Hall of Fame coach says Ben Simmons ‘doesn’t really want’ to improve his game
Sixers fans will no longer have to continue their endless wait for Ben Simmons to develop his jump shot, and according to local coaching icon Herb Magee, Simmons isn’t willing to work to improve his game.
Magee, a 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, was asked about Simmons after coaching his final regular season game for Thomas Jefferson University. Magee said that former Sixers coach Brett Brown once asked him to work with Simmons on his shot – but there was no motivation from Simmons’ end to make that happen.
Via NBC Sports:
“I’ll get pulled aside, ‘Coach, can I ask you a question?’ I said sure. ‘When are you going to work with Ben Simmons?’ I said, that’s not going to happen. I said the same answer all the time. Brett Brown, who I became friends with, he asked me to do it one day and I said, ‘I will, but you’ve got to ask Ben Simmons.’ And he never got back to me. So obviously Ben is the type of guy who doesn’t really want to improve.”
Simmons’ new coach, Brooklyn’s Steve Nash, has already given his new star an out if he continues to struggle shooting the ball. Upon Simmons’ arrival, Nash said that he’s not “dying to see” Simmons shoot the ball, and that if Simmons doesn’t improve in that area, it’s not an issue for the Nets.
Via the NBC Philadelphia:
“Ben does a thousand things on the basketball court. Shooting is not one that I’m dying to see. He is an amazing basketball player, and that’s without shooting the ball. So to me there’s not a conversation there at all. If he gets better at shooting, great.”
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