Everyone knows the Sixers’ Ben Simmons needs a jump shot soon, except maybe his family | Mike Sielski

In a courtside corner of the Wells Fargo Center three weeks ago, with the 76ers’ season one loss away from its end, Dave Simmons projected a sense of contented pleasure with the direction of his son Ben’s basketball career.

The magnitude of the moment, such as it was, seemed not to register with him, and if it did, he regarded it only in the best of ways for Ben. The Sixers were down three games to two to the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals, sure, and the world was screaming that it was long past time for Ben to develop a decent jumper, and no matter how good Ben’s defense on him was, Kawhi Leonard just kept making big and breathtaking shots. This was all still wonderful, so thrilling and instructive. This was all a natural part of the plan.

“He’s where he needs to be,” Dave Simmons said 90 minutes before the Sixers’ 11-point victory in Game 6, which featured his son’s finest performance of the series. “I think everything he does is amazing, and I’m not saying that like, ‘Oh, he’s my son.’ But for a kid to get on this floor, given the privilege of guarding Kawhi, one of the toughest guys — you don’t have veterans doing that. You have a second-year player guarding one of the best scorers, and that says a lot about him.

“And then, offensively, that will come with experience. When you get a chance to do those things, you learn. You get better at them. Hopefully, he’ll be given more opportunities in his career to do those, and I’m sure he’ll just take off. It’s all about experience. You only know what you know. Until you’re actually doing a pick-and-roll 10 times, how do you do it? You have to perfect it.”

Welcome, then, to the philosophical collision course that could define the Sixers’ future, their chances of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals and winning their first championship since 1983. For all the rightful complaints that Simmons’ inability and unwillingness to shoot from beyond 10 feet hurt the Sixers’ halfcourt offense, for all the worry that — even if Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris return — the team’s collection of talent might not cohere over the long term, it’s worth noting: The Sixers were likely one Joel Embiid gastrointestinal incident away from beating the Raptors anyway.

Everyone can see what the Sixers could be, how good they might become, if Simmons were even an average jump-shooter, and that vision increases the pressure on Simmons to improve sooner than later. Shoot a thousand jumpers a day, Ben. Shoot 10,000. Do whatever you have to do, because this team can be great — you can be great — if you just learn to pull up from 15-20 feet. Now.

Except one needs to spend just a few minutes talking with Simmons’ father to wonder whether Ben and the people around him will treat such training with the requisite urgency — or with any at all. When asked, for instance, if having Liam Simmons, Ben’s older brother, act as his personal coach was the proper course of action to clean up Ben’s unsightly shooting form, Dave said nothing to suggest that he or Ben believed a change was warranted. The message was clear: Ben is just 22. He has time. Give him that time.

“Obviously there’s a great relationship there, and it’s a process,” Dave Simmons said. “There’s work involved, and hopefully they continue to work. They’ll be very diligent in everything they do. But as we all know, nothing happens overnight. We want it overnight. Nothing happens overnight. But I’m proud of the effort, of staying the course and continuing to try to get better.”

Those are the core questions, though, right? Is he getting better, and can he? In two years with the Sixers, Simmons has attempted just 17 three-pointers. He hasn’t made one. From his first season, 2017-18, to his second, he increased his percentage of field-goal attempts within three feet of the basket from 46.2 to 57.1, and his percentage of attempts from beyond 10 feet dropped from 20.2 percent to 9.7. It’s possible that, by becoming stronger and smarter, Simmons is finding it easier to get to the rim. But that growth doesn’t eliminate the need for him to diversify his game, and it won’t shield him from the public critiques and criticism he’ll face if he comes back next season still reluctant to take, let alone make, deeper shots.

Such is life, Dave Simmons seemed to say before Game 6. His son was terrific, scoring 21 points on 13 shots, adding eight rebounds and six assists, the Sixers’ best all-around player just when they needed him to be. Three nights later, he took just five shots, was less of a factor, and Leonard’s baseline jumper at the buzzer bounced … and bounced … and bounced … and bounced again before feathering through the hoop. To Ben Simmons’ dad, though, even such an excruciating loss would have been little more than a valuable lesson and a fun and unforgettable night for a kid destined for greatness in his own good time.

“Really, you have to look at it like a business, or you’ll go crazy,” Dave Simmons said. “You have to enjoy some of this, as well. Rookie of the year, now you’re in the playoffs two years in a row — this is incredible. Some guys wait forever in this league to make the playoffs. So I think sometimes we lose all of that, but we also know the spotlight’s on. Look at Boston. They lose one-four. Who would have thought that? We’ve actually gone one step further. We’ve had great success, but we know the ultimate goal is a championship. So if we fall short, so be it. Whatever happens, happens. Again, we’re very blessed to have this experience.”

Ben Simmons is 22, and maybe it comes easier to him and his family to maintain a measure of perspective when a team capable of winning a championship has a marvelous opportunity slip away. Maybe everything is happening as it should, and maybe time really is all he needs. But everyone hopes there’s more within him, and everyone wants him to extract it if he can, and he and those close to him ought to understand: No one should settle for Ben Simmons’ settling – least of all himself – and no one around here ever will.