Philadelphia 76ers: Stop expecting too much of Ben Simmons

The angst that Ben Simmons has caused the Philadelphia 76ers‘ fans is almost palatable at times. He has the size and potential to be one of the most dominant players in the NBA at 6-foot-11 with point guard skills.

However, his unwillingness to attempt jump shots and his lack of aggression in scoring the ball on a regular basis has driven the fan base mad. This season in particular, Simmons’ lack of aggression scoring the ball, in general, has been at an all-time low for his career.

With that in mind, Sixers fans shouldn’t be expecting too much in terms of scoring from Simmons, especially this postseason. This line of thinking is the opposite of what Sheldon Washington of The Sixer Sense recently wrote.

Stop expecting Simmons to be an elite scorer for the Philadelphia 76ers this postseason.

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To be clear, I’m not giving up hope of Simmons becoming an aggressive scorer in the future. However, based on his regular-season production, it’s unrealistic to expect Simmons to be an aggressive scorer in the postseason.

The Sixers don’t need a 2.0 version of Draymond Green, but this year Simmons looked like a more athletic and prolific passing version of the Golden State Warriors’ starting power forward. They need more from Simmons, there’s no denying that, but to expect that this postseason would be irresponsible as a fan.

This year he averaged career lows in points, rebounds, and assists. This year, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 1.6 steals. He also shot 55.7 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from the 3-point on 10 attempts this year.

In Game 1, Simmons had six points on 3-9 shooting from the floor and 0-6 from the foul line. Let’s be clear, Simmons won’t shoot this poorly from the field and free throw line in most games moving forward. During his playoff career, he’s shot 54.4 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from the charity stripe, while averaging 14.6 points per game. This game was an outlier in terms of playoff shooting percentages.

He’s having a career-low in terms of stats this season, so it’s just illogical to believe he’s going to step up his game in the playoffs. Especially considering that he’s never elevated his game during the postseason in years past. He had a poor game shooting in Game 1, but he more than made up for it with 15 rebounds and 15 assists, while only committing two turnovers and playing solid defense on Bradley Beal.

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It’s been a down year for Simmons in terms of stats, so it’s not logical to expect him to step up his scoring for the Philadelphia 76ers this postseason. Especially when he doesn’t have a history of doing it in the playoffs thus far.