Another day, another quote from Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown defending Sixers star Ben Simmons and his role on offense.

This time, Brown is defending Simmons against the pundits who are saying the former Rookie of the Year is too passive in the fourth quarter and not shooting enough:

Simmons had zero points and missed one shot in the fourth quarter of the Sixers' 90-87 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday. The youngster is taking just 1.9 shots per fourth quarter this season. However, he racked up four fourth-quarter assists against the Knicks and helped hold them to 18 points in the final frame.

Still, people want to see Simmons do more, and Brett Brown has been among them. Last month, Brown said he wanted Simmons to shoot at least one 3-pointer per game. Simmons, however, hasn’t done that. He has taken only five 3s this season for the Sixers and just two shots from beyond the arc.

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Before the season started, most pundits said for the Sixers to win the title, Simmons will have to have some resemblance of a perimeter game. The lefty, though, still doesn’t have even a mid-range jumper and is doing all of his damage at the basket.

Simmons signed a five-year, $170 million maximum rookie contract extension with the Sixers this past summer. He’s averaging 15.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists on the season.

The two best players in Philly are Joel Embiid and Simmons, two guys who do all of their damage at the basket. The Sixers are clearly missing shooting guard JJ Redick this season. The sharpshooter left the team in free agency this past summer to sign with the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Sixers’ poor spacing is of particular concern, especially for Embiid. He gets doubled all the time in the post. Simmons is never going to be a reliable 3-point shooter at this point. If he’s not even comfortable shooting from deep when he’s wide open, Philly will have to find out different ways to attack zone defenses when Ben Simmons is on the floor.