the backcourt, but also as a veteran presence, was able to impart some of his experience and veteran wisdom on the young rookie. The Sixers had to spend a decent amount of cash on Bayless for the three games he played this season, so the more things he was able to impart on Simmons the better.

One of the things that was attractive about Bayless coming in was his 3-point shot. As a piece of the backcourt tandem with Simmons, he was looked at as a shooting option with range. With both of them out, however, perhaps Bayless was able to give Simmons some advice about his jump-shot, and maybe even work with him some in the gym.

Really, that’s what this team is all about. Developing players and building each other up in the process.

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Bayless, last season, averaged 43.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc on 4.4 attempts per game. That was an outlier season, as he usually wasn’t shooting at percentages that high, but he still was a decent shooter throughout his career. Having been around the league eight seasons, he’s likely picked up some tips and tricks about shooting along the way.

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There’s not a chance that shooting never came up, and I’m willing to bet Bayless gave Simmons some pointers. While Ben will be getting a lot of attention from the coaching staff regarding his shot this summer, sometimes that brother-to-brother and teammate-to-teammate interaction can be more valuable.