Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons had his poor free throw shooting exposed in Wednesday night’s win over Washington. Should he make any radical changes?
We’ve known for a while now that Ben Simmons struggles from the free throw line. He hit a semi-respectable 67 percent of his freebies at LSU, but was always criticized for his limited jumper. That percentage has dropped to just 55.4 so far in his (young) Philadelphia 76ers career.
That’s one of the more glaring weaknesses in Simmons’ impressive all-around repertoire. He’s athletic enough to get wherever he wants on the court and boasts an impressive basketball I.Q., but can be marginalized to an extent when forced to the free throw line.
The Washington Wizards took full advantage of that in a valiant comeback effort Wednesday night.
For the last few minutes before the two-minute mark in the fourth quarter, Washington fouled Simmons on over 10 straight possessions — leading to 24 fourth-quarter free throw attempts for the former No. 1 pick. It was the birth of Hack-a-Ben, and something we’ll probably see more often in the coming games.
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It’s troubling considering how effective it was in changing the flow of the game, and even more troubling when you consider the fact that 12-22 — which was Simmons’ success rate during that span — might not get better immediately.
Simmons’ shooting woes have long been a point of conversation, and that extends to the free throw line. His elbow jets out at a weird angle, and he seldom finishes with his left hand when he’s around the basket. He only uses that hand for shooting, which led some — with The Ringer‘s Kevin O’Connor being the original, of sorts — to question whether or not he should change hands.
That’s a radical alteration for a primary ball handler with such a substantial offensive load, but Simmons seems to at least be tinkering with the idea in practice:
Ben Simmons warms up shooting FT’s both left and right handed. Definitely better form right handed. pic.twitter.com/uncHpc9MBE
— Andrew Diehl (@centralpahoops) November 22, 2017
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that those shots look far more comfortable than the form he currently uses in-game. You don’t want to take too much away from pre-game warmups, but that’s a free throw stroke that projects as a more reliable alternative long term.
Given the fact that Simmons is the offensive workhorse for a lot of Philadelphia’s possessions at this point, it’s fair to question whether or not he should be making those changes right now. But his free throw shooting has to improve eventually, and it’s something teams will continue exploiting late in games if it doesn’t.
Changing hands has always been on the table as a theoretical option. Maybe it’s time to make it reality.