According to several analysts who have observed Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons, the guard-forward really is right-handed. Several clips of Simmons are online, pointing to the fact that he's a left-handed player trapped in a right-handed man's body. Asked on whether he intends to fully commit to being right-handed, the 22-year-old answer in a pretty cryptic way.
Olgun Uluc of Fox Sports mustered his courage and asked Simmons if he intends to switch to a right-handed shooting form. The Sixers star didn't answer the questions directly. He simply said:
“You come to the gym. I’m gonna work out when I’m in Melbourne. You’ll see.”
Before stepping into the NBA, a reliable jump should already be in one's arsenal. This is what scouts usually look at when checking out prospects. Yet Simmons is a different type of player. While his message implied that he's cooking up something good, he admitted that shooting was never really part of his game. Simply because he was already well-developed in other aspects:
“In the NBA, you’ve gotta play to what your strengths are. I never had real chances of just shooting.
“I never played in a year where I had to develop my shooting, because I was always better than most of the guys I played. Even this season, without the jumper, I was able to nearly have a triple-double every game.”
But does this mean that we'll never recognize Simmons as a player with a reliable perimeter game? Not quite. Simmons knows that he needs to add a few more things to his game if he wants to be remembered as one of the greats.
“It just depends where I wanna be later in life,” Simmons said.
“I can be satisfied with 15, eight, and eight, or if I wanna be at that next level and be an All-Star, then I add something to my game.”
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