National Basketball Association

Ben Simmons: "I can shoot the ball"

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Philadelphia 76ers top overall pick Ben Simmons told the media at media day that he can shoot the ball, and that he’s been working on his shot.

The biggest knock on Ben Simmons coming into this year’s NBA Draft was that he didn’t have much of a jump shot. Still, he was a good player with solid base skills, and the Philadelphia 76ers took a chance and drafted Simmons, who seems like he could be a generational talent.

Simmons has avoided talking about the fact that he doesn’t have much of a jump shot up to this point.

At LSU in his sole season, Simmons passed a lot, and did the bulk of his scoring at the rim. He still did well and put up decent stat lines, but he only took three 3-pointers all season, and only was able to sink one of them.

Simmons typically answers, “everything,” when asked what he needs to work on, which doesn’t reveal much about how aware he is of his skills. On media day on Monday, however, he addressed the shooting. He even went so far as to say, “I can shoot the ball.”

#Sixers Ben Simmons on his shooting: 'I've been working on my shot a lot. I can shoot the ball.'

— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) September 26, 2016

Truthfully, I’ve always thought Simmons had at least some shot, but simply didn’t need to utilize it at LSU, and therefore didn’t take many shots. With the Sixers, he primarily will be a passer, but it would be nice if he could hit a jumper once in a while.

Training camp for Simmons and the Sixers starts on Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see if Simmons truly has been working on that shot, and if he has covered any ground as far as improving goes.

If Simmons could add a solid shot, or even a mediocre shot, to his arsenal, it would be incredible. He would become a truly deadly player that is very hard to guard, an the would definitely become a player that could lead the Sixers deep in the playoffs.